The Miami Dolphins' shaky preseason showing continued at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday when they faced the New York Giants in a battle featuring a whole lot of backups.
The 26-3 loss once again illustrated the Dolphins' well-chronicled but still alarming lack of depth, which wasn't helped by a couple of first-half injuries.
Unlike the preseason opener, the Dolphins didn't have a brilliant first drive on which to build because this one was rough from start to finish.
-- Zero issues from here about the idea of sitting starters for this second preseason other than the rookies -Kadyn Proctor, Chris Johnson, Jacob Rodriguez included. They're young players and could benefit from the experience of a home game, even in the preseason.
-- Of course, this backfired with rookie fourth-round pick Trey Moore when he sustained an apparent ankle injury while hitting QB Jameis Winston on a pass rush. It would be easy to second-guess here and suggest the Dolphins should have sat their rookie starters as well, but that's playing the results. We'll be doing enough second-guessing the rest of 2026 that we don't know to overdo it here.
-- While Cam Miller looked better in practice the past week or so, this game showed the Dolphins have a major backup QB issue if Quinn Ewers doesn't get his game back on track. Period. As we've said with Ewers, though, it's unfair to put all the blame on Miller because it's not like he got a ton of help.
-- For one thing, the running game was brutal. And that was before Ollie Gordon II left the game with what appeared to be an oblique injury (teams aren't required to announce injuries during the preseason).
-- Jaylen Wright has had ball security issues in his time with the Dolphins, and his fumble before contact was not ideal -to say the least.
-- Miller also wasn't helped by his receivers, most notably Tutu Atwell, whose rough summer continued. It remains very difficult to see how the former Miami high school star will make the 53-man roster.
-- The Dolphins have been churning the roster over the past couple of weeks, and maybe what we've seen with their depth in the preseason is an indication there's still work to do there. The Dolphins backups again didn't match up against the Giants backups, and that's in every facet of the game.
-- Backups or not, it's pretty depressing that the Dolphins didn't even have 100 yards of total offense in the first three quarters.
-- And on defense nobody emerged as a potential playmaker despite the Giants basically having the ball the whole game. This is why the Dolphins will keep looking for more players, like they did when they claimed a Colts cornerback on the day of the game.
-- Not sure what to make of Willie Gay Jr. getting so many snaps beyond the team being short at linebacker, but him not being able to make more of an impact perhaps what was most telling.
-- But, hey, Riley Patterson did nail that 53-yard field goal attempt in the first half.
-- So there was something positive, right?
-- And guess we should mention new linebacker Cam Riley's tackle for a 5-yard loss on a running play early in the fourth quarter too. But on the very next play Riley missed a tackle to allow an extra 6-7 yards on a 14-yard reception.
-- A muffed punt by Tahj Washington just inside the two-minute warning was a pretty fitting way to end things for the Dolphins before the Giants mercifully just kneeled to end this game -actually this mismatch.
-- This game was Exhibit A for those who want to reduce the number of preseason games because it was a tough watch. And that's being very kind.
-- The best news of all is there's only one of these left before the real games start on the second weekend of September.
-- The Dolphins, though, need to use all the time they have to upgrade their roster. This game against the Giants was just another example the non-starters just aren't good enough.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/dolphins/onsi as Dolphins Preseason Game 2 Instant Takeaways: Miller, Coleman, Injuries, and More .
