Week 1 Preseason headlines for the Buffalo Bills’ AFC East Rivals
Miami Dolphins: Run game non-existent in the first preseason game
The Miami Dolphins hired Mike McDaniels to be their head coach after a successful stop as offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. One of the aspects of the offense that was expected to improve for the Dolphins was the run game as the hope was that McDaniels would be able to bring that success he had with the 49ers.
However, in the first preseason game that wasn’t the case as the Dolphins had only 49 rushing yards as a team on 14 carries. In fact, of the 49 rushing yards, 41 of them occurred on two plays with Myles Gaskin running for 20 yards and quarterback Skyler Thompson adding a 21-yard run.
In total, Miami had six players register a rushing attempt in this game and only three finished the game with positive rushing yards as Salvon Ahmed had zero yards on two carries, Sony Michel had -2 yards on two carries and ZaQuandre White had -5 yards on one carry.
When looking at some of these totals, it may not be entirely the running backs fault and this could speak more to an inability to block for the run game by the offensive line. The Dolphins didn’t have their entire starting line out there and the players who are expected to be starters, like Austin Jackson, saw limited work.
Hopefully, Mike McDaniels can get more production when players like Terron Armstead and Connor Williams are on the field or it could be a long season in Miami.
