Tag: Dolphins

Raiders’ Antonio Pierce says Dolphins remind him of legendary offense

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce says one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history comes to mind when he watches the Dolphins.

The Miami Dolphins offense is loaded with talent, but has underachieved for much of the 2024 season. After leading the NFL in offensive yardage a year ago, the Dolphins rank 20th in yards this season and 30th in points scored.

Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce remains impressed with Miami’s offensive skill players, though. So much so, that he thinks the Dolphins offense is reminiscent of one of the greatest groups in NFL history: The Greatest Show on Turf.

“The Rams. On the turf,” Pierce said Friday when asked what offense comes to mind when he watches the Dolphins. “When they were rolling with Kurt Warner and [Torry] Holt and [Isaac] Bruce and Marshall Faulk. Even later on down the road, didn’t even matter if it was on grass, they were fast. Like it was on you right now. The speed is legit. You can’t mimic it. We’re doing the best we can in practice.

“But the good part about it like I said, we went against these guys last year and really felt the speed of [Tyreek] Hill and [Jaylen] Waddle and those guys over there. So we understand that, and we respect it. But at the at the end of the day, with speed you have put hands on them, right? Physicality needs to show up.”

The St. Louis Rams earned the Greatest Show on Turf nickname when they led the NFL in both scoring and offensive yardage for three consecutive seasons between 1999 and 2001. Warner, Faulk, and Bruce are all Hall of Famers and Holt has been a finalist for induction in each of the last five years.

Miami’s offense has proven capable of making big plays and putting up big numbers, but a comparison to the turn-of-the-century Rams may be praise that’s a little too lofty.

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Dolphins vs. Raiders broadcast map: Where will the game be on TV?

Tom McCarthy, Ross Tucker, and Jay Feely will be on the call Sunday when the Dolphins take on the Raiders.

The Miami Dolphins haven’t won back-to-back games so far in 2024, but Sunday would be a great time to start.

With a 3-6 record, the margin for error for the Dolphins is minuscule and a run to the postseason requires Miami take care of business in its winnable matchups. A home battle against the 2-7 Las Vegas Raiders certainly qualifies. The Raiders, who will start Gardner Minshew at quarterback Sunday, haven’t won a game since September.

Coverage will be provided by CBS and in-market fans can stream the Dolphins’ Week 11 game on fuboTV. Tom McCarthy will be on play-by-play coverage in the booth with Ross Tucker and Jay Feely providing analysis.

Fans in the orange area on the map below will have the Dolphins vs. Raiders game on their local CBS station at 1 p.m. ET. Via 506sports.com:

Those who aren’t in an area highlighted orange will need NFL Sunday Ticket, now offered by YouTube, to watch the Dolphins as an out-of-market game.

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Terron Armstead, 4 other Dolphins questionable for Week 11 vs. Raiders

The Dolphins only ruled out one player for Sunday, but they have five listed as questionable.

The Miami Dolphins ruled cornerback Kendall Fuller, who suffered his second concussion of the season in a win against the Los Angeles Rams, and the team listed five players as questionable for Week 11.

Among those with their status up in the air is offensive tackle Terron Armstead, who is dealing with a knee injury, according to the injury report.

The Dolphins are already without starting right tackle Austin Jackson for the remainder of the year and plan to start veteran Kendall Lamm in his place. If Armstead is also out of action, second-round rookie Patrick Paul would be asked to start, presumably at left tackle.

Dolphins injury report

Out

  • CB Kendall Fuller (concussion)

Questionable

  • OT Terron Armstead (rest/knee)
  • FB Alec Ingold (calf)
  • OL Robert Jones (knee)
  • S Patrick McMorris (calf)
  • OL Isaiah Wynn (quad/knee)

Raiders injury report

Out

  • CB Nate Hobbs (ankle)
  • C Andre James (ankle)
  • G Cody Whitehair (ankle)
  • TE Harrison Bryant (ankle)

Questionable

  • TE Michael Meyer (not injury related)

Not on the list are wide receiver Tyreek Hill and cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who are both ready to go despite injuries that cost them practice time this week.

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Tyreek Hill: My wrist is ‘going to get worse the more I play’

Tyreek Hill says he’s going to “suck it up” and deal with the fact that his wrist injury is only going to get worse.

Tyreek Hill opted against surgery and will continue playing with the wrist injury that he first suffered in August. That decision won’t come without consequences, though.

On Thursday, the Miami Dolphins wide receiver said he’s aware of the fact that playing through the pain will cause further damage.

“I just got to suck it up and just deal with the pain. It’s going to get worse the more I play, but I got to gut it out for my team,” Hill said. “I’m here, I’m locked in no matter what, no matter how I feel. So even if I’ve got to cut my wrist off, I’m still out there because I love the game of football.

“Surgery was brought up and it was talked about whenever I talked to a few of the doctors, but it’s my call at the end of the day and my call is to stay out on the field.”

Hill, 30, suffered the injury in a joint practice with the Washington Commanders in August. According to the receiver, the injury was then exacerbated by his run-in with police prior to a Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was aggravated again in practice leading up to a Week 10 game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Through nine games this season, Hill has 37 receptions for 462 yards and two touchdowns. In 2023, he led the NFL in receiving yards with 1,799.

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Jalen Ramsey, 6 other Dolphins limited in Thursday practice

Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill were among the players limited in practice Thursday.

The Miami Dolphins were without four players at practice Thursday, although only one of those absences was due to injury. Offensive tackle Terron Armstead and defensive lineman Calais Campbell were given veteran rest days, and tight end Jack Stoll wasn’t on the field after getting claimed off waivers Wednesday.

Only veteran cornerback Kendall Fuller, who suffered his second concussion of the season and has already been ruled out for Sunday, was unavailable due to injury.

Seven players, including wide receiver Tyreek Hill and cornerback Jalen Ramsey, were limited.

Thursday participation

DNP

  • OT Terron Armstead (rest/knee)
  • DT Calais Campbell (rest)
  • CB Kendall Fuller (concussion)
  • TE Jack Stoll (not injury related)

Limited

  • TE Julian Hill (shoulder)
  • WR Tyreek Hill (wrist)
  • FB Alec Ingold (calf)
  • OL Robert Jones (knee)
  • S Jordan Poyer (rest)
  • CB Jalen Ramsey (knee)
  • OL Isaiah Wynn (quad/knee)

Full

  • WR Odell Beckham Jr. (knee)
  • OLB Tyus Bowser (knee/calf)
  • S Jevón Holland (hand/knee)
  • CB Kader Kohou (knee)
  • S Patrick McMorris (calf)

Tyreek Hill told reporters Thursday that his wrist injury is “going to get worse” as the season continues, but he plans to “suck it up and just deal with the pain.”

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Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver explains decision to waive a team captain

Anthony Weaver says the Dolphins moving on from their 2023 tackles leader was the “best move for all parties involved.”

Just two months after he was voted a team captain, linebacker David Long Jr. is no longer a member of the Miami Dolphins.

The team’s 2023 tackles leader was waived Wednesday, two weeks after he was replaced by Anthony Walker Jr. in the Dolphins’ starting lineup. On Tuesday, the team claimed former Seattle Seahawks linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who effectively took Long’s spot on the roster.

“That was just a team decision,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said of the move to part with Long. “Obviously we have a tremendous amount of love and respect for ‘Dave.’ He is a starting-caliber NFL backer and at this particular time we know we chose to go with [Walker] so it was probably the best move for just all parties involved.

“It gives him a chance to continue his NFL career and go flourish elsewhere but incredibly grateful for his time here for sure.”

Long, 28, began his career with the Tennessee Titans and developed into one of the NFL’s premier run defending linebackers. It earned him a two-year, $10 million deal from the Dolphins and he lived up to the billing in his first season in Miami.

However, the sixth-year linebacker struggled to fit into Weaver’s defense and proved to be a liability in coverage. Pro Football Focus credited Long with 14 missed tackles in six games and opposing quarterbacks had a 125.7 passer rating targeting players covered by the linebacker.

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Tua Tagovailoa ‘wouldn’t do anything differently’ to tackle

Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t regret the tackle attempt that earned him a knee to the head.

Tua Tagovailoa gave the Miami Dolphins a scare Monday night when his tackle of a Los Angeles Rams linebacker resulted in him taking a knee to the head. The quarterback doesn’t regret the decision, though.

“I wouldn’t do anything differently,” Tagovailoa told reporters Wednesday. “I’ll make the tackle, that’s what I’ve got to do. It is what it is. It’s hard to score in this league.”

The only part Tagovailoa regrets is that he put himself in a position where he needed to make a tackle at all.

“I wasn’t just going to jump out of the way for him to just run down the sideline and potentially score,” Tagovailoa said. “So you’ve got to make decisions and I should have never threw the pick in the first place so that’s it.”

Tagovailoa, 26, missed four games earlier this season after suffering a concussion — his third since 2022. After his October return, the quarterback dismissed the idea of retirement or additional safety precautions like a Guardian cap.

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel doesn’t believe that the quarterback is being careless, though.

“He does not take it lightly, I know that,” McDaniel said. “In football, I think there’s some times where you can picture something in your mind and then you evaluate it on film, ‘Wow, I left myself vulnerable.’ So I don’t think he was disregarding his body in a stubborn manner, I think he had a situation occur where he thought he was protecting himself.”

In the four games without Tagovailoa in the lineup, the Dolphins went 1-3 and averaged 10 points per game. In five games with the starter, the team is 2-3 and averaging 21.4 points.

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Former Dolphins CB begins wrestling career in WWE

A familiar face for Dolphins fans made an appearance on WWE NXT on Tuesday.

Former Miami Dolphins cornerback Trill Williams is turning to a career in professional wrestling and reportedly signed a deal with WWE.

Williams, 24, could be seen in the background of WWE NXT, which aired Tuesday night.

“Growing up, the first thing I ever wanted to do was be a wrestler,” Williams told The Dive Bar podcast in August. “A lot of people can’t say that they went to a WWE tryout — that’s a blessing in itself. I had a great time, I had a great experience. And if that’s in the cards for me, then it’s in the cards for me.”

The Dolphins claimed Williams off waivers just a couple weeks after he wasn’t selected in the 2021 NFL draft. The former Syracuse defensive back earned a spot on the 53-man roster as a rookie, but appeared in only one regular season game and played only 19 snaps.

While he looked primed for a bigger role in 2022, an ACL tear suffered in preseason cost him his entire second season and Williams was waived by the team at the end of training camp in 2023.

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Dolphins defenders take umbrage with ‘soft’ comment from ex teammate

While Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa brushed off comments about the team being “soft,” Dolphins defenders weren’t as forgiving.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa shrugged off comments made by DeShon Elliott about the team’s mental toughness. Dolphins defenders weren’t as forgiving.

In a podcast appearance, Elliott — who spent 2023 with Miami and is now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers — said the Dolphins were “soft as [expletive]” and mostly made up of “not mentally tough individuals.”

“Honestly man, if you want to call somebody out, go ahead and do that and drop names, but other than that, it’s whatever makes your boat float, whatever allows you to have a good night of sleep,” Dolphins safety Jevón Holland told reporters Wednesday. “But if you’re not naming nobody, you’re not calling nobody out, then all the rest of the comments are just empty. You’re just talking at that point.”

While Elliott’s criticisms were more pointed, he wasn’t the first to make that kind of statement. His replacement in the starting lineup, Jordan Poyer, gave a similar review of the Dolphins just a few months after joining the team in the offseason.

“Playing against this team over the past few years, you kind of get a sense of, ‘OK, if you get on top of this team, they might fold,’” the former Buffalo Bills safety told reporters in July. “This is just being honest, so what is that that happens in those moments where we get hit in the mouth?”

Elliott spent one season with the Dolphins after beginning his career with the Baltimore Ravens.

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Dolphins claim former Eagles, Giants TE off waivers

The Dolphins are back to four tight ends on their active roster after claiming one off waivers Wednesday.

The Miami Dolphins claimed former Philadelphia Eagles tight end Jack Stoll off waivers, the team announced Wednesday. Linebacker David Long Jr. was waived by the Dolphins to make room on the active roster.

Stoll, 26, signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2021 and spent the first three seasons of his career with the team. When he became a free agent in 2024, he signed with the New York Giants, but re-joined Philadelphia after he was released at the end of training camp.

In his four seasons with the Eagles, Stoll caught 22 passes for 193 yards.

On Tuesday, the Dolphins claimed linebacker Tyrel Dodson off waivers and placed tight end Tanner Conner on injured reserve. Miami brought its roster back to equilibrium by adding a tight end and cutting a linebacker Wednesday.

The Dolphins have three other tight ends on the active roster: Jonnu Smith, Durham Smythe, and Julian Hill. They also re-added rookie Hayden Rucci to the practice squad.

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