The Dolphins began today with 82 players on the active roster. NFL rules required them to trim off two, dropping them to 80 players by 4 p.m. today.

The two players that got the axe were OT Allen Barbre and OG Tyler Donahue. Barbre was placed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury and the rookie Donahue was waived.

Of course, the real cut-down deadline will be Saturday evening at 6 p.m. when the Dolphins will be forced to make 27 cuts in order to establish their 53-man roster. With the starters only getting limited action at most on Thursday night against the Cowboys, the spotlight will be on the roster fringe players in their last ditch effort to make an impression. 

Bittersweet is probably the word that describes it best. There was plenty to feel good about in the Dolphins’ 13-17 loss at the hands of the Buccaneers on Saturday night.

Well, when I say plenty I’m mostly just referring to Chad Henne’s performance. But he’s a quarterback. A quarterback whose struggles prevented this team from threatening for a playoff spot a year ago. So, when Henne plays well there is a huge reason to be pleased.

But there was plenty of bad too. 76 yards worth of penalties bad. A grand total of 22 rushing yards in the entire game bad. The Tampa Bay running backs combining for 116 yards receiving bad.

Even with all the bad, though, the Dolphins were a Brandon Marshall fumble away from possibly taking a 13-3, maybe even a 17-3 lead into the half on a team that went 10-6 a year ago in the brutal NFC South.

And so the flip-flopping continues.

What should the fan base be feeling this Monday morning? Should they be thrilled that Chad Henne is seemingly coming around, or should the offensive line’s nightmare game have Dolphin fans lining up to hit the panic button? Let’s weigh the positives and negatives from a very indifferent night in Tampa.

POSITIVES

Chad Henne may be a different quarterback: It may be the preseason, but it’s looking more and more safe to assume that Chad Henne has finally turned the corner. I’m not saying he’s going to be an elite quarterback in this league, but he surely looks like a quality one. A quarterback that is suddenly capable of putting this team on his back and actually winning games on his own. That’s crucial because with the current state of the running game, he may have to.

But it’s not just the big-time yardage and gaudy quarterback rating that has me thinking I’m looking at a completely different player. There were two plays that stood out to me against the Bucs in particular.

The first being an all out blitz from Tampa Bay that led to a simple quick out to Anthony Fasano for a 9-yard gain. But it’s what Henne did before the play that excited me. He clearly recognizes the blitz and audibles at the line to a quick hitter to Fasano. That’s the type of play that shows me he’s finally taking command of this offense. Simple, yes, but still something we haven’t seen from Chad in the past.

The other play was about a 6-yard completion to Clyde Gates on third and three. Henne’s eyes are fixated to the right of the field from his drop back. Instead of forcing the pass into his first read, though, Henne looks left to find just enough room to fit a tight pass into Gates. Staring down receivers has been my major grip against Henne from day one. The sky is the limit if he’s going to begin to go through his progressions.

And all of that isn’t even mentioning the beautiful 60-yard touchdown strike to Brandon Marshall and another well-placed deep ball on a pass Clyde Gates should have probably reeled in. Henne has always had the arm strength; he’s just never had the deep ball accuracy or the touch to utilize it consistently.

In the past two games Henne has completed 25 of 37 passes and has thrown for 369 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. I don’t want to make Henne’s maturation official until he has similar success when it counts, but being optimistic isn’t jumping the gun after what we’ve seen in back-to-back weeks.

The Dolphins addressed their depth at safety this afternoon, inking Gerald Alexander to an undisclosed deal.

The 2007 second-round draft pick out of Boise State has started 30 of 41 games in his four-year career.

At 27-years-old, Alexander had his career year as a rookie, accounting for 81 tackles, registering 2.0 sacks, and picking off two passes for the Detroit Lions.

His last decent season came in 2009 when he managed 55 tackles and two interceptions for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Alexander is listed as a free safety, which may immediately draw conclusions that the Dolphins aren’t satisfied with Chris Clemons and Reshad Jones. But not so fast.

He said he’ll learn both free and strong safety on twitter, likely meaning he’ll be competition for backup strong safety Tyrone Culver. Culver required the help of the trainers last night for an apparent injury, but was able to walk off the field on his own power.

It’s unknown whether or not Alexander is being brought in because Culver may miss time or because the Dolphins just aren’t happy with his production. Either way, Culver’s relief from Jimmy Wilson moving to corner was short lived and now his roster spot is once again in jeopardy. 

Chad Henne connected with Brandon Marshall on a perfectly placed deep ball along the sideline. Marshall fought off the corner, juked the safety, and stiff armed his way for a 60-yard touchdown.

It was a thing of beauty. The same can’t be said for the rest of the night.

The Dolphins ran for a whopping 22 yards on the ground, averaging a pitiful 1.7 yards-per-carry. They also committed 11 penalties, making tonight difficult on the eyes at times.

The defense was stout against a Buccaneers’ rushing attack that ranked in the top 10 a year ago, but they were unable to contain Tampa’s backs as receiving threats.

Cameron Wake was the face of some fairly consistent pressure on Josh Freeman and the Dolphins did an adequate job keeping the likes of Mike Williams, Kellen Winslow, and Arrelious Been in check. But Buccaneer running backs LaGarrette Blount and Earnest Graham combined for 89 receiving yards.

At the end of the night, though, fans can hang their hats on two things: Chad Henne’s play and a clean injury report.

Henne’s 10 for 13, 175-yard, one touchdown performance gives him back-to-back solid showings. He looks like a completely different quarterback, taking command of the offense, making adjustments at the line of scrimmage, and actually going through his progressions instead of staring down his intended target.

And now that the starters are through the “dress rehearsal” phase of the preseason and likely won’t see much time Thursday night against the Cowboys, all signs are pointing to the Dolphins entering the regular season with no major injuries.

That makes tonight successful to some degree despite the loss and embarrassing play from the offensive line.

Look forward to much more on tonight’s game on Monday morning. For now, tells us how you think the Dolphins looked tonight in the comments.

Game ball: Chad Henne- 10/13, 175 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions

The O Line stunk, the running game did nothing, but Chad Henne was G---rrrrrrreat!

Henne finished the 3rd preseason game a very solid 10 of 13 passing for 175 yards and a touchdown. Henne also had a 143.9 passer rating.

Coming off of a decent outing against Carolina, Henne showed up against Tampa with something to prove. Henne wasted no time attempting to make some plays down field.

On the opening drive, Henne threw a nice pass to Fasano for 22 yards followed by a 60-yard touchdown bomb to Brandon Marshall. Henne was able to connect with Marshall again later in the game on a 30-yard pass that Marshall later fumbled. It certainly looks like Henne and Marshall are starting to build a decent relationship together.

Not too long ago in a Dolphins' scrimmage in training camp, Henne and Marshall connected several times and were all the talk around town. Well, in Saturday’s game, they took their work from the scrimmage to the playing field.

It is blatant that the Henne to Marshall connection has been stressed all off-season and the Dolphins offense will hopefully reap the benefits from it this year. Brian Daboll has figured out that Brandon Marshall will be essential for Chad Henne’s growth.

Henne also took a leadership role in the huddle. Henne was able to make good reads most of the night and called audiles at the right times during the game.

What might have been the most impressive part of Henne’s game, however, was the fact that he didn't turn the football over for the second consecutive week. Henne has been plagued by the bad read or throw but has avoided both the past two games.

Dolphins' fans can only hope this strong, consistent play continues from Henne.