Dolphins rule out three players. Tagovailoa wins award. And Hill responds
The Dolphins’ defense will be without four starters and a key rotation player for Thursday’s game at Green Bay (8:20 p.m., NBC 6).
Miami on Wednesday ruled out cornerback Kendall Fuller, linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. and outside linebacker Tyus Bowser for Thursday’s game against a Packers team that is eighth in the league in scoring at 26.2 points per game.
The Dolphins already were without starting edge rushers Bradley Chubb (who is not yet ready to return from a Dec. 31 ACL injury) and Jaelan Phillips (who is out for the season after a late-September ACL injury).
Besides Fuller, Walker and Bowser, only one other player on the Dolphins’ 53-man roster has an injury designation this week: left tackle Terron Armstead, who was listed as questionable for the third consecutive game because of a knee issue.
Armstead hasn’t missed a game due to the knee injury. On Wednesday, he was a limited participant in practice, his first practice participation in three weeks.
Fuller will miss his third consecutive game because of a concussion. Storm Duck likely will serve as Miami’s third cornerback, behind Jalen Ramsey and Kader Kohou.
Walker will miss the game because of a hamstring injury sustained in last Sunday’s win against New England. Tyrel Dodson will replace him. Walker started the past four games, replacing since-released David Long Jr. in the lineup, and had 31 tackles in those games. Dodson had five tackles and an interception after replacing Walker against New England.
Meanwhile, Bowser will miss the game because of knee and calf issues that developed in recent days. Poached from Seattle’s practice squad on Oct. 3, Bowser has appeared in seven games and started four and has 10 tackles for Miami while playing between 26 and 43 defensive snaps each of the past four weeks.
In his absence, rookie fifth-round pick Mo Kamara could play for the third time this season. He has one tackle in 21 defensive snaps. Emmanuel Ogbah, Chop Robinson and Quinton Bell are expected to log most of the snaps at outside linebacker.
The Dolphins must decide by 4 p.m. Thursday whether to welcome back edge rusher Shaq Barrett, who is coming out of retirement.
▪ Receiver Tyreek Hill practiced fully on Wednesday after missing Tuesday’s session for personal reasons. He will play on Thursday.
▪ The Packers ruled out receiver Romeo Doubs (concussion), cornerback Jaire Alexander(knee) and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring) for Thursday night’s game.
TUA’S AWARD
For the third time in his career, Tua Tagovailoa on Wednesday was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week.
Tagovailoa threw four touchdowns and completed 29 of 40 passes for 317 yards in last Sunday’s 34-15 win against New England.
Tagovailoa previously won the award in Week 2 of the 2022 season (when he threw six touchdowns in a comeback win at Baltimore) and Week 1 of the 2023 season, after he threw for 466 yards in a win at the Chargers.
Only Tagovailoa, Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Tennessee kicker Nick Folk and won the award in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
HILL’S RESPONSE
Like NBA star Kevin Durant, Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill is one of a select group of star athletes who will respond to people on social media. He responded to two notable posts this week:
▪ Referring to the infamous incident in which Hill was handcuffed outside Hard Rock Stadium before the season opener, local sportscaster Andy Slater reported that Hill’s traffic tickets for careless driving and a seatbeat violation have been dismissed. The Miami-Dade police officers did not show up to the court hearing, according to Slater.
Hill retweeted Slater’s post, adding “Where all the internet cops now?”
Hill has threatened legal action against the officer who threw him to the ground and handcuffed him.
▪ Hill responded to a local podcast host (X handle: @PhinsidetheNFL) who dismissed the notion that Hill is the reason why Tagovailoa is successful.
“3-0 this fan base so worried about stats, let’s figure out how to win some games down the stretch,” Hill responded after retweeting the post.
Here were the highlights of the X post that triggered a response from Hill:
“No one is talking enough about a narrative that’s been killed since Tua’s return. The ‘Tyreek is why Tua’s successful’ narrative. Since Tua’s return he’s thrown for 1,277 passing yards, 11 TD’s, 1 INT while maintains a 77% completion percentage and 116.2 passer rating.
“Tyreek in that span has 277 receiving yards and 2 TDs with not a single game of a 100 receiving yards or more. He doesn’t even account for a quarter of Tua’s yardage or a fifth of Tua’s TD passing output. Instead, Tua’s once again elevating players around him like he’s done since he was a rookie as seen by Jonnu Smith’s career year so far...”
Here’s my six-pack of Dolphins notes on Wednesday, including where the Shaq Barrett situation stands.
Here’s my Wednesday piece on receiver Malik Washington, with Dolphins commentary from analysts.
This story was originally published November 27, 2024 at 3:14 PM.
