MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa wouldn’t grade last week’s first joint practice with the Detroit Lions, but he did provide an assessment.
Whatever you want to call it, Miami’s performance was not up to par. Detroit’s defense smothered the Dolphins’ offense, albeit without wide receiver Tyreek Hill, while the Lions’ offense put together a highlight reel on the opposite field.
Tagovailoa didn’t mince words once semantics were settled.
“My assessment … I still wouldn’t give myself a grade. I think that’s for you guys to do with however you guys report that and whatnot,” Tagovailoa said after practice. “I think today offensively was a very frustrating day in regards to what we wanted to do, what we said we wanted to do. Came out and we just weren’t able to get things jumpstarted, so that was very frustrating.”
Miami’s offense also struggled to find its rhythm the week prior in a joint practice with the Chicago Bears. Coach Mike McDaniel admitted that neither practice was up to standard, but as the Dolphins host the Jacksonville Jaguars for a joint practice Thursday before the teams’ preseason finale Saturday, he wants to see the same level of resolve his players showed in response to two underwhelming competitive sessions.
The Dolphins struggled at times, particularly later in the game, but managed a 24-24 tie with the Bears in their first preseason game. In their second practice with Detroit, the Dolphins offense wasn’t as easily pushed around. Tagovailoa didn’t play in Miami’s second preseason game, but backups Quinn Ewers and Zach Wilson combined to throw three touchdown passes.
McDaniel agreed with Tagovailoa’s assessment of Wednesday’s practice but not necessarily because of the results.
“We’re very process-driven but as competitors, it’s impossible not to really, really get annoyed and pissed off when the results aren’t what you’d expect,” McDaniel said Thursday. “And quite honestly, I didn’t like a majority of the results on plays. … I didn’t like practice because there were a lot of negative results tied to things that we’ve been working on in our process. I’m cool with contested losses; I’m not cool with (a coverage) bust. I’m cool with a DB making a great play; I’m not cool with the receiver running the wrong route, those types of things.”
McDaniel said the past two weeks, during which the Dolphins remained on the road and went straight from Chicago to Detroit, brought this locker room closer together and taught players the value of controlling what they can control.
When asked which lessons from the past couple weeks he wants to see his players implement when the Jaguars come to town, McDaniel kept it simple: continue to get better.
“One thing I thought was the best thing about both joints is the intentionality and effort going into it was correct,” he said. “A lot of individuals learned the lesson of doing different things from your technique and fundamentals — in a competitive environment, it’s the most difficult thing to master. But when you look at the way that we had the effort and the intentionality, and with the Chicago Bears as an example, I thought we had better technique and fundamentals in all three phases in the game than we did in the practice. With the Detroit Lions, I think all of the above were improved on the second joint, and so that means we got better.
“The idea throughout the preseason is to find ways to consistently improve and not stay stagnant or regress as far as utilizing the month of August to get lessons for your team that will survive the (season).”
