Miami Dolphins without Xavien Howard and McDonald

The Miami Dolphins will play their last home game of 2018 today and will be without two of the starters in the secondary.

When the Miami Dolphins take the field today they will not have Xavien Howard or T.J. McDonald on the field. Both will miss today’s game. McDonald has an ankle issue and Howard will miss his third game in a row with a knee issue.

With only one game left after today it would be smart of the Dolphins to just put Howard on the shelf for the rest of the season. Howard was voted in as a starter to this years Pro Bowl but he may want to sit it out if there is any questions surrounding his knee.

Miami has a very slim chance of making the post-season and the easiest route to the extra season may very well be a scenario where the Dolphins win out and the Patriots lose out. A win by the Patriots today over the Bills will eliminate the Dolphins from the AFC East contention and a win by the Colts against the Giants will eliminate the Dolphins from Wild Card contention.

The rest of the Dolphins inactives shouldn’t have much impact on today’s game as none are big surprises.

Miami can still finish the season 9-7 should the win out the last two weeks. Given the number of injuries the team has endured, the poor play calling, and inconsistent play on both sides of the ball, it is a miracle that they could finish a game over .500. In fact, .500 would be a pretty decent season considering the amount of problems this team has had.

That being said, if the Dolphins should lose both of their remaining games to a team that has four wins, Jacksonville, and to the Bills in week 17 Stephen Ross seriously needs to consider changes of some kind this off-season.

With Howard out, Torry McTyer will start on the outside while rookie Minkah Fitzpatrick will start in place of McDonald.