The Falcons arrived today for two joint practices ahead of the preseason opener Friday night at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami came out of the gates swinging and connected on another deep ball from Tua Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill, while also setting the tone on defense.
Here are the day's highlights:
Practice 11, August 6, 2024
Top Moment
A copy-paste operation from Monday's top moment is appropriate for what we saw Tuesday. Tyreek Hill got on top of Atlanta cornerback Mike Hughes and ran through a perfectly placed pass from his quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, for a 50-yard touchdown.
"It was beautiful, man," Hill said. "We've been trying to hit that all camp against our defense, and unfortunately our defense has been doing a great job of not giving us the correct look. We came out here today, we got the look that we wanted and obviously we executed the play, and Tua threw it perfect."
It was one of five explosive plays coming off the hand of Tagovailoa, who also led his unit to more touchdowns during the red zone period than any group – Dolphins or Falcons. Wide receiver River Cracraft was on the receiving end of two of those 20-plus-yard plays, including the opening play of practice when Tagovailoa threaded a tight window up the sideline to get things started with a bang.
Tagovailoa's other touchdowns went to running back Raheem Mostert and tight end Julian Hill.
Top Quote
It's been quite the week for Tyreek Hill. He was voted No. 1 overall in the NFL's Top 100 players of 2024 countdown and rewarded with a reported pay raise after becoming the first player in NFL history to post back-to-back seasons with better than 1,700 receiving yards.
Still, Hill wants more. And he thinks this team is taking the right steps to accomplish its goals.
It’s fun to be a part of. The energy out at practice is great, man. You hear guys chirping back and forth – it’s fun. That’s what makes football fun, when brothers are able to chirp in between the lines and then go into the locker room and have a genuine conversation like men. I love it man, I’m absolutely loving it.” Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill
More Top Performers
The passing game set up the rushing attack as Mostert and De'Von Achane exploited gaps for big gains. While the runs inside provided positive yardage, it was a pair of outside runs – one for Mostert and one for Achane – that were created by blocks in space by Julian Hill and fullback Alec Ingold. While both plays were tagged off on arm tackles, we've seen those two special backs turn plays like that into points, which they could've been in a live game scenario.
The defense turned up the pressure on Kirk Cousins, Michael Penix and the entire Falcons operation. It was tough sledding for Atlanta early, thanks in large part to cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Kendall Fuller, who both had pass break ups and run stuffs. Ramsey added another breakup as a rusher when he rejected a Cousins pass.
Cornerback Ethan Bonner's strong camp continued with more sticky coverage and another pass breakup. The same is true of rookie cornerback Jason Maitre, who added two more breakups to his mounting total this camp.
Linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah picked up another sack, which has become a theme this month. Defensive tackle Teair Tart, linebacker Duke Riley, defensive tackle Brandon Pili and defensive tackle Jonathan Harris all chipped in with tackles for loss.
Social Roundup
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