It doesn’t count ... yet

Dolphins don’t get many answers as Ravens hold out most of their starters

MIAMI GARDENS — Repeat after me: It’s just preseason. It’s just preseason. It’s just …

Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe Miami Dolphins’ starters struggling against the Baltimore Ravens’ junior varsity team is irrelevant. Maybe a third-straight preseason game with too many problems becomes immaterial.

Maybe the first-string offense finally got the kinks out, too. It notched one first down in its first three series Saturday night. It then closed the first half with its first touchdown of preseason and a field goal. Find the end zone more, you say? The Dolphins had trouble finding their sideline at times Saturday. Linebacker Kiko Alonso did something that really defined preseason. He somehow went to the Baltimore sideline and stood among the Ravens players, as if he was in the right place, looking out on the field in the second quarter. Maybe it was a double-agent ploy? Maybe this is what preseason’s for? Maybe he should have been ordered into concussion protocol?

The great thing about sports is you go into a game thinking you might see something you never have. And there it was. The Dolphins defense was flagged for delay of game because Alonso stood on the wrong sideline.

Who’s seen that before? Another joke: The optimist sees the preseason glass half full. The pessimist sees

Inside

Omar Kelly highlights 10 things we learned from the Dolphins’ third presason game. WR Jakeem Grant suffers concussion.

The Dolphins defense was flagged for delay of game because Alonso stood on the wrong sideline.

the preseason glass half empty. The NFL coach wonders why the glass is double its necessary size.

At least Baltimore coach John Harbaugh did Saturday night.

That’s the real conclusion to this game. Everyone knows preseason can be meaningless. This night become utterly irrelevant beyond a simple workout once Harbaugh announced just before the game most of his regulars were sitting.

Quarterback Joe Flacco and the entire starting offense sat outside of local star Alex Collins, who briefly played at running back. How do you judge the Dolphins defense with that?

Do you salute them for only giving up three points at half? Question that a fourth-string running back, Kenneth Dixon, broke four Dolphins starters’ tackles to turn a dump-off pass into a 16-yard gain? Or sixthstring back De’Lance Turner ran 65 yards up the gut against in the third quarter against the Dolphins’ backups? Does that merit another, “Right up the gut, lol,” on social media from former defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh?

The Baltimore defense was without stars like safety Eric Weddle, linebackers C.J. Mosley and Terrell Suggs. Given that, do you salute the Dolphins for showing some sign of life with 10 points on their first two drives of the half?

Do you praise Ryan Tannehill for completing 11-of-16 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown? That gives him a 99.0 rating for preseason. That’s noteworthy. Of course, he also was sacked twice by a Baltimore defense without its top rushers.

Look, there will be plenty of time for organizational concern and soulsearching anger if the Dolphins don’t pick things up come the Sept. 9 opener against Tennessee.

This night wasn’t the point to go there. No preseason night ever is. That doesn’t mean the Dolphins have accomplished what they wanted this summer. It does mean there are signs of progress Saturday.

Running back Kenyan Drake had a run for 30 yards and a deep-pass catch for 36 yards.

Rookie tight end Mike Gesicki caught his first pass of preseason for 10 yards.

Rookie nickelback/safety Minkah Fitzpatrick blanketed Ravens receiver Breshad Perriman on a deep, third-down incompletion on the first series. He then followed it up with two tackles on the opening two plays of the next series.

If this season goes anywhere, it will be young players like this developing into something more. There are a lot of ways to view preseason. Dolphins coach Adam Gase has taken an up-beat approach fitting his personality.

New England coach Bill Belichick has taken a gloomy approach, saying after Friday’s game in Carolina, “We weren’t able to accomplish much tonight, didn’t play well in any three phases of the game.”

The Dolphins didn’t accomplish much Saturday. But hold your anger for the real stuff. The next time the regulars play it will be for real.