Pre-Season Game #1

As hard as it may be to imagine at one time NFL Teams put a lot of stock into Pre-Season games. Records are hard to find. But, Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas and his fellow starters ran a Fourth Quarter two-minute drill against the Philadelphia Eagles in the mid-60s after both teams played starters the entire game, eventually winning the meaningless affair. IF a franchise Quarterback is in the game for the fourth-quarter of any pre-season game this year it would evoke a media firestorm.

Pre-season sure isn’t what it used to be. At one time there were six of them for most teams. Today the number is three. When the 18th Regular Season game is added, and it will be, the number will drop to 2 or 1. Sean McVay declared the games to be of no value several years ago. The rest of the League dropped all pretenses and agreed. Last year Jayden Daniels took all of four snaps in pre season. Four. But, he took all of the first team reps at the joint practices. That’s where the NFL people put the most stock. The biggest intrigue of the evening will be to see if Mr. Daniels plays an entire series. One would think the franchise would throw the home crowd a bone. But, don’t count on it.

Varying Mileages

This pre-season game comes after the Wednesday joint practice against the same Dolphins. First of all, the Dolphins are the very definition of a “Hot Mess.” Big contracts that don’t pan out are painful. See: Nationals and Stephen Strasburg. But, in football with the hard cap, and it is very hard a bad contract can be crippling. Miami gave Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill monster contracts. Neither one is still there. The Dolphins are still paying “Dead Money” on both of them. $179-Million of cap space is being attributed to players no longer in the aquamarine uniforms. That’s 56% of the total cap. It’s a disaster. Hardly a surprise then is the fact the team is not very good. The Defensive Backs are really, really substandard. The Defensive Front is the best unit of the team. With that framing, let’s cover Wednesday’s joint practice.

Joint practices are considered to be of real value by the NFL folks. Pre-season games are not. Season Ticket holders are stuck with paying for a greatly diminished product. No surprise then that Stub Hub has seats in the “Bleeds” for under $20. These games are televised to local markets. (The Baltimore pre-season game on August 28th will be nationally televised on NFL Network.) Joint practices are not televised. We are left to rely on the reporters for results. In this case the accounts are not completely congruent.

Jayden Daniels had a phenomenal day according to some. He still managed to get off a few plays according to another. Another Reporter scarcely mentioned him except to say he was scrambling for his life. Get the picture? C’mon, it’s clear as mud. What we do know from the practice is that he did complete Touchdowns to Stefon Diggs and Treylon Burks while completing other passes to practically everyone in the Wide Receiver Room. That’s confirmed in numerous outlets. The two other things we know are that the Defense was dominant and that the Offensive Line struggled.

“The Defense was dominant.” No, that’s not a pipe dream. That happened. That side of the ball has improved dramatically.

“The Offensive Line struggled” is not the stuff of good dreams. Laremy Tunsil‘s injury made a deep incision on this group. It doesn’t help that the starting Center is out with a calf strain. Those take a few weeks to heal. It’s a good idea to not come back to work the second that’s healed. They have a nasty tendency to come back. The replacement is Julian Good-Jones. Frankly, it’s arguable he is not Center#2-worthy. Tunsil’s injury reduced the depth along the line. Brandon Coleman is now out on the Left Tackle spot. He’s probably somewhere near League-average. Remember, Laremy Tunsil wasn’t here in 2024. Coleman started all those games including the playoff run. In his second year at Right Tackle Josh Conerly is having an uneven camp. Per reports he made quality blocks followed by poor quality blocks with a Holding Penalty thrown in at the joint practice.

IF the first unit plays tonight the laser focus will be on the Offensive Line.

Camp Battles

Two Camp Battles stand out. The first is the Wide Receiver Room. Last year the team kept five. There are teams that keep seven. A lot of conventional wisdom is that the team will keep six. The flip side of Tunsil’s absence is Stefon Diggs‘ presence. Immediately the Room got better and got crowded. One player on the bubble is Van Jefferson. Per reports he has had an outstanding camp. Should he make the team it’s possible that when in 11-personnel (1-Running Back and 1-Tight End) the three Receivers on the field could be McLaurin, Diggs, and Jefferson. All of them are over 30-years old. Add in the three youngsters that have been drafted; McCaffrey, Lane, and Antonio Williams and you’re at six. Two of them handle Kickoffs and Punts so they kinda’ sorta’ count as partials. That leaves some folks outside looking in including Treylon Burks and Dyami Brown. It’s doubtful either of those would clear waivers so as to join the Practice Squad. That WR battle will go to the bitter end of August when the cutdown to the Opening Day roster occurs on the 30th.

The other battle is for the Kicker position. Jake Moody has been reliably sporadic in camp. Drew Stevens has had the better of things since the beginning of the competition. Now to see if he can deliver in a stadium setting with points that count. At this point it appears its his roster spot to lose.

Next Week

The team will travel to Detroit for Pre-Season Game #2 on the 22nd. That’s also going to be a local TV affair. Midweek we’ll finally get to the overview of the Defense.

Game Information

DOLPHINS at COMMANDERS

Date: Friday, Aug. 14
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Northwest Stadium

WATCH: TV AND LIVESTREAM

WUSA (CBS/9 – Washington)
WJZ (CBS/13 – Baltimore)
WSOC (ABC/9 – Charlotte)
WTKR (CBS/3 – Norfolk VA)
WRIC (ABC/8 – Richmond VA)
WDBJ (CBS/7 – Roanoke VA)

Broadcasters: Dan Hellie, John Riggins, Brian Mitchell, Bryan Colbert Jr.

Streaming:
Commanders.com or the Commanders app (in market/Canada)
NFL+ (out of market)
NFL Game Pass International (International, excluding China)

Radio: Washington Feed

State	City	Affiliate	Frequency
Delaware	Gerorgetown	Georgetown	94.5 FM
Maryland	Salisbury	WTGM-AM	960 AM
Delaware	Wilmington	WWTX-AM	1290 AM
Virginia	Fredericksburg	WGRQ	95.9 FM
Virginia	Winchester	WFQX	99.3 FM
Virginia	Gloucester	WXGM	99.1 FM
Virginia	Lynchburg	WBRG-FM	105.1 FM
Virginia	Lynchburg	WBRG-AM	1050 AM
Virginia	Lynchburg	WLVA-FM	94.1 FM
Virginia	Lynchburg	WLVA-AM	580 AM
Virginia	Norfolk	WNIS	790 AM
Virginia	Roanoke	WFIR FM	107.3 FM
Virginia	Roanoke	WFIR AM	960 AM
Virginia	Harrisonburg	WKDW	900 AM
Virginia	Richmond	WRXL FM	102.1 FM & 98.5 FM
Virginia	Richmond	WRNL FM	107.3 FM
Virginia	Richmond	WRNL AM	910 AM
Virginia	Harrisonburg	WKCI	970 AM
Virginia	Harrisonburg	WHBG-FM	106.9 FM
Virginia	Harrisonburg	WHBG-AM	1360 AM
West Virginia	Martinsburg	WRNR	740 AM
North Carolina	Gastonia	WGNC-FM	100.7 FM
North Carolina	Gastonia	WGNC-AM	1450 AM
Washington DC	Washington DC	WBIG-FM	100.3 FM
Virginia	Richmond	WRVA-FM	96.1 FM
Virginia	Richmond	WRVA-AM	1140 AM

TV: Florida

TV channel: WFOR (CBS Channel 4 in Miami) | WPTV (NBC Channel 5 in West Palm Beach)
Streaming: Fubo (free trial)

Radio: Florida Feed

Local – Dolphins Radio Network (English): BIG 105.9 FM (WBGG), WINZ 940 – AM | Broadcasters: Jimmy Cefalo (play-by-play), Joe Rose (color analyst)
Dolphins Spanish Radio (Spanish): WTZU-HD2 94.9 FM | Broadcasters: Roly Martin (play-by-play), Eduardo Martell (color analyst)

Postgame Radio