Miami Dolphins at Dallas Cowboys, 5 things to Watch

In the Miami Dolphins 2016 preseason opener, the team defeated the New York Giants 27-10, but a lot of the scoring was done by the team’s second and third team offense.

Miami’s first-team offense sputtered as they played only seven plays and quarterback Ryan Tannehill finished 2-for-4 for 8 yards. As the Dolphins first team is expected to play longer in their second preseason game, they will hope their offense can generate some rhythm that will carry over into their dress rehearsal game against the Atlanta Falcons next Thursday night in Orlando.

Unlike the Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys lost their preseason opener to the Los Angeles Rams 28-24 after leading at halftime 24-7. Despite the loss, Cowboys backup quarterback Dak Prescott showed the nation why the team didn’t decide to sign or trade for another backup quarterback as he finished 10-12 for 139 yards and two touchdowns.

Friday night’s game between the Dolphins and the Cowboys will be a national television game on NFL Network. Here are five things to watch for in Friday’s contest.

Miami Dolphins at Dallas Cowboys

Time: 8 p.m. Eastern

TV: NFL Network (Nationally), CBS 4(locally in Miami)

Spread: Dallas -1.5

Five Things to Watch

1. The return of Tony Romo

Dallas Pro Bowl quarterback Tony Romo sat out last week’s game against the Rams. This week, Romo will make his preseason debut at home against the Dolphins after a rough 2015 season.

Romo only played in four games last season as he suffered a broken collarbone for most of the year. He is expected to play a series or two against the Dolphins. With his injury history, the Cowboys don’t want to risk getting Romo hurt in a meaningless preseason game.

2. Arian Foster Dolphins debut

Arian Foster will make his debut for the Dolphins in a state of Texas, where he played for seven seasons. Miami head coach Adam Gase held Foster out of their preseason opener against the Giants to prevent him from taking any unnecessary hits.

Friday night will be a chance for Foster to showcase what he can bring to the table. The running back has not played in a game since tearing his Achilles tendon last October as a member of the Houston Texans.

While Jay Ayaji is the No. 1 running back on the depth chart, he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire during practices. Foster is the most talented and complete running back on the Dolphins roster. If he can prove that he can remain healthy, he should eventually win the starting role.

3. DeVante Parker  

Miami’s second-year receiver DeVante Parker was also held out of the team’s preseason opener for precautionary reasons. In only a short amount of time in the league, Parker has suffered a number of injuries dating back to when the team first drafted him.

Parker missed time during training camp due to a hamstring injury. Because he has missed a lot of time last season and during trainung camp, Parker doesn’t have the chemistry with quarterback Ryan Tannehill as some of the other receivers do.

Friday should be the beginning of building that chemistry between Parker and Tannehill. While receiver Jarvis Landry is Tannehill’s favorite receiver, Parker is a bigger, taller,  red zone threat that can stretch a defensive secondary.

4. Miami’s first string defensive line

Heading into the 2016 season, the Dolphins defensive line of Cameron Wake, Ndamukong Suh and Mario Williams is expected to be one of the league’s best according to some NFL experts. After Wake, Suh and Williams sat last week, the three former Pro Bowlers are expected to play against the Cowboys.

Friday night will mark the return of Wake after he tore his Achilles against the New England Patriots last October. Suh and Williams are healthy but were just kept out because of cautionary reasons by Gase.

Wake, Suh and Williams will be going up against arguably the best offensive line in the NFL. Pro Football Focus ranked the Cowboys as the No. 1 offensive line in the NFL as the team is returning all five starters from a year ago.

Even though each unit may not play for very long, this will be a good test for Wake, Suh and Williams.

5. Laremy Tunsil 

The maturation of Laremy Tunsil in his position change from left tackle to left guard is going pretty smoothly after a rough beginning. During training camp practices, Tunsil stood his ground with the likes of Suh without getting beat. Because of his recent play and the poor play of Dallas Thomas, Tunsil received more snaps with the first team offense.

Don’t be surprised to see Tunsil get some snaps with the starters at left guard against Dallas. After all, he was the Dolphins first round selection in last April’s draft and he is expected to become the team’s starter at guard at some point. Another impressive showing against Dallas could expedite that process even further.

You can follow Antwan on Twitter @antwanstaley