{"id":371988,"date":"2026-08-15T04:44:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/371988\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T04:44:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:44:35","slug":"malik-willis-impresses-in-dolphins-debut-but-miami-falls-to-commanders-in-preseason-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/371988\/","title":{"rendered":"Malik Willis impresses in Dolphins debut, but Miami falls to Commanders in preseason opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Malik Willis got off to an impressive start as Miami&#8217;s new quarterback, leading a 14-play, 93-yard touchdown drive before the Dolphins fell 20-7 to the Washington Commanders on Friday night in the preseason opener for both teams.<\/p>\n<p>Signed as a free agent in the offseason to replace Tua Tagovailoa, Willis completed 4 of 5 passes for 43 yards on his lone series and rushed for 9 yards on two carries.<\/p>\n<p>De&#8217;Von Achane also played only the opening series, capping the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. He finished with 39 yards on seven carries.<\/p>\n<p>Willis&#8217; best play came on a 28-yard connection with rookie Caleb Douglas, who made a one-handed catch over cornerback Antonio Hamilton Sr. Washington rested nearly all of its defensive starters.<\/p>\n<p>Marcus Mariota leaves with leg injury<\/p>\n<p>Washington veteran backup quarterback Marcus Mariota got the start but lasted just four plays before suffering a leg injury on a non-contact play while handing the ball off to Kaytron Allen.<\/p>\n<p>Mariota immediately fell to the ground and was surrounded by Washington&#8217;s training staff. He eventually walked off the field under his own power and entered the blue medical tent.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran emerged a few minutes later and briefly spoke on the sideline with starting quarterback Jayden Daniels and offensive coordinator David Blough before heading to the locker room.<\/p>\n<p>One play before the injury, Mariota completed a 22-yard pass to Dyami Brown but was hit by linebacker Tyrel Dodson as he threw. Mariota was slow to get up before jogging to catch up with his teammates.<\/p>\n<p>The Commanders held out Daniels and two dozen other healthy players.<\/p>\n<p>Dolphins backups struggle as Commanders pull away<\/p>\n<p>Sam Hartman replaced Mariota and had an uneven performance, completing 8 of 15 passes for 80 yards with an interception.<\/p>\n<p>Miami backup Quinn Ewers also struggled, completing 1 of 8 passes for 27 yards with an interception. Dolphins third-string quarterback Cam Miller completed 3 of 11 passes and threw two interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>Washington controlled the game once both teams turned to their reserves. Allen rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown, while fellow rookie Robert Henry Jr. added 75 rushing yards and a score.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malik Willis got off to an impressive start as Miami&#8217;s new quarterback, leading a 14-play, 93-yard touchdown drive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[57,29510,123,1763,125,124,10365,110,10829],"class_list":["post-371988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-football","tag-marcus-mariota","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-national-football-league","tag-sports","tag-washington-commanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}