Well Dolphins fans, our young team performed much like a young team does. Mistakes, mistakes, and more mistakes. I’m not worried in the least that we lost to a team that many people pointed out to be the “one team we can beat”. We are a very young, very inexperienced team. Add in to the equation that due to Sully and Haf’s choice to evaluate the bottom half of the roster by playing them extensively in the Preseason, which in turn left the greater majority of starters playing 1 drive only, and that in the very first preseason game, which in case you forgot was a month ago, August 14th. You can hate the decision or agree with it, but either way, to expect a large group of players who are very young to not play together at all, and expect them to defeat a team laden with veteran players who have played together, it’s kind of silly. On the other hand, to expect this team to perform better each and every game now that they have played together, and will continue to do so is also fair.

This week, the Miami Dolphins stayed in Cali, after their defeat by the hands of the Raiders, not quite the “Sea of Hands”, but effective enough. I hope the lack of travel gives us a leg up, we can sure use any advantage. The 49ers had to travel back from Australia after dismantling the team thought of as a Superbowl favorite in the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams. The Niners kept their foot on the gas in that game and never looked back. The LA Rams never got off the mat in this one falling 27-7, and believe me, the score isn’t even accurate gauge of how efficiently and thoroughly the Niners beat the Rams. Third down efficiency tells a big story, and this one reveals a lot. SF was 7-12 (58%) on 3rd Down while the Rams languished at 2-9 (22%). The 49ers held a 7 minute edge with the time of possession, 33:50 – 26:10. This will be their objective again, and we saw how easily 2nd year RB Ashton Jeanty ran all over our defense, and the 49ers have a fantastic tandem with CMC (Christian McCaffrey) and rookie 3rd RD pick RB Kaelon Black. Last week against the Rams these 2 combined for 133 yards and that could be 333 yards unless our front 7 play better.

I think one important aspect for us is doing a better job of getting RB De’Von Achane the ball. He’s our best offensive weapon, hands down, and there’s no excuse for not using him a lot. We just paid him well, (4YR/$64M) so now it’s time to get rewards on your investment. It’s pretty simple really, if we can the ball effectively,. we take away their advantage of holding the ball from us. of course, this will require a significant improvement in our defensive play, but improving from what we did last week shouldn’t be asking a lot. RB Ashton Jeanty accounted for 147 total yards, 102 rushing on 23 carries and 45 receiving yards on 6 receptions. We have to find similar success this week for Achane. If we do, we can stay in this game, a game where the Home 49ers are just shy of 14 point favorites.

I like what I saw out of our Wide Receivers last week, especially rookie WR Caleb Douglas who made it evident why he was a 3rd RD choice, and perhaps not the reach everyone here said he was. WR Caleb Douglas made a big splash, hauling in 5 receptions for 94 yards, including 35 yards after the catch. On the other side of the ledger was rookie wideout Chris Bell, our other 3rd RD pick. WR Chris Bell was targeted only twice and he finished with only 1 reception for 25 yards. Not disappointing in any way though, I think it’s fantastic he’s on the 53 man roster and playing, and not on IR/R. 2nd year WR Malik Washington was the most targeted receiver with 8, but the small statured Washington only came up with 3 receptions for 53 yards. Not having enough balance of the running game and trhe passing game didn’t help the QB, the receivers, or the O-line, or the game result for that matter, but OC Bobby Slowik will most likely make some changes for Week 2.

I think the biggest disappointment for me was the D-line. I expected better from Sieler, Phillips, Biggers and Chop, but it’s important to note that DL Zeek Biggers didn’t play one snap in the preseason. Regardless, this unit just has to be better. No pass rush at all, especially considering we were up against the cement footed veteran QB Kirk Cousins. Cousins, the 38 YO QB attempted 30 passes and was not sacked. If you thought the above stats with the 49ers and Rams looked slanted, the Raiders had the ball for even longer, 34:53 – 25:07. Hard to win a game where your defense spends all that time on the field. DE Chop Robinson is optimistically questionable for this game with a concussion, and if he can’t go, RDE Josh Uche and backup DE Malik Herring will be tasked with the pressure of getting pressure.

One unit that looked so bad and good at the same time was the secondary. Rookie 1st RD pick CB Chris Johnson was a big contributor to the bad. He was beaten all over the field, by RB’s and WR’s alike. I’m not worried about him, again, lack of experience and playing time in the preseason definitely stung us in Game 1. Not that one game makes him a seasoned veteran, but he will be better if the 49ers challenge him like the Raiders did. One thing I can say in the positive for Chris Johnson is he can play the run and tackle. He will get better and better with more playing time. Rookie S Michael Taaffe recorded his first INT, along with 2nd year Safety Dante Trader who got his first INT of 2026. As for the LB’s, ILB Jacob Rodriguez stuffed that stat lines with 14 total tackles (5 solo, 9 assisted). The aforementioned rookie CB Chris Johnson was 2nd with 11 tackles (5 solo, 6 assisted). Also, despite getting beat, rookie CB Chris Johnson led the Dolphins D with 2 passes defensed.

I think overall, the O-line looked at the very least serviceable. I think TE Will Kacmarek is still banged up, he didn’t look like a sledgehammer, or even the best blocking TE in the draft, but again, not playing in the preseason didn’t help him any. If it sounds like I’m killing Sully and Haf here, I’m not. Just pointing out that they had a difficult decision to make, to evaluate the bottom half of the roster knowing full well who was making the top end. They chose to do that in lieu of getting starters more reps and familiarity. It was a necessary evil though, considering our lack of cap space and the knowledge we had to field a very young 53 man roster. One player who looked particularly good in Game 1 was our first first RD pick LG Kadyn Proctor. He was mobile, athletic, and nasty, all wonderful traits to have, and he used them well.

One especially disappointing revelation was our ST’s play. More specifically, punt and kickoff coverage, or lack thereof. We allowed KR RB Dylan Laube 2 returns for a total of 95 yards, and his long was 50, so doing the math, we allowed 2 KO returns for over 45 yards.. Unacceptable!!!! With a young team, we should have guys flying around cracking skulls, not what we saw. That just has to be better, or no matter what the rest of the team does, they will be playing from behind. On punt returns, we allowed 2 returns for 34 yards. One return was 23 yards, the other 11. Again, we have to be better there.

It’s so difficult to evaluate our QB play. On the one hand, it was truly wonderful to see our QB have the ability to not only have the physical and mental capacity to run past a first down marker, and not get killed, but to actually do it! One thing I can point out with certainty is that QB Malik Willis held onto the ball too darn long. He needs to get that clock in his head and use it. 5 sacks for 35 yards. His passing stats were not good, 15-27 220 yards, 0TD, 1 INT. He added 39 yards on 6 carries. I know Malik Willis was just trying to make things happen, and when you have a bunch of young receivers who don’t have the savvy to wriggle free of coverage, he just needs to throw the ball away. I’m sure Haf and OC Bobby Slowik had this discussion with Malik Willis.

So what do we expect in Week 2, on the road, against the very formidable San Francisco 49ers in their home opener. For those of you in the know, this is the “Patterson Bowl”, Doug VS Dar. Our resident Dolphins fan blogger Doug and his wife Darlene, a Niners fan. House divided and all that jazz. Dar must be licking her chops for this one as the Dolphins look like easy prey, but sometimes, things aren’t what they appear. Especially in the NFL, where crazy things happen all season long, could the Dolphins upset the 49ers to knock a trillion people out of their “Knockout Pools”? Last week it was the LA Chargers, could it stay in Cali and be the Niners who look like one of the best NFL teams after Week 1? Stay tuned!

GO DOLPHINS!!!