Miami — Three Performances of Note
Checking In With the Rookies
Let’s face it, for many people preseason is the first real chance to see their rookies in action and may be the only reason to tune in to a game before the real action starts. Right tackle Ja’Wuan James played 31 snaps (compared to the rest of the starters who began to fade out of the lineup after 10) and had a mixed day. He was actually perfect in pass protection, keeping a clean sheet from 16 pass-blocking snaps, though a cynic might point to the opposition as a big factor in that. His run blocking grade of -1.8 wasn’t great and left him with an overall mark of -0.7.
Second-rounder Jarvis Landry was only targeted twice, catching one pass – a quick screen – and getting dropped immediately for a loss, but did look dangerous as a return man.
Second Team D Upstages the 1′s
It wasn’t a great day for the Miami starters on defense with only really Randy Starks (typically) showing well and even he could only flash rather than dominate in his limited snaps. By contrast, the second team had several very positive performances with Jason Trusnik (+2.4), Jordan Tripp (+2.4), Will Davis (+3.1) and Terrence Fede (+4.1), in particular, impressing. Fede, a seventh-round rookie, graded well against both the run and the pass and though he couldn’t get the quarterback to the ground, he notched four hurries, more than anybody else on the team. The performance of these guys with the second unit was a large reason the Falcons could only manage 2.6 yards per carry on offense and suffered several plays that were blown up for big losses.
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