Tua looking for huge offensive encore vs. Pats, Armstead back at practice
Terron Armstead was back on the Miami Dolphins practice field on Wednesday, which was a great sign for the Dolphins, and for the Dolphins star left tackle, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s main protector.
Kendall Lamm had a solid game against the Chargers in Armstead’s place, who missed the first game with a leg injury. Still, it would be a huge boost for the Dolphins to get the four-time pro bowler back for this Sunday night's game in New England.
"We obviously want (him) to play," said head coach Mike McDaniel, prior to practice. "The biggest thing is that you have to have depth on your football team. For him and the Dolphins, you just don’t want him to gut through it for a cause and then the tape doesn’t go away. It’s part of our personal relationship and he respects it in regards to those types of decisions, which I appreciate.”
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Even without Armstead, quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday, after what was arguably the best performance of his career. Tagovailoa passed for 466 yards, three touchdowns, and only threw one interception. It was an amazing return to game action after everything he’s been through, from up to three concussions last season, to bulking up, to redefining his game with jujitsu.
"Sometimes players decide to be the best versions of themselves," says McDaniel. "That’s cool, that’s well earned, but that means nothing on this Wednesday for the Patriots. Literally, zero. I checked with the league. We can’t take the points from last game and put them in the points of this game."
"When you start the season, it’s Week 1. Everyone overreacts on everything.," says Tagovailoa. "You’re either going to win the Super Bowl after you win your first game or you’re the worst team ever and everything that comes with that. So I would say for myself, that’s one of the reasons I don’t pay too much attention to the outside noise. But yeah, to me, that’s all it is. Like we still got to go on the road and we got 16 more games to play against 16 really, really good teams. And it starts with New England this week. And that’s our main focus.”
"New England’s a different defense," admits Dolphihs wide receiver River Cracraft. "They got us last year at the end of the year. We’ve got to come in with a new mindset that we’re going to attack them and we’re going to bring the fight to them. I think that’s what’s important starting in our room with the guys that we have. The leadership with Tyreek (Hill) and Jaylen (Waddle), those guys are hard to stop and when you have good compliments off that, it’s good ball.”
The Dolphins and Patriots will kick off this Sunday at 8:15 p.m. in Foxboro.
