MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — While starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is out indefinitely with a concussion, veteran Teddy Bridgewater will start for the Dolphins, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
“It’s one of the strengths of our football team, and I think that guys rely on that,” McDaniel said. “Tua, Teddy and Skylar [Thompson] have formed a great working group, and our guys believe in all three of them.
Bridgewater will be the starter for the foreseeable future, as McDaniel said there was no timeline for Tagovailoa’s return.
“The most honest and forthright I can be is I literally have no timetable or even thought to it,” McDaniel said. “That’s where I would feel irresponsible is even thinking about it. I just want him ... to get all the evaluation possible, to do all the things recommended from all the medical counterparts and I want him to get on the road to recovery from that as the human being, and then we’ll cross that bridge. But in terms of the timeline of crossing that bridge, I have zero idea.”
Bridgewater entered Thursday’s loss to the Bengals in the second quarter and completed 14 of 23 passes for 193 yards. He threw one touchdown and one interception.
The former Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl quarterback is in his ninth year in the NFL and has played for five different teams.
Bridgewater knows what Tagovailoa is dealing with, as his 2021 season ended prematurely when he suffered a concussion against Cincinnati in Week 15 last year. He said his experience was scary, and he has no memory of the injury or ride to the hospital.
“It’s very scary,” Bridgewater said after Thursday’s game. “You hear people say injury is a part of the game. That’s the part of the game that sucks. It’s fun to compete, it’s fun to score touchdowns and make plays, but it’s that one side of the game that really sucks, and it’s unfortunate.
“For me, I just think about my son. And one day he’s going to be old enough to use Google, and he’s going to Google his dad, and he might see his dad getting carted off on the field, or his dad had a concussion. All those things play in your head.”
McDaniel also had praise for Thompson, who made the roster as a rookie after excelling in preseason play.
“He’s just working constantly,” McDaniel said. “When he’s on the field, we’ll make some plays. So he’s in a great spot, too. Feel very fortunate to have those two guys.”
Howard’s status
McDaniel said the Dolphins would evaluate star cornerback Xavien Howard and Byron Jones’ status on Monday to see if they would be able to play against the New York Jets on Oct. 9.
“We’ll probably re-evaluate that at the beginning of the week, which we’ll always do,” the Dolphins coach said. “I don’t really have anything for that today.”
Howard started Thursday’s loss to the Bengals and played 40 snaps, but he departed the game after aggravating a groin injury that had been bothering him earlier this month.
“[Howard] is a competitor and a fierce one at that,” McDaniel said Friday. “I know he’s going to do everything to make sure that he’s completely capable.”
Byron Jones’ status will also be determined next week. The eighth-year veteran has missed Miami’s first four games this season while on the physically-unable-to-perform list following offseason leg surgery. Jones is eligible to return for the Dolphins’ game against the Jets.
“I know Byron is working his tail off,” McDaniel said.
Kicking issues
Kicker Jason Sanders had a 52-yard field goal blocked and missed an extra point when he hit the upright. He talked about both briefly after the game.
“The extra point, I hit it well,” he said. “I just happened to push it a little wide. The starting point was a little off. It was a good kick.
“And the block I haven’t seen the film yet so it’s going to be something we’ve got to look at and see what the issue was. I’m not sure what it was yet.”
Outside noise
The Dolphins turned a lot of heads and piqued a lot of curiosity by starting 3-1. But they’re not keeping tabs.
“I couldn’t care less about anybody else,” tight end Mike Gesicki said. “We just have to come out every single week, and try to win every single week. That’s about it.”
Linebacker Jerome Baker said no one in the locker room cares about impressing people outside of the locker room.
“We know the team we have, we know the guys we have in this locker room, and we know the potential we have,” he said. “So we don’t really care what anybody says about us or anything like that. Our main focus is getting back right, getting healthy and going on to next week.”
