The Miami Dolphins will likely not receive wide receiver Jakeem Grant for the regular season finale against the Buffalo Bills.
Grant left with a 26-25 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders in the third quarter, with an ankle injury that will keep him out of Buffalo, according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport.
Rookie Noah Igbioghene was used as the starter on Saturday night and rookie Malcolm Perry took over the return duties after Grant left the game.
While Rapoport suggested the possibility of Grant reaching the injured reserve to create a roster spot, the Dolphins did not make that move on Monday or Tuesday.
The same goes for linebacker Elandon Roberts, who was taken off the field in Las Vegas with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
The Dolphins played the game against the Raiders without DeVante Parker (hamstring), Solomon Kindley (knee) and Shaq Lawson (shoulder).
They will have their first injury report of the week on Wednesday, when they will start training in preparation for the Buffalo game.
PRACTICE THE SQUAD FLIES
The Dolphins did their weekly protections for the training team on Tuesday, but this time they included different names.
The four protected players this week were DB Brian Cole, DB Javaris Davis, DB Nate Holley and WR Kirk Merritt.
The usual names of close-knit team Chris Myarick, defender Reid Sinnett and long-time quarterback Rex Sunahara were not involved, meaning they could be poached by another team this week.
Sinnett’s exclusion is interesting, especially given Monday’s report, that the Dolphins brought fellow quarterback Jake Rudock to start his COVID-19 test series.
GAILEY’S MAIN PURPOSE
The Dolphins coordinators held the last Zoom media sessions of the regular season on Tuesday, which left Chan Gailey with another question about his plans for the future.
It’s a logical question to ask, given that Gailey is 68 years old and hadn’t trained since 2016 before the Dolphins retired him.
“It’s been an unusual year, to say the least,” Gailey said. “The experience was like no other I have ever had, that’s for sure. I think someone asked me about this last week. I’m thinking about how to get up and beat Buffalo. That’s what I’m thinking. I’m not thinking about anything else right now. How can I help this football team defeat Buffalo. “
PROGRAM SNEAK PREVIEW
Recent published reports have indicated that a 17th regular season will likely be added in 2021, with the additional game being an interconference match against a team that finishes in the same position in its division.
Now, according to SI NFL writer Albert Breer, the extra game for the AFC East teams will come against the NFC East.
That means the Dolphins, who are confident of finishing second in AFC East, will face second place in NFC East, although that’s all we can say right now, because that team could end up in Dallas, New York. York Giants or Washington.
The place of the game is to be determined.
In addition to the traditional home and home games with AFC East opponents, the Dolphins will play home games against Houston, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Carolina in 2021 and the second ranked in AFC North (Cleveland or Baltimore).
The road games will come against the three opponents of AFC East, Jacksonville, Tennessee, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and the second ranked in AFC West.
SPEAKING YOURS
Finally, we end with Gailey describing why there seems to be more of a vertical transition game with veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick at the defensive end than with rookie Tua Tagovailoa.
“Well, the situation of the game has a lot to do with that,” Gailey said. “If you get behind and you need to get down on the field and get points fast, that has a lot to do with it. We were a team that tried to be 9, 10, 11, 12 game units. “To play football, to play, to control the time on the clock. This is the situation I found with Tua in the game. Besides, you miss some receivers from time to time, and that has to do with it.” it refers to making decisions about what the game is called and what kind of pieces we play. ”