Dolphins Week 5 Power Rankings Roundup
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The Miami Dolphins naturally dropped in the national NFL power rankings following their Thursday night loss at Cincinnati, a game marred by the frightening injury sustained by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
But the Dolphins clearly are still held in high regard among the national media, as evidenced by their current ranking at 3-1, where the consensus has them at number 5.
In our survey of rankings of 10 national outlets —CBS Sports, NFL.com, The Athletic, The Sporting News, The Ringer, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Yahoo, and Pro Football Talk — the Dolphins were ranked as high as fourth and only NFL.com had them lower than seventh.
Here's the breakdown of the Dolphins' 10 power rankings spots, along with the commentary associated with it:
CBS Sports
Ranking: 5 Previous: 2
Analysis: The Tua Tagovailoa situation clouds their fast start. It's Teddy Bridgewater this week against the Jets, which will be a tougher game than maybe they thought.
NFL.com
Ranking: 10 Previous: 3
Analysis: The Dolphins lost for the first time this season against the Bengals on Thursday Night Football, but the story after the game surrounded Tua Tagovailoa, and the head and neck injuries that sent him to a Cincinnati-area medical center after a second-quarter sack. Tua was quickly released from the hospital and flew back to Miami with the team, but questions linger about whether the QB should have been on the field at all after his head was slammed to the turf in the Week 3 win over the Bills. The NFL Players Association terminated the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant involved in Tagovailoa's concussion check, and changes to the league's concussion protocol are being implemented. On Monday, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel ruled Tua out of Sunday's game against the Jets. Expect Miami to handle this situation with extreme caution moving forward.
The Athletic
Ranking: 5 Previous: 1
Analysis: On the field, the Dolphins should be one of the feel-good stories this season with an explosive offense (third in EPA per drive) that has as much speed as any team and one of the most blitz-heavy defenses in the league. But it’s hard to focus on much else in Miami other than the troubling handling of Tua Tagovailoa that seems primed to be held up as exhibition No. 1 in a looming fight between the NFL Players Association and the league on player safety. Tagovailoa has already been ruled out for Week 5 because of the concussion he suffered last Thursday night against the Bengals.
Pro Football Talk
Ranking: 5 Previous: 1
Analysis: Can they win with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback?
Yahoo Sports
Ranking: 5 Previous: 4
Analysis: It's not the most important angle of the Tua Tagovailoa injury, but the Dolphins still have games to play and will do so for at least one week without their quarterback. Miami played hard in that loss to Cincinnati, so maybe it'll be fine. But there's a lot of pressure on Teddy Bridgewater to keep things on track until Tagovailoa returns. Miami doesn't want to look up and their 3-0 start has been given away.
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Sports Illustrated
Ranking: 4 Previous: 1
Analysis: While it’s impossible to separate what happened to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins’ immediate future, this is still a well-coached team and a well-designed offense. The first significant test of the Mike McDaniel era is here, though this is absolutely not what he was referring to when he discussed facing adversity.
ESPN
Ranking: 5 Previous: 1
Analysis (on the biggest issue on defense): Miami currently has the second-worst pass defense in the NFL through its first four games, although that hasn't translated to the scoreboard. The Dolphins have been stout against the run, and the numbers they've given up are a bit skewed considering Josh Allen's 63 pass attempts in Week 3 and Lamar Jackson's prolific first half in Week 2. Presumably, they'll return to form once Byron Jones returns from the physically unable to perform list -- which he's eligible to do this week..
The Ringer
Ranking: 7 Previous: 6
Analysis: The biggest story line coming out of the Dolphins’ 27-15 loss to the Bengals is just how poorly the NFL and the team handled Tua Tagovailoa’s Week 3 injury against the Bills and the subsequent concussion Tagovailoa suffered four days later, Thursday night in Cincinnati. Head coach Mike McDaniel announced Monday that Tagovailoa will miss the team’s Week 5 matchup against the Jets. Teddy Bridgewater will get the start against New York. McDaniel’s offense is explosive and creative enough to survive Bridgewater being a step back in timing and accuracy from Tua, but Tagovailoa will need to be the healthy starting quarterback for Miami if its deep postseason aspirations will ring true. It will be interesting to watch the betting line on this game throughout the week, as last week’s line shifted from Bengals -1 to Bengals -3.5 even before Tagovailoa’s injury. The Dolphins opened as 3.5-point favorites on the road against the Jets.
The Sporting News
Ranking: 5 Previous: 1
Analysis: The Dolphins' defense came down to earn against the passing of the Bengals and their offense took a tough setback of seeing Tua Tagovailoa going down. They will need to recover fast against the upstart Jets.
USA Today
Ranking: 2 Previous: 8
Analysis: Should be interesting to see this offense without QB Tua Tagovailoa, who will miss Week 5 with his (latest?) concussion. But backup Teddy Bridgewater, who aired out a completion of 61+ yards Thursday, has the arm to take advantage of this team's speed ... assuming coach Mike McDaniel can also get him to play less conservatively.
