Miami Dolphins get Xavien Howard back but lose McDonald
By Brian Miller
Today was an interesting day for the Miami Dolphins on the injury front and the best news is that Xavien Howard will be back.
Let me rephrase that last line. The Miami Dolphins will have Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard back in the lineup this Sunday against the Jaguars.
Howard has missed two games with a knee injury but returned to practice today. The Dolphins are holding out a slim amount of hope that they can make the post-season but will need quite a bit of help. Miami will not however have safety T.J. McDonald who will likely miss this weekends game with an ankle injury. The Dolphins re-signed Maurice Smith off the practice squad to take his place if indeed he is inactive.
The Dolphins playoffs chances dwindled after last weeks blowout loss to the Vikings. Despite the game not hurting the team in AFC conference games, the rest of the AFC teams that Miami was tied with all won. Now the Dolphins have to hope that they can somehow finish the season with two consecutive wins and the Titans, Colts, and Ravens somehow ending in a at least a three-way tie.
Miami should be in position to take care of their business and having Howard back will surely help. Howard will be going to his first pro-bowl. He was voted in as a first team starter. He has seven interceptions tied at the top of the league and should find opportunities this Sunday against the embattled Jaguars.
The Jaguars have only four wins on the season. Miami will travel to Buffalo in week 17 to close out their regular season and possibly their entire 2018 season.
In other injury news, Frank Gore got good news on his foot/ankle and will not need surgery. It’s unclear if the Dolphins will bring him back for another season in 2019 but Gore said he plans to continue playing after this season. Miami put him on IR yesterday.