Tua Tagovailoa is healthy. The same, regrettably, cannot be said for several of the Dolphins’ key players.
Having exited concussion protocol during the weekend, Tagovailoa returned Monday to lead a team that’s diminished by injuries at positions where they seemingly can least afford it.
The offensive line, already a concern because of poor performance in recent years, played its worst game of the season Sunday, with backup left tackle Greg Little allowing three sacks and nine pressures in the 24-16 loss to Minnesota that dropped the Dolphins to 3-3.
The cornerback room, already weakened by Byron Jones’ slow recovery from March leg surgery, lost its top nickel cornerback, Nik Needham, to a season-ending Achilles injury and Keion Crossen to a knee injury.
Meanwhile, receiver Jaylen Waddle is nursing a shoulder injury and tight end Durham Smythe missed Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury.
Waddle returned to the game after leaving briefly with his injury. Former NFL team doctor David Chao, who now contributes injury assessments to several media companies, said Waddle’s injury appeared to be a left shoulder subluxation and that he should be able to play against Pittsburgh on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium (8:20 p.m., NBC).
“We have plenty of players on this football team that if he is gone for a week or two that there will be no batting of an eye in confidence,” Mike McDaniel said of Waddle.
Where things stand on the offensive line and cornerback:
— The hope is that offensive tackles Terron Armstead (toe) and Austin Jackson (ankle) can return Sunday against Pittsburgh.
McDaniel said they were close to playing against Minnesota. Jackson remains on injured reserve after sustaining an injury in the opener. Armstead had been trying to play through a toe injury before departing after eight snaps of the Jets game eight days ago; he hasn’t played since.
“We came to a decision with both of them that it was in their best interest not to try to push through to go ahead, and go with the guys that we went with,” McDaniel said.
Little, who had played at right tackle the previous four games in Jackson’s absence, on Sunday was moved to left tackle, where he began his NFL career. But he was overwhelmed against the Vikings, allowing pressures on nine of his 60 pass blocking chances.
Pro Football Focus rates Little 76th of 76 NFL offensive tackles this season.
Guards Robert Hunt and Liam Eichenberg allowed three pressures apiece and both committed penalties. Fill-in right tackle Brandon Shell, who was elevated for a second time from the practice squad, permitted two pressures.
Teams can elevate players as many as three times from the practice squad; the Dolphins elevated offensive tackle Kion Smith instead of Larnel Coleman for Sunday’s game in part because Coleman already had been elevated three times. Smith was the only active Dolphin who didn’t play on Sunday.
PFF rated Eichenberg Miami’s best lineman Sunday, but the website overall rates him just 67th of 75 guards.
— At cornerback, the Dolphins will need to overcome the loss of Needham to a season-ending Achilles injury and Crossen to a knee injury (timetable undetermined).
The Dolphins haven’t said when they expect Byron Jones to return from March leg surgery; he’s eligible to come off the physically unable to perform list but had a recent setback and hasn’t yet been physically able to practice.
Meanwhile, Kader Kohou missed Sunday’s game with an oblique injury.
So for now, that leaves Xavien Howard, Noah Igbonighene and special teams player Justin Bethel as the only healthy cornerbacks on the roster. Safety Eric Rowe could play cornerback if needed, while Elijah Campbell plays safety and corner. In college at Oregon, safety Jevon Holland at times played a pseudo nickel cornerback role.
The Dolphins have two young cornerbacks on their practice squad — Tino Ellis and Kalon Barnes.
With the lack of appealing unemployed cornerback talent available, finding outside help would be challenging, unless the Dolphins decide to pursue a trade for Washington Commanders cornerback William Jackson III, who is expected to be dealt before the NFL’s Nov. 1 trade deadline because of his desire to play for a team that utilizes more man-to-man coverage.
But Jackson has been dismal this season, allowing 16 of 19 passes in his coverage area to be caught for 219 yards, a 149.8 passer rating.
Last season, he yielded a 95.1 passer rating (31 catches in 53 targets and 363 yards).
So for now, the Dolphins move forward with Igbinoghene and Bethel, who both played well Sunday.
Igbinoghene, who logged 31 defensive snaps against Minnesota, was called for pass interference shortly after entering the game but did not allow a completion on the two other passes thrown with him in coverage.
Neither pass thrown in Bethel’s coverage area was caught. He played 13 snaps on defense, having entered Sunday playing just 61 defensive snaps since the end of 2017 season.
Howard’s uneven season continued; he allowed six of eight passes thrown against him to be caught for 110 yards and a touchdown.
Needham was limited to 13 snaps and Crossen 12 snaps before their injuries. With Jones and Kohou unavailable, the Dolphins opted on Sunday to go primarily with Igbinoghene and Bethel instead of Campbell, who played only on special teams.
There were also seven snaps when safeties Holland, Brandon Jones and Rowe played at the same time.
Holland played all 52 defensive snaps, Jones 48 and Rowe 11. Besides Holland, the only other Dolphins who played every defensive snap were Howard and linebacker Jerome Baker, who had only one tackle in the game.
As for Tagovailoa, he returns to the Dolphins starting lineup after missing 2 ½ games in concussion protocol.
He began Monday ranked first in the league in passer rating (109.9) and third in completion percentage (69.6), behind only Geno Smith and Matt Stafford.
NOTABLE
Pro Football Focus rated Tyreek Hill, Skylar Thompson, Teddy Bridgewater, Mike Gesicki and River Cracraft as its five highest-rated Dolphins on offense Sunday.
PFF’s highest graded players on defense: Zach Sieler, Jaelan Phillips, Elandon Roberts, Brandon Jones and Rowe.
Phillips was credited with six pressures and a sack.
