-
Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN
MIAMI — It’s too early to inform whether or not or no longer Miami Dolphins rookie Skylar Thompson will get started this Sunday towards the Minnesota Vikings, coach Mike McDaniel mentioned Monday.
With quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Teddy Bridgewater each in concussion protocol without a company timeline to go back, the Dolphins might flip to 2022 7th-spherical pick out Thompson to make his first occupation get started and, preferably, snap a two-recreation shedding streak.
It’s no longer, then again, one thing McDaniel appears like he has sufficient data on to speculate this early within the week.
“It’s too soon for me to really pinpoint that,” he mentioned. “There’s, again, I kind of have to wait and assess the whole situation, which I do not have in scope. What I do know is that Skylar will be practicing on Wednesday and hopefully Wednesday I’ll have a better feel of the direction that we should go that’s best for the football team.”
Thompson crammed in at quarterback all the way through Sunday’s 40-17 loss to the New York Jets for Bridgewater, who was once positioned in concussion protocol after only one offensive snap. Thompson completed the sport with 166 yards on 19-of-33 passing. He additionally threw an interception and misplaced a fumble in what McDaniel referred to as a “rough rookie outing.”
Tagovailoa has been in concussion protocol since Week 4 and has been within the Dolphins’ development however hasn’t stepped forward sufficient but to get started doing soccer actions, McDaniel mentioned, and is being evaluated each and every 12 to 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Bridgewater continues to display no signs of a concussion after passing his analysis all the way through Sunday’s recreation. He was once got rid of from the sport after a sales space ATC spotter believed he noticed Bridgewater stumble after taking a difficult hit from Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, triggering the just lately added “ataxia” clause within the NFL’s concussion protocol.
The modification states that any participant who’s recognized with ataxia — which is an “abnormality of balance/stability, motor coordination or dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue” — will probably be prohibited from returning to the sport and would require apply-up care.
Dolphins captains Terron Armstead and Tyreek Hill additionally sustained accidents in Sunday’s recreation. Armstead, the Dolphins’ beginning left take on, remained in New York in a single day to see a consultant for a toe damage that has afflicted him since Week 1. McDaniel mentioned the appointment went neatly and that Armstead is again in Florida. The hope is for him to play Sunday however McDaniel mentioned he trusts Armstead implicitly within the procedure.
“The one thing I’ve learned with Terron is I can trust him as much as I’ve ever trusted any player,” he mentioned. “So I know one thing, he will do whatever it takes to play Sunday. The one thing that myself, the coaching staff and his teammates know is if he’s not able to play, it’s because he’s physically unable to play. So [I’m] trusting that process and excited that he’s taken a step to get that thing healthy.”
Hill left MetLife Stadium dressed in a strolling boot on his left foot however McDaniel mentioned the extensive receiver “looked pretty good” Monday. He referred to as Hill a “fast healer” and mentioned the Dolphins will take his standing daily.
Starting cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Byron Jones additionally ignored Sunday’s recreation and whilst McDaniel mentioned he does not be expecting to turn on Jones, who’s at the bodily not able to carry out checklist after Achilles surgical operation in March, Howard has a greater likelihood at taking part in Sunday.
If Thompson does have to get started Sunday, McDaniel mentioned he’s assured in what the rookie can accomplish after per week of having starter’s reps — particularly after what he was once ready to do in his first NFL motion.
“Being a backup quarterback in this league is not easy,” McDaniel mentioned. “And what people don’t understand is you have a finite amount of reps during the week because you can’t deplete your athletes and you can’t have endless amount of reps. So typically, starters get anywhere from 80 to 100% of the practice reps. So a backup quarterback, especially a rookie, it’s a tremendous challenge because you have to own the whole game plan, visualize it, be able to call it, be able to line people up and then execute appropriately.”
The Dolphins have misplaced consecutive video games after beginning the season 3-0. They have a good agenda arising with best one in all their subsequent six video games coming towards an opponent with a profitable file — this week’s recreation towards the 4-1 Vikings.
Regardless in their opponent, they are no longer taking a look too deeply into those losses and are assured of their skill to leap again.
“You can have any excuse, any reason for any loss that you want and I think being a professional football player and being a guy in the locker room, you know the talent’s there,” fullback Alec Ingold mentioned. “You know the coaches are there. You know the pieces of the puzzle are there. We’ve proven that, like you said. It’s just about us coming together as a team, finding our formula to win, having a standard and sticking to it.
“I think like the ones are all easy solutions that you’ll give however it is in reality exhausting to do on per week-to-week foundation. That’s what separates excellent groups from nice.”