McDaniel updates DuBose, Waddle, Chubb. How Dolphins can make playoffs; Fins-49ers change
Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle, who left the Texans game with a knee issue, avoided a serious injury and won’t need surgery, coach Mike McDaniel said Monday.
But his status for Sunday’s home game against the 49ers (4:25 p.m., CBS) is in question. He’s “day-to-day,” McDaniel said.
Meanwhile, McDaniel said he had no additional updates after the team issued an encouraging statement regarding receiver Grant DuBose’s health on Monday morning.
DuBose, who sustained a head injury and was hospitalized after a head-to-head collision with Texans safety Calen Bullock during Sunday’s game, has avoided the worst-case scenario.
The team issued this statement Monday morning: “After sustaining a head injury in yesterday’s game, Grant DuBose remained at a local Houston hospital for evaluation overnight. He has movement in all extremities and initial tests have revealed positive results. He remains under the care of doctors for continued observation.”
McDaniel said it’s unclear when DuBose will travel from Houston to South Florida.
McDaniel addressed other issues:
▪ McDaniel wasn’t ready to commit to outside linebacker Bradley Chubb playing on Sunday against the 49ers: “That won’t be decided until the end of the week.”
Miami can activate him as late as the Wednesday after the 49ers game. Chubb, who sustained serious knee injuries Dec. 31 against Baltimore, hasn’t played this season but has been practicing on a limited basis for two weeks.
▪ With regard to this run game regression (from a league-best 5.0 per carry last season to a second-to-worst 3.9 this season), McDaniel said of Sunday’s Houston game: “I think our yards per carry doesn’t do [the running backs] justice. Our blocking wasn’t good enough and some of the focus is specifically... how to improve that. This particular game wasn’t up to the standard. Everyone is very, very aware that is not anything we want Miami Dolphins football to look like. We need to get it better fast.”
▪ McDaniel said the Dolphins are interested in re-signing Skylar Thompson to the practice squad if he clears waivers. He was released from the 53-man roster on Saturday to make room for DuBose. Tyler Huntley has been the Dolphins’ No. 2 quarterback for the past three weeks.
Playoff update
The Dolphins’ loss Sunday left Miami’s playoff hopes on life support, but there are still at least three potential paths to the postseason. Here are the most plausible, though not likely, ways for Miami to qualify for the playoffs:
▪ The Dolphins (6-8) win out, the Chargers lose two of their final three games and the Colts lose once.
The Dolphins close at home against the 49ers, at Cleveland and at the Jets.
Los Angeles (8-6) plays host to Denver on Thursday, then finishes the season at New England and at Las Vegas.
Indianapolis (6-8) finishes at home against Tennessee, at the Giants, and home to Jacksonville.
▪ The Dolphins win out, the Colts lose once and the Denver Broncos (9-5) lose their three remaining games: at the Chargers, at Cincinnati and home to Kansas City.
▪ The Dolphins win out, the Colts lose once and the Baltimore Ravens (9-5) lose their three remaining games: home against Pittsburgh, at Houston and home against Cleveland.
The Dolphins would lose a tiebreaker to the Colts because of Miami’s head-to-head loss.
But the Dolphins would win tiebreakers with the Chargers, Ravens and Broncos because they would be assured of having a better record in conference games if the Dolphins finish tied with any of those three teams.
Miami also would win a tiebreaker with 6-8 Cincinnati.
Subtle change for Dolphins-49ers
Instead of CBS airing the Dolphins-49ers game in most of the country, which had been the plan, the NFL instead opted to move the New England-Buffalo game from 1 p.m. to 4:25 p.m. and will send that game to parts of the country, including the Northeast.
Dolphins-49ers will remain at 4:25, as will the Jacksonville-Las Vegas game. Both of those games will be televised in parts of the country. CBS’ lead team, Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, will call the Dolphins game.
The NFL is expected to flex the Dolphins-Browns Week 17 “Sunday Night Football” game out of prime time, but the deadline for that decision isn’t for another week.
The Dolphins’ finale at the Jets likely will be played at 1 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 5.
Here’s my Monday pack of Dolphins nuggets, on three areas of regression for the team and position-by-position notes.
This story was originally published December 16, 2024 at 2:44 PM.
