The Miami Dolphins lost to the New York Jets Sunday, 40-17. The score doesn’t show the game was close going into the 4th quarter, and it was just a sequence of bad plays that snowballed against the Dolphins that gave the Jets the win. The injuries are piling up at key positions, most notably at quarterback, where Teddy Bridgewater was knocked out of the game on the team’s 1st offensive play. Wow, if you told me that was going to happen, I wouldn’t have believed you, but Bridgewater got hit by an unblocked Blitzer and hit the turf. Due to the new concussion protocol, despite clearing, he was deemed wobbly, and a no go.  


The Dolphins took a lot of heat because many felt the team didn’t handle the Tua Tagovailoa situation against the Buffalo Bills a couple of weeks ago when he got up wobbly and went into the locker room then after halftime was cleared to play. However, when he went down from a hit 4fourdays later and was taken off by stretcher with a concussion, everyone came out firing on the Dolphins. The investigation showed the Dolphins, and the independent neurologist handled the concussion protocol correctly. Still, the NFL and the NFL Players Association decided to tweak the protocol where if a player is wobbly or not balanced, then he will be ruled out for the game, and that was the case on Sunday with Bridgewater. There’s no exact science for handling concussions because everyone reacts differently than others, so they should air on the side of caution. All of the media and analysts, who criticized the Dolphins’ handling of Tua with no medical knowledge, should walk back what they said about the Dolphins handling since they were cleared, but that won’t happen and that’s a separate issue I have. 


Next week it could be rookie Skyler Thompson starting against the Minnesota Vikings, depending on how Tagovailoa and Bridgewater are this week under concussion protocol. That’s fine if it happens. I thought Thompson played well in his first game action. He certainly wasn’t great, but after a slow start, he found his footing and got the Dolphins in position to take the lead in the 4th quarter. Tanner Conner had a key drop on 2nd down that would have given the Dolphins a 1st down at the Jets’ 30-yard line and at least make any field goal attempt shorter for Jason Sanders, but instead, the Dolphins tried a 54-yard field goal, and it missed, and things slipped away after that. Thompson had a fumble after a Jets touchdown, and that led to another touchdown, but he is going to have those mistakes, and he has to play better, but the rest of the team has to help him out as well. The problem is the Dolphins have mounting injuries at key positions. 

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Left tackle Terron Armstead left the game with a toe injury that has plagued him since the first week of the season. The injury could keep him out for a bit because the Dolphins made arrangements for him to stay and see a foot specialist to see what happens, but without him, the Dolphins’ offensive line is a mess in pass protection. Armstead is the anchor of the offensive line that has made much improvement this season compared to last year. The Dolphins could get back Austin Jackson, who’s on IR and is eligible to come off this coming week. The problem is how he will look when he comes back after the layoff. His rookie season started out well, but then he missed time with an injury and came back wasn’t the same. The offensive line did a good job of opening up running lanes for Raheem Mostert, and that is what this offense needs to do run the ball, especially if defenses are going to play their safeties deep with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. If the Dolphins have to start Thompson next week, running the football is going to be a must to take pressure off of him. 


The injuries are piling up in the secondary as well. Xavien Howard didn’t play because of a nagging groin injury, and honestly, it was probably the right move not to play him because groins can be tricky if not managed correctly. He could have played but could have injured it worse , so was probably best to air on the side of caution. What complicates that is Byron Jones is still on the physically unable to perform list from his off-season surgery. He was supposed to be ready for training camp, but he obviously wasn’t, and nobody seemed to know when he will be able to practice. The Dolphins are now starting Nick Needham on the boundary with undrafted rookie Kader Kohou. Josh Boyer doesn’t have his experienced shutdown corners in Howard and Jones, so he has to run his defense differently with the inexperience and can’t use his exotic blitzes as he would like. Now the secondary ,I thought, did a good job today against the Jets, with the exception of a breakdown on a couple of plays. The Dolphins are going to be playing a better passing team next week in the Vikings, so getting Howard back will be huge; otherwise, it could be a long day. 


Every team goes through injuries, some more than others, but teams have to find a way to overcome their injuries. The Dolphins were in that situation Sunday and had a chance to take the lead in the 4th quarter, but mistakes doomed the Dolphins, not the injuries.Â