What the Miami Dolphins’ final injury report reveals before their game against Las Vegas
A six-pack of Miami Dolphins notes on a Thursday:
▪ The Dolphins will get starting running back Myles Gaskin back for Saturday’s game at Las Vegas, presuming the team believes his conditioning is strong enough coming off a bout with COVID-19.
But Miami will be without one starting offensive lineman and was non-committal about the status of four other key offensive players.
Guard Solomon Kindley, who is nursing a foot injury sustained against New England, was ruled out for Saturday but holds out hope of returning for the finale against Buffalo. He didn’t practice all week.
Kindley’s foot injury isn’t believed to be as serious as the one that sidelined Austin Jackson for a month earlier in the season. No structural damage was found.
Miami hopes to get guard Ereck Flowers back from an ankle injury Saturday but he was listed as questionable. Flowers has missed the past two games and was limited in practice the past three days.
Receiver DeVante Parker and Jakeem Grant (who both have hamstring injuries), tight end Mike Gesicki (shoulder) and linebacker Shaq Lawson (shoulder) also were listed as questionable for the game at Las Vegas.
Brian Flores said Parker, Grant and Gesicki were all close to playing last Sunday against New England, but all were held out. All three were limited in practice the entire week, as was Lawson, who played 30 of 55 defensive snaps last Sunday against New England.
Players who were initially limited in practice this week but are good to go for the game include linebackers Jerome Baker (knee) and Kyle Van Noy (hip) and safeties Bobby McCain (ankle) and safety Clayton Fejedelem (thumb). Those players practiced fully on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Raiders coach Jon Gruden said he is “optimistic” that starting quarterback Derek Carr - who has been dealing with a groin injury - would be ready to play Saturday. Gruden declined to say if Carr or Marcus Mariota would start against Miami, but it appears likely that Carr would start; he’s no longer on the injury report.
▪ Raekwon Davis believes the fact he played such long seasons in Alabama — including 14 games in 2018 — is helping him avoid the rookie wall. Pro Football Focus rates him 36th among 121 defensive tackles this season.
The Dolphins remain very happy with Davis.
“His confidence level is really high,” defensive line coach Marion Hobby said. “You can tell that as the week goes on and as he goes into the game, he’s starting to get that feeling that he can be a dominant player. He’s doing a great job. As a rookie sometimes you’re wondering ‘can I play at that level? How well can I play at that level?’ But I think he’s taken hold of that fact and I’m really excited to continue to see him grow.”
▪ Hobby said the coaching staff is “very proud” of Emmanuel Ogbah, who is tied for ninth in the NFL with nine sacks.
“I was glad to see him get back on track this past weekend with getting a big sack for us,” Hobby said. “He’s been consistent with his rushes. He’s been adding pressure pretty much every week. There’s a lot of good football players out there in the National Football League and I’m sure he’s proud to be mentioned with the top-tier players in this league.”
▪ The Dolphins are one of only two NFL teams (along with New Orleans) to not allow a touchdown in three different games this season. The last time the Dolphins did that was in 2011 (at Kansas City, vs. Washington, vs. Buffalo).
Meanwhile, Miami has not allowed a touchdown to an AFC East opponent in its past three games. The last AFC East opponent to score a touchdown against Miami was Buffalo in Week 2. The Dolphins close the season Jan. 3 in Buffalo.
▪ This was lost in the shuffle last weekend, but Salvon Ahmed’s 122 rushing yards against New England were the most in franchise history by an undrafted player in his rookie season and the eighth-most by any Dolphins rookie.
Only two Dolphins rookies have rushed for more yards in a game in the past 20 years: Ronnie Brown with 132 on Sept. 25, 2005 vs. Carolina and Kalen Ballage with 123 on Dec. 16, 2018 at Minnesota.
The Dolphins should have a full stable of running backs available Sunday: Gaskin, Ahmed, Matt Breida, Patrick Laird and DeAndre Washington, with Washington a potential inactive.
▪ Quick stuff: The 49ers poached speedy receiver Matt Cole from Dolphins’ practice squad, giving him a two-year deal to join their 53 man roster. That leaves Isaiah Ford (elevated to play Saturday at Las Vegas), Kirk Merritt, Andre Patton and recent addition Marcus Kemp as receivers on Miami’s practice squad....
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky said Tua Tagovailoa’s play against New England reminded him of a Tom Brady start during his first year as a starter — not splashy but smart and effective...
Van Noy is tied with Seattle safety Jamal Adams for most quarterback pressures by a non-defensive lineman, with 26, per PFF...
Xavien Howard’s nine interceptions are more than the INT totals of nine teams, per PFF...
NFL Network assigned Los Angeles Dodgers television voice Joe Davis (who does baseball and football for Fox) and former NFL MVP Kurt Warner to Saturday’s Dolphins-Raiders game, which also will be televised by WPLG-ABC 10 in South Florida.
Here’s my Thursday piece explaining all of the Miami Dolphins’ tiebreaker scenarios and news from Brian Flores’ news conference.
Here’s my Thursday Miami Hurricanes 6-pack with lots of news.
This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 3:57 PM.
