Eagles-Dolphins analysis: Birds backups surrender early lead to Miami in 48-10 preseason finale blowout

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — With half of their players in street clothes, the Eagles finished the preseason trying to circumvent the heat.

Most of the team’s starters patrolled the sideline during the preseason finale against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday, strategically occupying spaces that caught a breeze from the oscillating fans mounted to Hard Rock Stadium’s benches.

The Eagles’ starters got a front-row seat for quite a lopsided affair, which started with a 51-yard completion from Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill with Mac McCain in coverage. Here’s our analysis of the Eagles’ 48-10 loss to the Dolphins:

The Eagles entered Saturday night seemingly focused on getting into the regular season without any additional injuries to their starting corps. The Dolphins sought a confidence boost for their starters.

Considering the Eagles’ entire starting secondary watched from the sideline as Hill racked up 63 receiving yards on two catches during the opening series, it’s safe to say both sides got what they were after.

The Eagles had more than two dozen healthy scratches, mostly comprised of entrenched starters and veterans. The only remnants of their presumed regular-season active roster were young players such as Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Davion Taylor, and Andre Dillard.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said postgame that he knew the Dolphins would play their starters but didn’t think his group needed the extra game snaps.

“I felt like our guys got two good days of work in while we were here,” Sirianni said. “I thought they were ready for that week and I didn’t want to over-push them coming into that game after the amount of work that we did in those two days, so I was comfortable with the starters.”

Somewhat unsurprisingly, McCain and K’Von Wallace struggled to contain one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. The Dolphins’ starting offense made quick work of the Eagles’ backups on a four-play, 75-yard opening drive.

Tagovailoa ran the Dolphins offense, minus Hill, for the entire first quarter and racked up 17 straight points before ceding the night to the second-team offense.

“Obviously, when you play like that, it’s not acceptable no matter who is against who,” Sirianni said. “They did a nice job in moving the ball and stopping us, but obviously that’s not up to our standards.”

While some of the Eagles’ defensive struggles can be chalked up to the mismatch in personnel groups, there still were some areas for concern watching the second-team defense.

Dean and Davion Taylor played the opening series and struggled with the Dolphins’ play-action heavy attack. They consistently got sucked in by the run fakes only for Tagovailoa to hit receivers running intermediate routes in the spaces the young linebackers had just vacated.

Taylor looked like he’d get the night off after the opening few series, but returned for a stretch during the second half.

Sirianni said Taylor’s extended playing time was a result of the lower numbers at the inside linebacker spot.

“It wasn’t anything there,” Sirianni said. “Just a numbers thing where Davion was continuing to play.”

Taylor’s struggles continued on the third-team unit. Taylor was the nearest defender on a second-half touchdown catch by Dolphins tight end Hunter Long; he appeared to lose Long behind him in the end zone.

Neither Dean nor Taylor are likely to play significant snaps in Week 1, but either one could eventually carve out a role once the regular season begins. For Dean, being more disciplined against the play-action game will go a long way in earning more snaps, especially with how many offenses have gravitated toward setting up the pass with run fakes.

In Taylor’s case, he’ll have to shake off a few worrisome performances to earn any meaningful role in the defense.

Reid Sinnett’s play against the Cleveland Browns last Sunday beckoned the question: Will the Eagles have to keep three quarterbacks?

The validity of that debate took a hit Saturday, as Sinnett threw one interception, had a few misfires, and looked generally shaky in the preseason finale. The 25-year-old had spotty accuracy at times and held onto the ball with open receivers on multiple occasions as well.

Sinnett still has some arm talent and could entice a team looking for a developmental quarterback on the waiver wire, but a strong showing against Miami would have gone a long way in making that case. Instead, he may have given the Eagles reason to go with two quarterbacks next week.

Aside from Sinnett, there were a handful of players on the roster bubble who either saw their stock rise or fall on Saturday.

Jason Huntley, Grant Calcaterra, Reed Blankenship, and Devon Allen did some nice things in the preseason finale, further helping their odds, however long they may be, to make the 53-man roster.

Huntley reeled off a 67-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, one of the lone bright spots of the night for the Eagles offense. The reserve running back has some value as a returner and has displayed some juice as a ballcarrier. The Eagles have three backs ahead of him, but he made a case to be the next guy up if the Eagles keep four running backs.

The rookie tight end Calcaterra had two catches for 30 yards, further proving that he can make an impact in the passing game. His room to improve in the blocking game was apparent Saturday. He had a handful of iffy results in the run game and committed a holding penalty in the red zone.

Blankenship showed the physicality he has displayed all of training camp with a few nice tackles, and Allen’s ability to fly down the field as a gunner on punts showed up as Dolphins returner Preston Williams muffed a punt with the track star in the vicinity.