The Miami Dolphins are in need of some offensive momentum. With just one touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens, the team is hopeful they can pick things up against a New York Giants team fighting for the postseason. However, injuries could really hurt that effort as the team deals with plenty of issues on the offensive since of the ball. The offensive line continuing to rotate players, the wide receivers could see some shifting as well.
According to ESPN's James Walker, Rishard Matthews was present at practice on Thursday, but did not actually participate. The receiver is dealing with ribs and a chest injury that kept him out of Week 13 play. By the looks of things, he is not expected to be active against the Giants either which leaves Ryan Tannehill without one of his favorite targets on the field. The good news for Miami is that Kenny Stills appears healthy after dealing with injuries in the game against the Ravens which would leave him along with DeVante Parker as the starters alongside Jarvis Landry. Parker is certainly looking the part of a starting receiver with two touchdown catches in the past two weeks. If the Dolphins are going to get their passing game back on track, he will be critical in the effort.
"Certainly most games if you're throwing for 86 yards you're hoping you get three touchdowns out of those 86. But we'll be better in the pass game. And we'll complement the run game much better than we did yesterday," head coach Dan Campbell said, via the Palm Beach Post. "You would like to have a higher completion percentage. So when we do throw it we need to connect on those and you would hope those would be explosive plays as well. But we knew what kind of game this was going to be. We felt like we had the favorable matchups defensively versus their offense. We felt like we could get pressure on (Ravens quarterback Matt) Schaub, which we did. We felt like we could shut their run game down."
The lack of a passing game in Week 13 has only drawn more criticism towards Tannehill and his future. According to the Miami Herald, the Dolphins are committed to the quarterback for at least the next two years and their success will rise or fall based on how well he plays. Right now Tannehill is not the biggest problem for the Dolphins, but he certainly is an issue. The good news for the quarterback is that Lamar Miller and Jay Ajayi are finding plenty of success of the ground, something that will be critical against the Giants.
