What’s up with Jordan Howard? Plus Flores on injured Dolphins, Ogbah and Tua’s time
The biggest takeaways from Brian Flores’ Victory Monday press conference:
▪ From Byron Jones to Emmanuel Ogbah to Ereck Flowers to Kyle Van Noy, the Dolphins have hit on a number of their free agent signings.
But there have been some misses, too.
Running back Jordan Howard, so far, is one of them. He was a healthy scratch for the second straight week after managing just 14 yards on his first 18 carries with the team.
“Jordan’s a competitor,” Flores said. “He’s a competitive guy who wants to be out there. That’s why he’s here. We’ve got to make decisions, they’re hard decisions. We can only have 48 guys active. We just try to make decisions that are the best for our team. Each guy that’s made inactive, I know they all want to be out there. If they didn’t there’s something wrong.
“It’s a tough part of this,” he added. “We need everyone on this team. Everyone’s important. I’ve been in many years where someone was inactive and becomes active later in the year and plays well. Everyone’s got to be ready. Jordan will be ready. He’s always ready. We’ll see what the game plan is for the Rams and make our decision once that time draws near.”
Ogbah, meanwhile, ranks second in the AFC with five sacks. But Flores is even more impressed with the little things he does to make the defense better.
“The sacks are the big stat for a lot of people, but he’s done a good job in the run game, setting the edge,” Flores said. “He has no problem taking on a double team, freeing up another guy. Those are the plays that aren’t the flash plays. They’re important plays for every team. I think the flash stats, like the sacks and interceptions, they’re such a small percentage of the actual plays. Those are good plays, big plays. It’s the other plays that he’s done a good job. I’ve been pleased with him.”
▪ Four Dolphins players left Sunday’s game due to injuries: linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel (concussion); linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill (hand); wide receiver DeVante Parker (groin); and defensive tackle Raekwon Davis (shoulder).
Flores did not have an update Monday on any of them.
“They’re all still going through the evaluation process, getting treatment, the requisite tests that they need,” Flores said. “.... We have a couple of weeks until our next game. We’re still doing tests. We have a lot guys who are nicked up. Most of them feel OK. It’ll be a couple of days before we make a determination on whether a guy can or can’t play.”
The Dolphins do have the luxury of time. Because of their rescheduled bye, they won’t play again until Nov. 1 against the Los Angeles Rams.
“It’s always good to get some time,” he said. “As a staff we’ll evaluation every aspect of what we’re doing, from schedules to personnel to scheme. What are we doing well, what are we not doing well? [Should we] play someone more or less? That’s kind of how we’ll use this week, as well as taking some time to rest and get away from football. If they put a game on the schedule, I’m always ready to go. If they give us a bye week, I’ll take the bye week.”
▪ Flores’ decision to insert Tua Tagovailoa into the Jets game late has been a big deal nationally, but not so much internally.
Flores saw Sunday’s game as “just a situation to get him in, get him some snaps. Thought it was good for him, for any young player, to get a feel for what it’s like to be in an NFL game. That’s really it.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 2:26 PM.
