First Game of Preseason

By Byler Henry

It’s that time of year again, it’s football season and the preseason has already started. The Buccaneers came down to Miami to take on the Dolphins. It was a good game that came down to the wire, with the Bucs winning 26 to 24. With the first preseason game out of the way, Dolphins have three more games to prepare for week one of the regular season.

After missing all last year with a knee injury, Ryan Tannehill started for a series just to get back on the field, going 4 for 6, passing for 32 yards with no

touchdowns and no interceptions. “It was huge. I think (it was) probably more appreciation than I normally have for a preseason game. I didn’t make it to this point last year and of course the long rehab process and everything it took to get back to this point.” Tannehill says, “I think more appreciation for just every second that I was out there, and I just enjoyed it a little bit more.” David Fales performed well going 8 for 11 with 115 yards passing, Bryce Petty threw

the only touchdown pass of the

game.

Overall, the offense had a good game with four quarter-backs coming in, getting some playing time. The running backs and the receivers looked good, there were key plays and key runs that were made to keep the drives alive and set up field goals. Francis Owusu led the receivers with 4 receptions for 82 yards, Isaiah Ford had the only receiving touchdown of the game. Senorise Perry had a good game with 35 rushing yards on four carries and a touchdown. Head coach Adam Gase liked the energy he saw out there. “I liked the energy. I liked the focus that we had. Leading up to the game, I thought before we even got out there, guys were wired in and they were ready to go,” he says “Then when we got out there, there was a lot of good execution. There was some things that we have to work on. We were really shooting to get — you know, have zero pre-snap penalties. We fell short of that. Just putting the ball on the ground, that’s something that we just have to make sure that we don’t. I mean, first glance, you see (Kalen) Ballage go over the top of the guy but we lose the ball. So that’s just a young kid trying to make a big play and making a mistake and he’ll learn from that and he’ll get better from it.”

The Dolphins next preseason game will be on the road against the Panthers Friday 8/17. After looking at tape from the Bucs game, there will be some tuning and tweaking of some missed opportunities and they will be ready for the next game. The defense had a few missed opportunities and allowed the Bucs to march down the field a few times, allowing two rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown. Let’s see what happens next preseason game.