The Miami Dolphins will likely be without wide receiver Jakeem Grant for their regular season finale against the Buffalo Bills.
Grant left the 26-25 win against the Las Vegas Raiders in the third quarter with an ankle injury that will keep him out against Buffalo, according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport.
Rookie Noah Igbioghene was deployed as the kick-off returner on Saturday-evening, and rookie Malcolm Perry took over the punt returns after Grant left the game.
While Rapoport suggested the possibility of Grant ending up on an injured reserve to create a selection spot, the Dolphins didn’t make that move on Monday or Tuesday.
The same goes for linebacker Elandon Roberts, who was taken off the field in Las Vegas with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
The Dolphins played the game against the Raiders without DeVante Parker (hamstring), Solomon Kindley (knee) and Shaq Lawson (shoulder).
They will get their first injury report of the week on Wednesday when they start practicing in preparation for the Buffalo game.
PRACTICE SQUAD MOVEMENTS
The Dolphins did their weekly practice squad protections on Tuesday, but this time they took on other names.
The four players who protected this week were DB Brian Cole, DB Javaris Davis, DB Nate Holley and WR Kirk Merritt.
The usual names of tight end Chris Myarick, quarterback Reid Sinnett and long snapper Rex Sunahara weren’t involved, meaning they could be poached by another team this week.
Sinnett’s lockout is interesting, especially given Monday’s report that the Dolphins brought fellow quarterback Jake Rudock to begin his series of COVID-19 tests.
GAILEY’S MAIN GOAL
The Dolphins coordinators held their final Zoom media sessions of the regular season on Tuesday, prompting another question to Chan Gailey about his plans for the future.
It’s a natural question to ask, given that Gailey is 68 years old and hadn’t coached since 2016 before the dolphins pulled him out of retirement.
“This has been an unusual year to say the least,” said Gailey. “The experience is like no other I’ve ever had, that’s for sure. I think someone asked me about this last week. I’m thinking about how to beat Buffalo. I’m thinking about that. I’m not thinking about anything else right now. How can I help this soccer team beat Buffalo? “
SCHEDULE SNEAK PREVIEW
Recently published reports have indicated that a 17th regular season is likely to be added in 2021, with the extra game being an inter-conference match against a team finishing in the same position in its division.
It now turns out, according to SI NFL writer Albert Breer, that the extra game for AFC East teams will come against the NFC East.
That means that the Dolphins, who are assured of second place in the AFC East, will face second place in the NFC East, although that’s all we can say at this point, as that team would eventually be Dallas, the New York Giants can be. or Washington.
The site of that game must be determined.
In addition to traditional home and home games with the AFC East opponents, the Dolphins 2021 will play home games against Houston, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Carolina and second place in the AFC North (Cleveland or Baltimore).
The road races will be against the three opponents of AFC East, Jacksonville, Tennessee, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and second place in AFC West.
TALKING TUA
Finally, we end with Gailey describing why it seems like there is more of a vertical passing with veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick as the quarterback than with rookie Tua Tagovailoa.
“Well, the situation of the game has a lot to do with it,” said Gailey. “If you fall behind and have to run down the field and score points quickly, that has a lot to do with it. We’ve been a team that has tried to be 9, 10, 11, 12 play drives, football. To play, to pass action, to check the time on the clock. That’s the situation we encountered in the ball game at Tua. Besides, you miss some receivers every now and then and that has something to do with it. Much of it is about the decision-making about what the game is called and what kind of plays we perform. “