If this was the Miami Dolphins’ “dre s rehearsal” for the 2022 preseason, it was rather ho-hum.Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and several other projected starters made their 2022 debut and perhaps their only preseason appearance against a Raiders team that took a different approach and kept most of their front-line players in Las Vegas.It was, all things considered, a pretty solid outing for Tagovailoa, even though his two drives produced only three points in a 15-13 lo s at Hard Rock Stadium.Tagovailoa completed 6 of 8 pa ses for 58 yards and a 94.8 pa ser rating, and the two incompletions came when he was forced to get rid of the ball in the face of pre sure on a naked bootleg and when Kenny Young Jersey tight end Mike Gesicki failed to turn his head around as a third-down pa s got to him in the middle of the field.It was a disappointing outing overall for Gesicki despite his three receptions. Along with that incompletion, his failure to succe sfully hold his block on a naked bootleg led to Teddy Bridgewater being flagged for intentional grounding for a Raiders safety and he later dropped a pa s after being hit.Like Tagovailoa, Bridgewater also made his preseason debut, and his final Joe Flacco Jersey stats were pedestrian 10-for-20 for 119 yards and a 68.5 pa ser rating.Rookie seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson, who played the entire preseason opener at Tampa Bay, replaced Bridgewater late in the third quarter and led the Dolphins to an 86-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a 19-yard pa s to rookie Za’Quandre White.Thompson had a second consecutive impre sive outing and gave the Dolphins a chance to pull out a late victory with two beautiful pa ses to fellow Erik Ezukanma, who finished with 114 receiving yards, but Sanders hit the left upright on a 46-yard field goal attempt.Scroll to ContinueSanders accounted for the other Dolphins points with his 46-yard field goal on the Dolphins’ second drive and a 57-yard kick in the second quarter.As was the case against Tampa Bay, the Dolphins running game struggled against the Raiders with 36 yards Iman Marshall Jersey on 16 attempts, 12 of the yards coming on one run by Salvon Ahmed.Defensively, the story became a series of injuries all of them at the already-thinned cornerback position.Nik Needham (finger/hand), Keion Cro sen and newcomer Mackensie Alexander all were shaken up at some point during the game, though none of the injuries appeared serious.Then again, any cornerback injury is scary considering that starter Byron Jones has been on PUP since the start of training camp and promising second-year player Trill Williams was placed on injured reserve after sustaining a torn ACL against Tampa Bay in the preseason opener.After pretty much every starter sat against Tampa Bay, the defense fielded almost its entire normal group against the Raiders except for cornerback Xavien Howard and linebacker Melvin Ingram, in addition to Jones.The Raiders offense, meanwhile, played without quarterback Derek Carr, running back Josh Jacobs and wide receiver Davante Adams, but that didn Nico Siragusa Jersey ‘t keep backup Jarrett Stidham from directing a 75-yard touchdown drive to start the game.Las Vegas kept the lead until White’s touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders regained the lead with a Daniel Carlson field goal.Though he wasn’t able to help the Dolphins complete the comeback, Thompson finished as the star of the evening, pa sing for 129 yards with a 152.1 pa ser rating.The Dolphins close out their preseason schedule against the Philadelphia Eagles at Hard Rock Stadium next Saturday.
