Thursday Evening Notebook: Injury Update, Eichenberg Takes Blame, Ogbah, Needham, and More
The Miami Dolphins' injury report remained lengthy Thursday, but the good news was that every player on the active roster was able to participate in practice.
As it turned out, every player who had been estimated after the walk-through Wednesday as being limited had it been a regular practice turned out to be just that Thursday: limited.
That's a total of 12 players, including four of the five who didn't play against Jacksonville on Sunday because of injuries: CB Xavien Howard (groin/shoulder), CB Byron Jones (Achilles/groin), WR DeVante Parker (hamstring) and WR Preston Williams (groin).
The others are QB Tua Tagovailoa (ribs), QB Jacoby Brissett (hamstring), RB Malcolm Brown (ribs), G/T Austin Jackson (shoulder), DT John Jenkins (knees), S Brandon Jones (ankle), C Greg Mancz (groin) and LB Jaelan Phillips (ankle).
Lastly, linebacker Elandon Roberts (throat) and Adam Shaheen, who missed the Jacksonville game with a knee injury, both were listed as full participants for a second consecutive day.
ADJUSTMENT FOR WADDLE
Jaylen Waddle was used to ridiculous success at Alabama, and it took only five games for the rookie first-round pick to lose more games than he did during his entire time in college.
In three seasons at Alabama, Waddle saw his teams go 38-3, so starting 1-5 is new territory for him.
“Honestly, I just go about it as it is a new challenge every day," he said. "Same thing as winning. Weeks just go by and I’m just trying to get better and help the team out for us to be successful on Sunday.”
Ogbah Addresses IG Incident
Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah was the recipient of a vile racial Instagram direct message after the Dolphins' loss against Jacksonville on Sunday that he decided to share before eventually taking the post down to not create a distraction.
He addressed the issue Thursday.
“When I first saw the DM – it was actually on Instagram – when I saw the DM, it was definitely after a tough loss and seeing that pissed me off," Ogbah said. "It’s not the first time I’ve gotten messages like that, but I just wanted to show the world that you can’t do that. We’re all human. You can’t come at a person like that, especially I know you can’t come to my face like that, so I just wanted to show the world you can’t do that and then I realized I didn’t want it to be a distraction for this team, so that’s the only reason why I deleted the tweet. I just wanted to show those keyboard warriors, you can’t really do that. We’re still humans at the end of the day.”
The disgusting message from a student at the University of Rhode Island prompted an investigation from the school.
“I think we just need to stand together as one," Ogbah said. "If you see your friend or somebody you know doing that, say something. Don’t just ignore it just because that’s your buddy or your family member. Just say something about it because it affects everybody.”
SIELER'S TOUGHEST CRITIC
Defensive lineman Zach Sieler didn't have anybody around him when he fell on the loose ball after Christian Wilkins caused a fumble while sacking Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but he didn't want to take any chances and just wanted to secure the fumble recovery.
"I didn’t know who was around," Sieler said. "I just knew the ball was on the ground and I wanted to make sure I covered it up and get the ball back to the offense.”
While teammates sometimes will get on each other for not taking a more aggressive approach and try to scoop the ball and run with it, Sieler said that didn't happen to him Sunday.
But he did hear about it after the game.
"As soon as I got into the locker room, my fiancée called me and asked me why I didn’t pick it up," he said. "(laughter) But other than that, no. She was getting after me. (laughter)”
Eichenberg Takes Blame
It was outside linebacker Josh Allen who derailed the Dolphins' game-turning fourth-and-1 attempt against Jacksonville on Sunday and he got by tight end Durham Smythe to slide down the line and make the play.
But rookie tackle Liam Eichenberg took the blame Thursday, saying he failed to make a necessary adjustment on the play.
“I think on that final play, I should have taken into consideration where Josh Allen was," Eichenberg said. "I’ll put that on me. I should have told the guard a man-3 tech and then I should have helped the tight end. Just kind of understanding where those players are that can affect games, especially in crucial moments like that. I should have maybe made a certain call to kind of help the tight end out which, in turn, would have helped the running back out. It’s definitely something I can learn from moving forward.”
What was more impressive than Eichenberg taking responsibility was the fact he made the comment in answer to a question about fourth-yardage plays in general, and not that play specifically.
