Dolphins vs. Cowboys Observations

Since football season has officially started after the Hall of Fame Game, I would like to start a new series discussing the good, bad, and ugly of what I observed from different teams. Although many say preseason is pointless, I always like to argue that the problems you see in preseason are usually the problems you will have in the regular season. With that being said, here are somethings that I observed:

1. A lot of starters were out- Tony Romo, Mike Wallace, Jason Witten just to name a few. In this case this appears to be normal because you do not want to play someone unless you have to. Since the Cowboys have 5 preseason games, I think it is smart that they did not play their starters very much. Same for Miami.

2. Both teams looked rusty- This also is normal, but it appears like the Cowboys had it much more together than the Dolphins did. Even so, the red zone offense for the Cowboys needs some work for sure. The Dolphins had a pretty awful start to the preseason though as Miller fumbled around the their own 10. The offense looked disorganized and the only bright spot on the defense was the defensive line. With more time, I think there are things both teams can do to get better as training camp goes on.

3. Dolphins are going to have left tackle problems- Ware did not even play much at all, yet it seemed the QB position for the Dolphins was constantly under distress. It did not take long at all for pressure to form and Matt Moore had a tough night because of it. Perhaps they should have put the money on Jake Long or drafted Lane Johnson...

4. Dolphins Receivers are awful- Sure, they have Mike Wallace, but who else? Everyone seemed to be dropping all the passes and it just looked awful. Would not be surprised if the Dolphins start to look at other teams WR groups to determine if there is talent somewhere else. 

5. Cowboys love tight ends- It seemed like the Cowboys were using a lot of blocking tight ends for the run game. I am a little surprised by the ground and pound game as well, but it seemed to work. It will be interesting how they use all their tight ends. 

6. Cowboys can run the ball- Boy did they. They embarrassed a lot of Miami defenders by simply knocking them down and getting more yards. No wonder the Cowboys are turning more to ground and pound.

7. Dion Jordan and Cameron Wake are going to be deadly- I loved the speed the Jordan brought to the pass rush and I think he and Wake are going to do some damage. However, I question the secondary in this defense because they caused a lot of headaches for this defensive unit as a whole.

8. Dolphins will miss Reggie Bush- You know, this team spent a lot of money on getting different players from the league, but maybe they should have invested more in their own players. Reggie Bush was a play maker, the other running backs...

9. Cowboys did a great job on coaching changes- I really like the additions they made at the coaching areas and the fact that Garret will not be calling the plays next year. A lot of head coaches that call the plays on offense/defense typically do not do very well. Meanwhile, Joe Philbin did not look very satisfied with this team and rightfully so. There is plenty of work to be done in Miami.

Overall the Cowboys looked much more organized and better. However, they went against a team that is going to need time to bond and all. I think that both teams are around average overall though, with the Cowboys being slightly above average and the Dolphins being below average. Will look at future games though to determine if any of these changes.