Miami Dolphins fans could be forgiven for feeling a little uneasy after Thursday\u2019s joint practice with the New York Giants. The Dolphins\u2019 offense struggled to consistently move the football, while the Giants\u2019 pass rush repeatedly found its way into the backfield.<\/p>\n
But before anyone declares the season over in August, there is an important piece of context to remember \u2014 this was a joint practice, not a regular-season game.<\/p>\n
Head coach Jeff Hafley has been very clear about what he wants from these sessions. Rather than wasting time designing a game plan specifically to beat the opposing team, Miami\u2019s new head-man-in-charge wants his players to face difficult situations and find out who can execute. That philosophy was particularly evident on Thursday against New York when the team\u2019s offensive line couldn\u2019t handle blitzes the Giants were sending Malik Willis\u2019 way.<\/p>\n
The Giants certainly provided a difficult test. Their defensive front consistently created pressure, with Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and others making life difficult for Malik Willis. Reports indicated the Giants recorded at least six sacks, with Brian Burns suggesting the actual number was even higher.<\/p>\n
But Willis offered perhaps the most important perspective afterward.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins quarterback acknowledged the Giants\u2019 defensive success while pointing out that Miami wasn\u2019t game planning specifically for the Giants. He said, \u201cWe weren\u2019t game planning for those guys,\u201d adding that the offense would have \u201ca few better options on some plays where we were just kind of stuck,\u201d if it had been a regular season contest.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the distinction Dolphins fans should keep in mind.<\/p>\n
Miami absolutely needs to improve its pass protection. Thursday exposed problems that coaches will undoubtedly put under the microscope, but the Dolphins also weren\u2019t unveiling their regular-season offensive plan.<\/p>\n
The real test comes when Miami has a week to study an opponent, identify its tendencies and build a protection plan specifically designed to neutralize its best pass rushers.<\/p>\n
So, yes, Thursday was ugly.<\/p>\n
But ugly film in August can be useful film. And if Hafley and his staff learn from it, that may ultimately be exactly what this joint practice was supposed to accomplish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami Dolphins fans could be forgiven for feeling a little uneasy after Thursday\u2019s joint practice with the New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,137120,133023,125,124],"class_list":["post-377107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins-preseason","tag-miami-dolphins-training-camp","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377107","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=377107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}