The Commanders 2026 preseason opener against the Dolphins went pretty much as planned. Washington gave up an opening drive score, mainly with the second-team defense against Miami's starters. They locked in after that and didn't allow any more points for the rest of the game in a 20-7 victory at Northwest Stadium.
What really caught my attention was the lack of sloppy play — which is usually prevalent in the preseason opener. Although coordinators David Blough and Daronte Jones kept things pretty vanilla, the execution was good and I didn't see a lot of bad mistakes. To me, this was the biggest win of the evening.
Below are my Studs and Duds of the game, followed by some notes.
The rookie running back duo turned out to be the highlight of the evening for Washington. Robert Henry showed vision and burst while Fatman Allen showed patience and wiggle. Both men found the end zone in the opener.
Martin, playing safety with the second-team defense, looked the part of a starter against Miami. He had a beautiful tackle on Dolphins running back De'Von Achane on the first drive and got an interception on the sideline early in the second quarter. He was around the football quite a bit early in the game.

#game