Miami Dolphins' Lack of Depth Comes to Forefront in Preseason Finale

The Miami Dolphins may have one of the best starting lineups in the NFL, and they better hope that unit stays mostly intact.

Injuries were the team's undoing in 2014, and if the Dolphins' 22-17 loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the preseason finale is any indication, a few key injuries could completely unravel their season in 2015. 

Fumbles. Missed tackles. Blown assignments. Turnovers.

It was a pick-your-poison of preseason football. It was a smorgasbord of sloppy play. At times, it was borderline unwatchable.

Perhaps "borderline" isn't the right word for it.

It was brutal at times, even for a fourth preseason game. 

The Dolphins had two of the game's three first-quarter turnovers: One was an interception by backup quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, and the other was a fumble by running back and punt returner LaMichael James. There was even a high-snap from backup center Sam Brenner that resulted in a safety.

Hopefully, there were no Dolphins fans participating in a preseason drinking game; they are probably in an ICU for alcohol poisoning tonight. Keep them in your thoughts, if such people exist.

Of course, if you believe in the old cliché that adversity builds character, this was a great game for the players further down the Dolphins depth charts.

"Yeah, we gave them the ball on the 9-yard line," head coach Joe Philbin said at halftime. "We gave them the ball on our side of the field again. I thought we did real well in the sudden change on that second one. As you mentioned, penalties. I think from a statistical standpoint, yardage, we were probably way ahead, but the scoreboard is not saying that."

Philbin was right. The Dolphins finished the game with 462 yards compared to the Buccaneers' 234 but had 11 penalties for 86 yards compared to the Buccaneers' three penalties for 30 yards.

Not all of the backups struggled so mightily. In fact, one backup took this fourth preseason game as his opportunity to shine. There have been trade rumors surrounding cornerback Will Davis over the past few days, with Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reporting that the Dolphins have been shopping the third-year cornerback in trade talks.

So what did he do? He upped his value—whether it's his value to the Dolphins or to the team that trades for him—by nabbing two interceptions in the first half. 

There was also punter Matt Darr, who already won his job as the team's punter. The rookie didn't take the night off, though, and had two punts that pinned the Buccaneers inside the 5-yard line in the first half, including one that traveled 65 yards. On the night, he had five punts for 42 yards average, with three that landed inside the Buccaneers' 20-yard line.

But those were just about the only bright spots of the evening. 

Make no mistake; there were a lot of ugly games across the NFL on Thursday night. That's the nature of the beast when most of the players on the field are backups and players who will be cut in the next 48 hours.

Of course, you can't expect perfection from fringe roster players.

That being said, the mental errors and sloppy play are a bad sign for the Dolphins if the injury bug should strike their locker room.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained via team news release.