Miami Dolphins rookie Garrison Smith makes strong final case

Garrison Smith does not want to go home. And Thursday night, he played like it.

Smith, the rookie defensive tackle out of Georgia, played extensively against the Rams with the entire Dolphins starting defense getting the night off.

He had two flash plays in the first half alone. Smith, who went undrafted, first dropped Tre Mason (the running back originally from Lake Worth) for a near safety. Smith later sacked Austin Davis, one of three times the Dolphins got to the Rams quarterback in the first half.

Smith is a long shot to make the team but certainly has made a case to be kept on as a practice-squad player, particularly with the new rules. The NFL expanded the practice squad roster from eight to 10 players this year.

hard to read

The Dolphins had hoped to get one last evaluation of their backup cornerbacks. Davis didn’t comply, at least not very often.

The Rams backup quarterback instead had most of his success in the middle of the field, making for a relatively easy night for Jamar Taylor and Will Davis.

Austin Davis did have a couple of nice throws, including a first-down strike against Will Davis and an 11-yard touchdown pass to Austin Pettis, with Michael Thomas in coverage. Thomas appeared to turn the wrong way on the in-breaking route.

But that was essentially it out of the Rams’ passing game against the Dolphins’ second-string defense.

Taylor and Davis started, with Cortland Finnegan and Brent Grimes getting the night off. Austin Davis did test Taylor deep late in the first half, but the cornerback had tight coverage on a pass that was overthrown.

changes abound

Davis and Taylor were two spot starters for the Dolphins, who rested everybody on the first team of the depth chart. The rest of the lineup changes:

THIS AND THAT

This story was originally published August 28, 2014 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Miami Dolphins rookie Garrison Smith makes strong final case."