Dolphins’ Tua gets two series in preseason finale against Jaguars; defense struggles

The Miami Dolphins gave quarterback Tua Tagovailoa two series, and safety Jevon Holland made a touchdown-saving play early in an otherwise tough showing for the defense in their preseason finale at the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins trail the Jaguars, 31-18, at TIAA Bank Field.

Tagovailoa, seeing his final bit of exhibition action before Miami opens the regular season in two weeks, went 4 of 6 for 67 yards without a touchdown or an interception. His two drives produced 3 points as he did not convert a third down in the red zone to turn his second series into a touchdown.

The Miami defense, which began rotating starters out in its second series, offered minimal resistance against the Jacksonville first-team offense, allowing the second drive to be capped by an easy 3-yard touchdown run by Travis Etienne.

Tagovailoa completed his first pass to an uncovered Tyreek Hill for 32 yards, most of it after the catch, but center Connor Williams airmailed the ensuing snap over Tagovailoa’s head to put the offense in an impossible situation to keep the drive alive.

The Dolphins’ first defensive series saw them pummeled for 43 rushing yards on nine attempts without the stout defensive tackle combination of Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler in the lineup.

Holland, however, forced a fumble at the 1-yard line against Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby, while linebacker Jerome Baker was also bringing him down, and the Miami safety recovered the football in the end zone for a touchback. Cornerback Xavien Howard allowed a first-down pass to Calvin Ridley on the opening defensive play.

Miami’s second possession saw Tagovailoa and the ground game drive inside the 10-yard line, but a third-and-goal pass from the 6 to receiver Robbie Chosen underneath was broken up.

Running back Salvon Ahmed, coming off his 99-yard rushing effort against the Texans last week, set Miami up in the red zone with a 42-yard run to the right side. Jason Sanders converted a 24-yard field goal at the end of the first quarter to cap an 11-play, 74-yard drive for the first-team offense that was kept going by a fourth-and-1 pass from Tagovailoa to fullback Alec Ingold.

Tagovailoa was coming off an exhibition start last week in Houston where he was 5 of 7 for 61 yards, an interception and leading a touchdown drive that was capped on the ground in two series against the Texans.

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence went 8 of 10 for 92 yards, converting one fourth down to Christian Kirk on the touchdown drive and then connecting for a 28-yard sideline pass to Ridley that set up the Etienne touchdown after the catch was upheld upon a challenge from Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel.

Skylar Thompson entered for Tagovailoa to start the third possession for Miami. Competing in camp for backup quarterback duties with Mike White, who was out due to being in concussion protocol during the week, Thompson went 15 of 24 for 135 yards and two interceptions Saturday.

Thompson’s second pass was intercepted by Jaguars cornerback Erick Hallett II. On the ensuing possession, his third pass was an interception to South Florida product Yasir Abdullah, a linebacker out of Miami Carol City High.

Once Lawrence exited, the first Jaguars drive behind backup quarterback C.J. Beathard stalled when Dolphins defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman split a sack of him with linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel on third down to hold Jacksonville to a 37-yard Brandon McManus field goal. After Thompson’s second interception, running back D’Ernest Johnson scored easily on an 8-yard rush up the middle.

Before halftime, Thompson led a drive down the field that involved completions to Braxton Berrios and River Cracraft and culminated in a 28-yard kick by Sanders.

To start the second half, rookie cornerback and second-round pick Cam Smith was burned by receiver Tim Jones for a 74-yard touchdown, through Smith’s illegal-contact penalty.

Thompson and the Miami offense responded with undrafted rookie running back Chris Brooks punching in a run from 4 yards out. The two-point try that followed saw an impressive effort from Cracraft come up short as he couldn’t get two feet inbound on an acrobatic catch.

Following another Jaguars touchdown, Brooks, who could be a nice practice squad option behind the Dolphins’ depth at tailback on the active roster, scored another 4-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter — again accompanied by a failed 2-point conversion.

Dolphins defensive end Randy Charlton came up with a fourth quarter sack Saturday.

In the second quarter, defensive back Elijah Campbell, who could be a key special teamer and rotational defensive back, was injured on a kickoff return. Moments later, Ahmed was injured after a late hit by Jaguars defensive lineman Raymond Vohasek that went uncalled.

The Dolphins started Isaiah Wynn at left guard as he’s competing to start at that spot with Liam Eichenberg. Kendall Lamm started at left tackle with Terron Armstead out. As defensive tackles Wilkins, Sieler and Da’Shawn Hand were all held out, undrafted rookie Brandon Pili started alongside Raekwon Davis.

Following Saturday’s preseason finale, the Dolphins have a Tuesday 4 p.m. deadline to cut the roster down from 90 players to 53. They open the regular season Sept. 10 at the Los Angeles Chargers.

This story will be updated.