The Mariota experiment barely got off the ground. He exited in the first quarter with an apparent right knee injury on a non-contact play, handing the reins to Sam Hartman for the rest of the night. Washington was already without Daniels, Terry McLaurin, Stefon Diggs and Chig Okonkwo, none of whom were slated to play, so this was always going to be a backups-and-camp-bodies affair for the home team.
Miami didn't have it much easier. Willis and that offense had reportedly struggled in joint practice work against Washington's defense in the days before kickoff, and the final score suggests that carried over. The Dolphins finished the preseason opener at 0-1, managing just 7 points against a Commanders defense that came into camp looking for more takeaways.
That takeaway hunt paid off in a hurry. Washington's defense picked off Miami 3 times, with Ale Kaho and Malik Spencer both cashing in and Percy Butler nearly adding a fourth. Seventh overall pick Sonny Styles got his first taste of NFL action too, wearing the green dot and logging 3 tackles in a short defensive series against Miami's starters — exactly the kind of clean, uneventful debut a rookie linebacker wants.
None of this changes much on paper — it's preseason, and Washington is 1-0 while Miami sits at 0-1 in games that don't count. But the injury news is real: Mariota's knee is now a question mark behind Daniels, and left tackle Laremy Tunsil is already ticketed for surgery that will keep him out significant time. Miami, meanwhile, still has to figure out whether Willis gives them anything behind Tua Tagovailoa, and Friday's practice-tape struggles didn't exactly answer that.