Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Osweiler, Ballage, McTyer impress in preseason finale
Coach Adam Gase is convinced he’s put together a resilient team that can do a better job of overcoming the type of adversity that sideswiped the Miami Dolphins’ 2017 season.
Not that Gase is expecting a hurricane to derail the start to this season and force the team to play games for 16 consecutive weeks, like last season. Or that Miami’s coach is expecting a starter to disappear on the team without explanation hours before the season opener, or for a position coach to resign midseason amid an embarrassing national scandal.
But if adversity arises, Gase believes the 53 players on the roster Saturday, after league-mandated trims, will have more of a fighting spirit than last year’s players did. We’ll soon see if he’s right. Here’s the recap of Miami’s first preseason win of 2018, breaking down the Dolphins 34-7 victory over the Falcons on Thursday.
Stock up
Quarterback Brock Osweiler — Osweiler silenced all his critics, who assumed his NFL career was over, by leading the Dolphins to a convincing win over the Falcons backups. Osweiler completed 16 of 25 passes for 147 yards and threw two touchdown passes, one of which was a sweet back shoulder throw to Francis Owusu.
Cornerback Torry McTyer — McTyer, an undrafted second-year player from UNLV, closed the preseason with a strong performance
against Atlanta, contributing two pass breakups, one of which turned into Stephone Anthony’s interception. McTyer’s play in training camp practices and the four preseason games will likely make him Miami’s top reserve as cornerback.
Tailback Kalen Ballage — This Arizona State standout looked like the second coming of former Giants tailback Brandon Jacobs, routinely bowling over Falcons defenders on his way to producing 25 rushing yards and one touchdown on four carries. Ballage, who missed the previous two preseason games due to a concussion, also caught three passes for 37 yards.