You know how the saying goes, “it’s not how you start, its how you finish.” Well, the opposite is true in the preseason. Tonight may have been a success for many of the Dolphins’ roster fringe players, but how the starting offense and defense plays is always the measuring stick in these exhibitions.

And the play of the Dolphins’ first-team offense and defense was nothing short of embarrassing in the first quarter. What is essentially Chad Henne’s final stand got off to a nightmare start. The worst-case scenario played itself out as Henne was intercepted on his very first pass.

Now, Henne probably should have taken a bit of velocity off of it, but the ball hit Anthony Fasano square in the hands. Fasano failed to make the grab, instead popping it up for an easy interception.

Henne’s second interception, however, was as ugly as it gets. Sparano hinted after the game that Davone Bess ran the wrong route, but that doesn’t change the fact that Henne stared him down the whole way and tried to force the ball into double coverage.

Kudos to the coaching staff for sticking with Henne, though. His confidence was obviously shaken. He needed to go out on a positive note. He did just that, hooking up with Daniel Thomas for a 25-yard checkdown and hitting Brian Hartline with a 44-yard touchdown strike with his final two passes.

Was it against a second-team defense? Yes, but it was about as important of a drive as you can have in the preseason. It could have prevented Henne’s confidence from falling out and the backlash would have been much, much worse if he didn’t end things properly.

It likely won’t prevent many fans from calling for Matt Moore to take over starting duties, though. Moore was very solid tonight, completing 11 of 18 passes for 123 yards while connecting with Roberto Wallace and rookie Clyde Gates for scores. He did throw a pick by taking a shot downfield, but those are the types of turnovers, essentially punts, that you can live with.

I still think this is Chad Henne’s job to lose, but if tonight was a sign of things to come, Matt Moore will eventually get the opportunity to take over. It’s certainly not an excuse, but for now, let’s hold off on counting Henne out until we see him play with Brandon Marshall, Reggie Bush, and Jake Long, all of who were inactive tonight.

What: Dolphins’ preseason opener
When: Tonight at 7:30 p.m. EST
Where: The Georgia Dome/ Atlanta, Georgia
TV: WFOR Miami, CBS Atlanta, NFL.com Preseason Live, NFL Network replay at 1 p.m. Saturday
Radio: 560 WQAM Sports Radio (Miami), 790 The Zone and Star 94 FM (Atlanta)

Even if it’s essentially a practice game, a meaningless game scoreboard-wise, gameday is here. Dolphins’ football is back. The slate is clean. It’s a new year with fresh opportunities. It’s okay to be excited.

Having said that, taking everything that happens tonight with a grain of salt is in order. The preseason is rarely indicative of what’s to come in the regular season. How many teams have impressed, ran the table even in the exhibition season and wound up picking in the top ten in the draft?

On the contrary, teams like the Indianapolis Colts look dysfunctional at times in the preseason, but when things get real, they turn the switch on and instantly surface as one of the elite teams in football. So, while seeing good things from the Dolphins tonight would boost morale, it’s going to mean nothing when the Patriots come to town on September 12th.

The outcome of tonight’s game will be meaningless, but that’s hardly the case for many players, especially of the roster fringe variety. These four preseason games will help realize or crush NFL dreams.

Some players will earn their spot on the 53-man roster, while others will squander away the golden opportunity to play football for a living at the highest level. Competitions with starting implications could also be decided in these game settings.

So before you play the meaningless card in reference to these exhibitions, tell it to guys like Jimmy Wilson, who need solid performances to push for a roster spot and see an NFL dream come to fruition. Tell that to guys like Reshad Jones and Lydon Murtha, who must impress the coaches tonight if they want to earn the opportunity to be a starter in this league.

5 keys to success for Dolphins

1. Stay healthy: At the end of the day, regardless of what happens in the Georgia Dome tonight, priority number one is preventing any significant injuries. Chad Henne’s accuracy could be erratic, Daniel Thomas and Reggie Bush could produce negative yardage on the ground, and the first-team defense could surrender two touchdown drives, but if the Dolphins avoid any costly injuries, they can at least hang their heads on living to fight another day.

2. Chad Henne impress, maybe even lead a scoring drive: The preseason will carry a little more weight for Chad Henne than most starting quarterbacks. His confidence is fragile. That can easily be seen by his roller coaster first couple years at the helm. If he plays poorly in the preseason, I have my doubts he can put it behind him in time for New England.

Henne needs to get on a bit of a hot streak in these exhibition games in order to build some confidence and momentum for opening week. He’s fresh off of a great week of practice. Let’s see if it carries over to tonight’s game. Leading a scoring drive would do wonders for Henne’s confidence and the morale inside the locker room and with the fan base alike.

For the first time maybe EVER, it seems like EVERYONE is excited for some preseason football. With that in mind, here is a list of things to look out for this preseason.

1)  Chad Henne

Obviously, the Dolphins' bias comes in here, but for Dolfans Henne is the most important piece for this team if they want to succeed. Confidence can go along way for a quarterback and it wouldn’t hurt for Henne to get off to a strong start this preseason and build some confidence going into the year. It will be also interesting to monitor how he works with Reggie Bush.

2) Fantasy Football implications

For the fantasy football junkies out there like myself, the preseason is an important time to learn who will be taking goal-line carries, what depth charts will look like, and how new players are integrated into their new teams.

3) Injuries

Not yards, not touchdowns, not W’s but health is the most important thing when your talking about the preseason. Staying healthy is crucial, so look out for any big injuries this preseason.  

4) The “Dream Team”

Vince Young calls them the dream team, Jason Babin says they're the Miami Heat of football, but we shall see!

5 ) The New kickoff rule

The new kick-off rule doesn’t seem very fan friendly. It will be much more difficult to bring one back this year. 

So keep your eyes open, watch your favourite players, and get ready for some football!

With the NFL preseason kicking off tonight and the Dolphins only a day away from their exhibition opener, it’s time to evaluate where the roster stands today.

This isn’t a prediction on my part. This is a freeze frame of what the Dolphins’ 53-man roster would look like if they were forced to make final cuts today, before the preseason.

Obviously, this is far from an exact science. Only Jeff Ireland, Tony Sparano, and company have the real answers and know who they would keep and who they would cut. But judging by the various media reports of practice and the perception surrounding each player, we can formulate an educated guess of what the final 53 might look like.

This being the first installment of the series, with four crucial preseason games still on the slate, this is more of a report on which players are in the driver’s seat and which players face an uphill battle to make the squad.

OFFENSE

Quarterback: Chad Henne, Matt Moore, Kevin O’Connell
Cuts: Pat Devlin
This is actually going to be quite the competition for third-string quarterback. Henne and Moore are safe and sound, but the recently signed Kevin O’Connell and undrafted rookie Pat Devlin figure to have a photo finish to see which quarterback will be kept on the 53-man roster.

At this very second, I would have to give the slight edge to O’Connell. Even though Devlin has been solid for the first 11 practices, O’Connell has experience on his side. We’ll have to see what Devlin does with his preseason snaps, but if he continues to flash potential, he could easily overtake O’Connell for the job.

Running Back: Daniel Thomas, Reggie Bush, Lex Hilliard, Kory Sheets
Cuts: Nic Grigsby
With Reggie Bush possessing the tools to be the scatback this offense needs, I think Lex Hilliard is fairly close to being safe considering a capable workhorse as insurance for Daniel Thomas is a must. Kory Sheets and Nic Grigsby are of the speedy variety and will likely battle it out for the fourth and final running back spot.

The Dolphins could always choose to only keep three backs around this year, especially considering Charles Clay’s roster spot will likely lead to fullback, tight end, or running back dropping a player this season. With the inexperience of the group, though, I see the Dolphins keeping four as a precaution.

Fullback: Charles Clay, Lousaka Polite
Cuts: none
It’s been speculated that Lousaka Polite is in real danger of losing his roster spot. After a lackluster blocking performance a year ago, that is indeed the case despite being the short-yardage ace that he is.

We’ll have to wait and see if Brian Daboll plans on utilizing a pure fullback in the new offense, but Polite sticks on for now at the expense of a third tight end.

Tight End: Anthony Fasano, Mickey Shuler
Cuts: Jeron Mastrud, Dedrick Epps, Brett Brackett
With Charles Clay figuring to be more of a receiving threat than anything, I see a third tight end getting the axe. Mickey Shuler is Fasano’s backup on the depth chart, so we’ll keep it that way until one of the others makes a strong impression. Jeron Mastrud is certainly capable of pushing him, as he’s made a few noteworthy plays so far in camp.

Wide Receiver: Brandon Marshall, Davone Bess, Brian Hartline, Roberto Wallace, Clyde Gates
Cuts: Marlon Moore, Julius Pruitt, Patrick Carter, Brooks Foster, Phillip Livas
Sparano has already hinted that Roberto Wallace is the man to beat for the fourth receiver spot. While, Clyde Gates will likely pass him up by Week 1 if he can make a few plays in the preseason, Wallace would still be first in line for the final roster vacancy at the position.

Marlon Moore will have a say in the matter after cracking the 53-man roster a year ago and being slightly more productive than Wallace. But now that a potential deep threat is in place (Gates), I see the Dolphins sticking with Wallace’s upside.

Offensive Tackle: Jake Long, Marc Colombo, Nate Garner, Lydon Murtha
Cuts: Ray Willis, Matt Kopa, Allen Barbre, D.J. Jones
The Dolphins have kept as few as three offensive tackles in the past, but with the uncertainty at right tackle with Vernon Carey moving to guard, keeping four this time around seems to be in order.

I think this is how it would shake out if cuts were made today, assuming of course, Jake Long is taken off the PUP list before final cuts. Ray Willis is certainly capable of making things interesting, though, and if he lands a roster spot, it would likely come at the expense of Marc Colombo.

Offensive Guard: Richie Incognito, Vernon Carey, Ray Feinga
Cuts: John Jerry
This is certainly a tossup at the moment, but John Jerry’s roster spot is definitely in jeopardy after struggling as a rookie and showing up to camp somewhat out of shape. In the end, I think it comes down to whether or not the Dolphins keep Joe Berger around to backup Mike Pouncey.

If Berger is cut, which is a strong possibility considering Richie Incognito could easily move inside if something were to happen to Pouncey, Jerry probably squeezes on the 53.

Center: Mike Pouncey, Joe Berger
Cuts: none
For now, we’ll keep Berger on the team. But if Pouncey has an outstanding preseason, though, the Dolphins could feel safe parting ways with Berger, who was nothing short of dreadful when given the opportunity to start a year ago.

There wasn’t a considerable amount of news coming out of Davie at Dolphins’ camp today. The Sun-Sentinel’s Omar Kelly, love him or hate him, typically provides in-depth coverage of everything that transpires. He had the day off, so we’ll have to make do with the beat writers who were present.

Mike Pouncey has poor snapping day
A day after reportedly having his best practice of camp and being praised by the likes of Omar Kelly among other media members for his solid performance thus far snapping the football, something he had some struggles with early on at Florida after switching to center, Pouncey had a rough day putting the shotgun snap on the money and even had a few issues getting the ball cleanly to the quarterback under center.

Now, one practice isn’t going to make or break anybody. It’s not about whether or not you’re going to make mistakes this early on. It’s about making the necessary adjustments to correct them. But inconsistent snapping ability is something to take seriously. Just one bad snap over the quarterback's head could lose a football game.

Is there a bigger key to victory than winning the turnover battle? If Pouncey’s struggles continue into the season and the Dolphins wind up turning the football over once or twice because of it or have a drive killed by a major loss due to a poor snap, Sparano could always move Pouncey to guard.

A quality backup plan would be swapping Pouncey and Richie Incognito. Incognito proved capable of moving inside in 2010 and actually has more upside at center than he does at guard.