Injuries leave Dolphins’ O-line with one healthy starter. Who plays in Green Bay?

Jesse Davis must be living right.

Because nine weeks into the season, he’s the only Dolphins’ starter on the offensive line not injured.

Josh Sitton and Daniel Kilgore were both lost for the year weeks ago.

Now Miami’s tackles, Ja’Wuan James and Laremy Tunsil, are question marks heading into a Week 10 showdown with the Packers.

James will undergo an MRI to determined the severity of his right knee injury. He went to the locker room for evaluation but returned after his replacement, Zach Sterup, surrendered two, if not three, sacks.

But as soon as James came back, Tunsil got hurt. Tunsil also hurt his knee; he did not return.

Tunsil told reporters after the game that the injury was not serious.

The Dolphins better hope it is not.

Because their offense simply does not function without him. We saw that a month ago against the Bengals. And we saw it again Sunday.

The Dolphins were dreadful against the Jets. They had 168 yards of offense, seven first downs, converted 3 of 16 third downs, allowed four sacks and averaged just 2.4 yards per carry.

“We just didn’t have a very good day up front,” Gase said. “We had a couple opportunities on plays that possibly were touchdowns or explosive plays that we didn’t hook up on. ... Just not a lot right for us.”

Sterup in particular struggled, especially when he was asked to play on the right side.

“I’ve got to go back and watch the tape,” Sterup said, when asked to assess his play. “First hand, I left some plays out there.”

James played through gritted teeth upon his return. He seemed to wince while going through drills on the sidelines, and that was without anyone pounding on him.

“It’s hard,” Gase said. “It’s 60 minutes, guys are battling and a lot of guys are hurt, especially at this part of the season. We’ll kind of see how he feels the next day. That’s what it is. It’s like a car crash every Sunday and you have to re-group for the next week and get your body right.”

If James didn’t return to the game, the Dolphins really would have been in trouble. They presumably would have played Sterup at left tackle, moved Jesse Davis from right guard to right tackle and inserted Jake Brendel, fresh of injured reserve, into the game.

It never came to that — one of the few things that went Miami’s way on offense Sunday.

“I was just like, ‘I got to do my job,’” James said. “I had to go in, do what I had to do. .... As soon as I came back in, [Tunsil] went down. It’s crazy. Everybody, especially the defense, did a good job today trying to get us this W. That’s what we got. Going to watch the video, correct it, get everybody back healthy hopefully and move on.”

This story was originally published November 4, 2018 at 6:21 PM.