Tua Tagovailoa leads TD drive, plus more from Dolphins’ 13-6 win over the Commanders

Tua Tagovailoa played more than likely his lone series of the preseason on Saturday night at Hard Rock stadium.

Along with several starters who also saw brief action, Tagovailoa made the most of it as he led a touchdown drive on his lone series during the Miami Dolphins’ 13-6 victory over the Washington Commanders in their second of three preseason games.

Tagovailoa capped an 11-play, 61-yard drive on Miami’s opening possession with a well-timed, 13-yard touchdown pass to River Cracraft on a fade into the corner of the end zone.

Tagovailoa finished a perfect 5-for-5 for 51 yards in what will likely be it for the Dolphins’ starting quarterback as far as game action until their regular season opener Sept. 8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

With Terron Armstead still being held out, Tagovailoa played behind a starting offensive line of Kendall Lamm at left tackle, Robert Jones at left guard, Liam Eichenberg at center, Lester Cotton at right guard and Austin Jackson at right tackle.

The Dolphins did not play the full complement of their starting offense, however, as Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle sat out and likely will not play either in Miami’s preseason finale on Friday at Tampa Bay.

Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane saw early snaps, but the Dolphins held out three tailbacks - Jaylen Wright, Jeff Wilson and Salvon Ahmed. Wilson seemingly broke his nose last week against the Falcons, and Ahmed is nursing a foot injury that had him placed in a boot two weeks ago.

On the Dolphins’ scoring drive, Tagovailoa moved well, avoiding a rush on a quick pass to Julian Hill and putting a nice touch on his touchdown pass to Cracraft, who finished with two catches for 29 yards. The play came on a fourth-and-1 as Miami converted a pair of fourth downs on the drive as well as a pair of third downs with three of those conversions coming on short-yardage runs by Mostert.

When asked if he felt regular season ready, Tagoavailoa said: “You never know until you get out there and you actually play your first real snap against their best and you have your best. You never really know if you’re ready until you go out there and you get challenged and you see and you get looks that you’ve never seen.

“With the joint practices, they do some justice within the practices, but we’re not getting hit. Outside of that, it’s just a day-to-day thing. I’m not going to say I’m ready or I’m not ready. When that time comes, we’re going to see what our team can do and see if we’re ready.”

Cracraft left the game with an apparent injury. Should Cracraft be fine, he appears to be carving himself a spot as Miami’s No. 3 receiver behind Hill and Waddle should Odell Beckham Jr. not be available to play to open the regular season.

The Dolphins also showed glimpses of how valuable a weapon tight end Jonnu Smith figures to be in their offense.

Smith lined up at multiple spots and ran lots of pre-snap motion, finishing with four catches for 23 yards overall. Smith’s second catch was a quick forward toss out of the shotgun formation on which he ran a sweep - a play the team often uses with Tyreek Hill.

Smith, Durham Smythe and Julian Hill each took snaps on Miami’s opening possession with the Dolphins using multiple tight ends on a few plays.

STILL LACKLUSTER

The Dolphins’ backup quarterback competition between Skylar Thompson and Mike White still didn’t offer much to get excited about.

Thompson went 8 for 15 for 61 yards and led the Dolphins to points (a field goal) on one of his four drives. His best throw was a 35-yard completion to Erik Ezukanma, but he was sacked three times during his snaps.

Playing mostly with reserves or fringe roster players, White was slightly better than in last week’s preseason opener, also leading the team to a field goal drive to open the second half. But after leading the Dolphins into the red zone on the ensuing possession, White was sacked by Jamin Davis and fumbled the ball.

White finished 11 for 20 passing for 116 yards.

Rookie tackle Patrick Paul, who has had a generally positive rookie camp and preseason so far, was beaten badly on the play.

“I made some good throws, made some good decisions,” White said. “I made some throws you wish you’d have back, but like I said, I’m just proud of the group for fighting through that.”

THIS AND THAT

▪ Rookie Chop Robinson saw his first preseason action with mixed results. He appeared to struggle to set the edge at times against the Commanders’ tackles. But Robinson did flash as he shot through the line for a tackle for loss on running back Michael Wiley in the second quarter just as Wiley was taking the handoff from quarterback Jeff Driskel.

▪ Braylon Sanders limped off the field and went to the locker room during the fourth quarter. Sanders caught two passes for 17 yards. On his first, he made a nice adjustment on a back shoulder throw from Thompson on Miami’s third drive to convert a third down.

▪ Chris Brooks, who is at the bottom of Miami’s running back depth chart, had the longest play of the game when he broke loose down the right side for a 59-yard run. Brooks was then injured on the ensuing play.