It's been a while since it was Dolphins vs. Dolphins this training camp. Two weeks ago, Miami faced Atlanta in joint practices. Then last week, the team competed with the Houston Texans, prior to stamping the trip with a 28-3 victory in Saturday's game.
Here are the highlights of a busy session from the 16th practice of Dolphins camp 2023.
Practice 16 of training camp 2023, August 22
Top Moment
Last season, no quarterback struck gold on the long ball more than Tua Tagovailoa. His eight touchdown passes of 40-plus yards topped Cincinnati's Joe Burrow's seven deep touchdown throws.
Saturday in Houston, Tagovailoa engineered a 14-play, 93-yard drive punctuated by a touchdown plunge from running back Raheem Mostert. On that drive, Tagovailoa completed five-of-six passes for 61 yards including three conversions on third down.
Fast forward to today and Tagovailoa was back to his vertical prowess. He dialed up the game's preeminent deep threat, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, twice.
On the first one, Hill split a pair of defenders up the seam and Tua found the speedster with perfect ball location, preventing the Cheetah from running into contact with the safety, and over the top of the cornerback underneath.
Two plays later, Tagovailoa connected with Hill again. As seen in the video below, Hill never broke stride as the ball descended from the roof of the indoor facility directly into his hands.
Top Quote:
Vic (Fangio) wants the safeties to be aggressive. Being aggressive is something I’m really good at. With Jevon (Holland) being next to me, I feel like he can elevate my game mentally. He really helps me with reading plays and I feel like that can help me get the ball in my hands more. Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott on how this defense suits his skillset
We saw the ball find Elliott's hands during Tuesday's practice. Coming off a preseason showing where the new safety was targeted twice without allowing a reception, Elliott carried the momentum in today's practice when he skied over wide receiver Braxton Berrios to pull down an interception.
More Top Performers
Joining Elliott with an interception was fellow safety Jevon Holland. Quarterback Skylar Thompson's throw found wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, but cornerback Xavien Howard got on top of the route and poked the ball into the air. As a result of always hustling to the football, Holland corralled it and took it back the other way for a touchdown.
After running back Salvon Ahmed compiled the most rushing yards in a Dolphins preseason game since 2004 (99), he topped the long run that produced over two-thirds of those yards as he took a handoff up the left side for a 70-yard touchdown gallop this morning.
Social Roundup
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