Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been dominated out for the crew’s wild-card playoff sport on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, coach Mike McDaniel stated Wednesday.
Tagovailoa will miss his third consecutive sport after struggling his second recognized concussion of his third NFL season within the Dec. 25 loss in opposition to the Green Bay Packers.
“Tua has not been cleared by doctors to resume football activities on the field with his teammates,” McDaniel stated. “Because of that and because of the time that he’s missed, I can rule him out for Sunday.”
Backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is working towards a return to beginning instead of Tagovailoa after dislocating the pinky finger on his throwing hand in Miami’s Jan. 1 loss to the New England Patriots, however the Dolphins are starting the follow week with the method of third-string rookie Skylar Thompson being the starter.
“Teddy is still working his way back,” McDaniel stated. “His largest factor is he knew that he needed to be ready the place he needed to be absolutely practical on Sunday. That took some pressure and actually just a few guts and work ethic to — that’s not a straightforward factor to do. As it stands proper now, he’s working to organize himself to be succesful on Sunday.
“But as a result of that, he can’t afford any setbacks or really anything that’s conflicting against the healing process in the week. As a result, we will be approaching the game [Wednesday] as Skylar Thompson as our starting quarterback.”
McDaniel stated Tagovailoa hasn’t had any setbacks in his progress via concussion protocol, however attributed ruling the quarterback out early to “compounding variables” as Tagovailoa navigates the five-step course of to return to play from a concussion. McDaniel final insinuated, on Monday, that Tagovailoa was doing cardiovascular and cardio train, which might point out he’s in both Phase 2 or early in Phase 3 of the league’s protocol.
The coach added there’s a chance that Tagovailoa can journey with the crew for the Sunday 1 p.m. kickoff in Orchard Park, New York to take it in as a spectator on the sideline.
Bridgewater, formally a restricted participant on the crew’s Wednesday damage report, was seen at follow throwing warmup passes of about 20 yards however with out a lot zip on them. He was out there for final Sunday’s win over the New York Jets that obtained Miami into the playoffs in an emergency scenario whereas Thompson began.
Thompson, the rookie seventh-round decide, went 20 of 31 for 152 yards with out a landing nor an interception in opposition to the Jets. He managed to get via the sport with out a expensive mistake, leaned on his run sport and protection and got here away with a win.
“The good thing for me, I feel like I got a pretty good feel for what a playoff game kind of would look like just last week,” stated Thompson, who obtained his ankle banged up in opposition to New York however was nonetheless a full participant in Wednesday drills. “It was a win-or-go-home type of situation for us, so getting to experience kind of what that felt like last week I think was helpful.”
If Thompson stays in line to start out because the week continues, he may find yourself the quarterback attempting to steer a crew to a playoff win in a raucous atmosphere at Highmark Stadium as a rookie.
“Just trying to eliminate the emotion of all that as much as I can and just treat it like any other game,” he stated.
Even if Tagovailoa and Bridgewater are unable to start out Sunday, they’re nonetheless enjoying a task in Thompson’s preparation.
“They have both been a great help to me and supporting me,” Thompson stated, “which has meant a lot to me coming from guys that have had a lot of experience and have played the position in the league and just spreading wisdom to me as much as they can.”
Veteran left deal with Terron Armstead, working to return after lacking the win over the Jets, reviewed Thompson’s begin: “I think Skylar played extremely well, extremely smart, didn’t turn the ball over. … Think he was getting into more and more of a groove as the game went on.”
Other Dolphins, whereas understanding Tagovailoa received’t get cleared for Sunday’s sport, are involved together with his well being as the highest precedence.
“First and foremost, just want Tua to be healthy and be okay,” tight finish Mike Gesicki stated. “His long-term health is more important than anything, and then, whoever’s back there this week — we’ve had everybody back there this year — whoever’s back there, go out and make plays.”
With Tagovailoa dominated out, the Dolphins are even greater underdogs. Buffalo is now favored by 13 factors.
Miami hasn’t received a playoff sport in 22 years, relationship again to a 23-17 time beyond regulation win over the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 30, 2000. In the Dolphins’ final playoff look, within the 2016 postseason, in addition they had a backup quarterback, Matt Moore, enjoying within the 30-12 loss on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 8, 2017.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com