Tuesday Dolphins Notebook: Injury Update, Schedule Change, Ogbah's Big Day, and More
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The Miami Dolphins will be lending their training facility to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week because of Hurricane Ian, but the storm affected Miami's plans as well.
The team will be leaving for Cincinnati early Wednesday morning to try to beat out the arrival of the storm's effects in South Florida.
The Dolphins were scheduled to practice at the Baptist Health Training Complex before leaving for Cincinnati, but instead now will just have a walk-through after getting to Ohio.
Having to adjust for weather is nothing new for the Dolphins, though it hadn't happened since 2017 when their season opener at home was postponed and they flew to Southern California for a week to prepare for their Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Chargers — though we actually could make the argument it happened in the 2018 season opener against Tennessee when two lengthy lightning delays made it the longest game (by clock time) in NFL history.
INJURY UPDATE
The Dolphins conducted a walk-through Tuesday after not practicing Monday, so their injury report was based on an estimation for a second consecutive day.
With that in mind, it was good news that all seven of the practice participation designations that changed did so for the better.
Five players went from being listed as "did not participate" to "limited" based on the estimation, starting with QB Tua Tagovailoa (back/ankle). The others were CB Xavien Howard (groin/glute), OL Robert Hunt (shin), S Brandon Jones (chest) and WR Jaylen Waddle (groin).
Two others — safety Jevon Holland (neck) and tackle Greg Little (finger) — went from "did not participate" to "limited."
Tackle Terron Armstead (toe) was one of the three players again listed as "did not participate," along with the two tight ends who were inactive against Buffalo, Cethan Carter (concussion) and Hunter Long (ankle).
Four other players were listed as "limited" for a second consecutive day — DT Raekwon Davis (knee), CB Kader Kohou (ankle), DL Zach Sieler (hand) and WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. (ribs/toe).
Cincinnati practiced Tuesday and the same three players who were estimated as not practicing Monday did not participate — T La'el Collins (back), DT D.J. Reader (knee) and TE Drew Sample (knee).
Reports indicating Reader's injury would keep him out of the lineup for some time.
The six players who were listed as limited based on the estimation Monday all were listed as full participants — CB Eli Apple (ankle), WR Tee Higgins (toe), TE Hayden Hurst (groin), RB Joe Mixon (ankle), LB Germaine Pratt (knee) and TE Mitchell Wilcox (ankle).
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THE HEAT IS ON
In case you've been away from social media or football media since Sunday, there's been an awful lot of chatter about the conditions at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday and what kind of effect it had on the game.
ESPN analyst and former Jets and Bills head coach Rex Ryan called the Dolphins' home-field advantage the biggest in the NFL because the team's sideline is in the shade during the afternoon based on the design of Hard Rock Stadium, whereas the visiting sideline remains in the sun.
But the best part of the whole thing, though, has to be the new Twitter account we came across Tuesday, Hard Rock Sun.
The first tweet from the account came Monday, but this gem from Tuesday is worth mentioning. Well done.
OGBAH'S BIG DAY GETS BIGGER
Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah played a key role in the victory against the Bills on Sunday, and it turns out it may have been bigger than first thought.
Even though the official Dolphins-Bills gamebook indicates that Tyler Bass was wide left on his 38-yard field goal attempt early in fourth quarter, an obviously huge play since the Dolphins won by two, special teams Danny Crossman said Tuesday morning that Ogbah actually got a piece of the ball.
It's difficult to tell on the replay whether anybody touched the ball, though it spun very abnormally once it crossed the line of scrimmage.
Crossman said the play would be sent to the league offices and the stat change would be made to credit Ogbah for the field goal block, which would be the first of his career.
"A good rush by really the whole club," Crossman said. "We got good push and obviously Ogbah with those long arms was able to get a piece of that.”
"BUTT PUNT" NO LAUGHING MATTER
While we're talking about Crossman, the "Butt Punt" got some laughs on social media and in the Dolphins locker room after the victory against Buffalo, but the special teams coach did not find it amusing.
And that's putting it mildly.
“Absolutely zero amusement and a 100 percent critical mistake that has an opportunity to possibly lose a football game," Crossman said. "So, yeah, it will never get any smile from me.”
The play, which resulted in a safety, put Buffalo in position to win the game with a field goal instead of a touchdown, but the damage was massively lessened by the spectacular 74-yard punt unleashed by Thomas Morstead on the free kick, which forced the Bills to begin their final drive at their 23-yard line.
