Dolphins Weekend Notebook: COVID, Schedule, Wilson's New Look, Phillips Staying Humble, More
The NFL juggled its Week 15 schedule and there'll be more shuffling in the final weeks of the regular season — but that time to get the best matchups to a national television audience.
One of the three games moved this weekend features the Las Vegas Raiders against the Cleveland Browns, a matchup with potential playoff implication and one of the games Dolphins fans should monitor in Week 15.
There'll be a new twist in the NFL this season on the final weekend with not one but two games switched to be played on Saturday, along with the traditional season-ending Sunday night game.
If the Dolphins are in the hunt heading into Week 18, it certainly would be easy to see their home game against New England getting switched to Saturday or Sunday night.
WILSON'S NEW LOOK
Albert Wilson no longer is in the running for the best (biggest) hair on the team.
The wide receiver was sporting a crew cut when he conducted a Zoom media session Friday.
“No reason to why I cut it off," he said. "Just thought it was time. It just was kind of being difficult getting it all in the helmet and whatnot. So I figured it'd be easier to just cut it off.”
The question of best hair on the team — yes, it's not a usual football topic — came up after running back Phillip Lindsay joined the Dolphins and became the third player noticeable for his hair after Wilson and Mack Hollins.
Miami Dolphins
Wilson said it's the first time his hair has been this short since he first entered the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014.
""A lot of guys just said that I was trying to get everybody to know the difference between me and Phil," Wilson said. "They thought we looked alike with the hair and they thought it was kind of funny that I cut mine as soon as he got here. So … it’s all cool.”
X MAN FAN
Linebacker Duke Riley is in his first season with the Dolphins after previously spending time with the Falcons and Eagles and I asked him Friday how much fun he's had playing in the Dolphins' attacking-style defense.
During his answer, Riley threw a major shout-out at cornerback Xavien Howard.
"It's just fun to watch guys," he said. "Especially I like watching X. Xavien, I mean, he's just like a ball hawk man. I mean, I never played with a guy who is as much of a ball hawk as him and it's amazing to see him he does some amazing things and he does it at practice too. It’s fun.”
PHILLIPS STAYING GROUNDED
Rookie first-round pick Jaelan Phillips is among the hottest players in the NFL with six sacks in his past three games, and the run began in the first game against the Jets when he dropped Joe Flacco once.
But Phillips, who already has set the Dolphins rookie record with 8.5 sacks on the season, isn't about to get away with the numbers.
“I don't ever want to get ahead of myself and think that, oh, I've made it now that I have a few sacks," he said. "Ultimately, like I've said before man, sacks come in bunches, and I'm blessed to be able to have some of those numbers. But a lot of guys you know, like Andrew Van Ginkel, for example, he's been playing his ass off, one of the most key players on our team and he only has, I think, 2.5, 3.5 sacks or something like that. So yeah, never getting too arrogant.”
Props to Phillips for acknowledging Van Ginkel, who has been a major factor for the defense for several weeks now despite having only two sacks on the season.
QB RATINGS
We're absolutely sure this next item is going to go over really well with a lot of Dolphins fans, but here it goes anyway.
Sports Illustrated NFL writer Conor Orr ranked the 32 quarterback situations in the NFL based on talent, potential and financial considerations, and the Dolphins came in at number 27, ahead of only the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers and Detroit Lions.
Here was Orr's analysis of the Dolphins QB situation, which is far from a knock on Tua Tagovailoa:
"It stands to reason that if the Dolphins put in half the man hours building around Tua Tagovailoa as they did pursuing Deshaun Watson they might already have a playoff spot. The former No. 5 overall pick is not perfect but he’s functional and getting better with consistent reps. Over the Dolphins’ recent winning streak, Tagovailoa is completing almost 78% of his passes, with five touchdowns and one interception. He’s also rushed for another touchdown. He costs the Dolphins next to nothing over the following two years. Adding to their depth chart’s relative value: Brissett at $5 million, which still feels like a bargain to me."
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
It's pretty well known by now that Brian Flores has drilled into his players the idea of focusing strictly on the moment, on the next meeting, the next practice, the next game and not get caught up looking ahead.
So I asked Howard and Christian Wilkins how many times A DAY Flores hammers the message home to his players.
Wilkins declined to give a specific answer, but came up with this gem nonetheless:
“That’s what it is. That’s a great way to approach it each and every week, and each and every day. Just one at a time. You can’t move on to the next thing until you finish. You can’t move on to dessert until you finish your vegetables.”
Howard was more specific:
"Sh*t, I don't know. A lot. A lot."
