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The Miami Dolphins defense continues to get the best of the offense in two-minute drill scenarios.
The first-, second- and third-team units all had interceptions of Dolphins quarterbacks when the offense had successive opportunities to drive the length of the field needing a touchdown with limited time on the clock.
First, Tua Tagovailoa was picked off again by second-year safety Jevon Holland for Holland’s fourth interception of Tagovailoa in three days. Backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw to the end zone on one final play with the clock expiring, into the hands of safety Clayton Fejedelem. Third-string signal-caller Skylar Thompson had a pass go off fellow rookie Erik Ezukanma’s hands, and linebacker Calvin Munson came up with it.
Tagovailoa and Bridgewater dinked and dunked early in their drives, having to eventually force passes downfield pressed on time. Tagovailoa threw into traffic over the middle while getting pressured by defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah. Bridgewater had a long completion to undrafted rookie Braylon Sanders for about 45 yards against Verone McKinley on his penultimate play, but he still had to throw into a congested end zone on the final heave. The Munson interception was early in the drive, on the offense’s side of the field.
“Got to do your job. That’s what it comes down to,” said Holland about the defense in late-game scenarios. “It’s a high-intensity situation where you got to do your job and then you got to let the plays come to you. Because if you try to force it, then you’re going to miss your opportunity.”
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has said earlier in training camp that Tagovailoa and Holland have a healthy competition leading their respective units. Holland has gotten the best of Tagovailoa this week, and Holland spoke after practice about how they communicate to get each other better.
“I usually ask him about plays that I messed up on,” Holland said. “I’m not really looking for him to explain what I did right or what he saw on that specific play. I’m more looking for things that bother me when I go to sleep at night and how I can correct them.”
Holland added the quarterbacks do check in with him when he gets practice interceptions, and he wants to one day break down film with them to get the altering perspectives.
Observations
To start team portions of practice, Tagovailoa ripped an impressive deep ball to Trent Sherfield for a touchdown over Holland and cornerback Xavien Howard. Sherfield also caught a deep corner from Bridgewater early in team drills. …
Tagovailoa also made fine early throws to Tyreek Hill off a play action and roll to the right and lobbing one to an open Cedrick Wilson Jr. with room to run down the right side. He had another 35-to-40-yard gain to Hill deep against Nik Needham that Hill slowed down to catch with a step on Needham. Late in 11-on-11 action, Tagovailoa found tight end Durham Smythe in the perfect spot between one high and one low defender in a zone. …
Myles Gaskin scored a short rushing touchdown on a Teddy Bridgewater-led situational drive. A Bridgewater pass to River Cracraft set the Dolphins up inside the 10-yard line. An official called holding on the play, but coaches declined the penalty to allow the play to stand. …
Salvon Ahmed had a decent run to the right side of the line early in drills and was also active on short dump-off passes. …
Wilson got open deep for Tagovailoa, and Tagovailoa delivered on target on a pass where he may have been hit if there was live contact on the quarterback, but the ball went through Wilson’s hands. …
Preston Williams caught a pass from Bridgewater for a sizable gain. He also had Elijah Hamilton cover him for a pass breakup. …
Emmanuel Ogbah, in addition to having the pressure that forced the Holland interception, also registered a separate practice sack on Tagovailoa. …
Undrafted defensive end and South Florida local Owen Carney was seen coming around the edge for a would-be sack. …
The team did early portions of practice in the indoor facility before heading out for team drills.
Stock up
As obvious as it is with his stock already high, Holland continues to consistently create turnovers in practice. For an outside-the-box selection, kicker Jason Sanders made all his field goals while the team was inside on Thursday. He’s coming off a 4-for-4 performance on field goals in the exhibition opener at Tampa.
Stock down
Rookie wide receiver and fourth-round pick Erik Ezukanma had the ball intercepted by Munson go off his hands initially while getting hit by a defensive back. He had a quiet week after building up considerable hype through a week-plus stretch of consecutive strong practices.
Injury report
Left tackle Terron Armstead missed practice Thursday after he also did not participate in team drills on Wednesday. He was coming off strong workloads in his recovery from offseason knee surgery both in Tuesday drills and the final joint practice with the Buccaneers last week.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle stretched with the team to start Thursday’s session, but did not participate in drills as the Dolphins are taking it day to day in what McDaniel deemed a “preventative” measure for a minor injury.
Guard Solomon Kindley missed Thursday practice. Safety Eric Rowe, tackle Greg Little, outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett and fullback John Lovett also remained out.
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