The Five Biggest Storylines for Dolphins-Cardinals

The Miami Dolphins will close out the first half of their 2020 regular schedule against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on Sunday.

The Dolphins are 4-3 and on a three-game winning streak following their 28-17 victory against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 8; Arizona has a 5-2 record and is coming off its bye following a 37-34 overtime Sunday night victory against Seattle in Week 7.

Here are the five biggest storylines for the game:

1. Can Tua Take a Step?

For the foreseeable future, it's a simple fact that the spotlight heading into each game will be on rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. It's especially true against Arizona because Tua is coming a lackluster NFL starting debut, though it did come in a rather convincing victory. As head coach Brian Flores said during the week, the Dolphins drafted Tagovailoa for a reason and they certainly would love for him to demonstrate that against the Cardinals.

2. Big Test for the Defense: Managing Murray

The Dolphins are going to look at the other side of the field Sunday and see a quarterback whose development they'd love to see from Tagovailoa. Of course, we're talking about Kyler Murray, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2018 when Tagovailoa was the runner-up. Murray already has established himself as one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the NFL and will present a major challenge for a Dolphins defense coming off a shutout against the Jets followed by the four-turnover game against the Rams.

3. Who Carries the Ball?

The Dolphins have an eye-popping six halfbacks on the roster, but their top two rushers will be unavailable against Arizona, with Myles Gaskin having been placed on injured reserve and Matt Breida out with a hamstring injury. Newcomer DeAndre Washington, acquired in a trade this week, also will be unavailable because of COVID-19 regulations preventing him from joining his new team until Monday. That leaves Jordan Howard, Patrick Laird and Salvon Ahmed as the options at running back against Arizona, and the best guess is that Howard will not only return to action for the first time in four games but he'll get the start for the first time since the Week 2 game against Buffalo.

4. Holding Down Hopkins

Probably the best individual matchup in this game will feature Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins against Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard, though it's entirely possible that Byron Jones also could get some turns at the assignment. Hopkins currently leads the NFL in catches and receiving yards, and he had a pretty good game against the Dolphins in a 2018 Thursday night game when he was with the Houston Texans with six receptions for 82 yards and two touchdowns. The Dolphins clearly need to hold him in check better this time.

5. The Look of the O-Line

With first-round pick Austin Jackson activated off IR on Saturday, there's some mystery as to whether the Dolphins will go back to their opening-day offensive line or stick with the one that helped the team go 3-0 while Jackson was sidelined. Either way, the Dolphins need a better performance from the guys up front after a difficult outing against the Rams.

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