Dolphins’ injury situation improving for Sunday’s game at Detroit

Six Dolphins players, led by defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah (back), cornerback Xavien Howard (groin), and punter Thomas Morstead (illness), are listed as questionable for Sunday’s game at Detroit on the Friday injury report.

The others listed as questionable are tight ends Durham Smythe (hamstring) and Tanner Conner (knee), and safety Clayton Fejedelem (groin).

But coach Mike McDaniel said no one has been ruled out for the game.

The better news is after listing 16 players as “limited” in Thursday’s practice, 10 of those players were full participants in Friday’s practice.

Left tackle Terron Armstead (toe) wasn’t seen at Friday’s practice, but he seems likely to play. Armstead’s practice participation has been greatly reduced recently in hopes of keeping him healthy for games.

Friday is typically a light day of practice, but the reduction on the injury report, especially regarding key players such as Armstead, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (hand), linebacker Jerome Baker (hip), wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (shoulder), running back Raheem Mostert (knee) and cornerbacks Kader Kohou (oblique) and Keion Crossen (knee), is still an encouraging sign.

The injury report was bursting with names earlier in the week.

“We adjusted our format of practice for the first time on a Wednesday to react to that, so there wouldn’t be trickle down to the players that were able to practice,” coach Mike McDaniel said.

For now, that strategy seems to be effective.

Run-game improvement

The Dolphins are 29th in the league in rushing at 85.4 yards per game. However, in the two of the past three games they’ve rushed for more than 100 yards with a season-best 137 against the New York Jets and 111 against Pittsburgh. The difference?

“Getting on people, covering guys up, that’s what the offense is all about, especially in the run game,” Mostert said. “How can we get to that second [or] third level? And then it’s up to us as a running back group to find those holes and get big chunks out of it. So we’ve been able to capitalize.”

By the way, the Dolphins don’t seem in danger of threatening their all-time season low in rushing yards, which is 1,156 in 2019. This year’s Dolphins have 598 yards rushing with 10 games remaining.

Message sent, message received

The Dolphins greatly reduced their penalty yards last week against Pittsburgh. They amassed 199 yards in the previous two games but only had 30 penalty yards against the Steelers.

“We have a great group of individual players that collectively respond to points of emphasis,” McDaniel said. “So it was a point of emphasis, but there was just run of the mill English with some examples. Really, the people that deserve credit are the players that said, ‘OK, I agree with you. I want to do something about it.’ "

Top practice players

Each Friday three players are awarded camouflage practice jerseys, signifying a strong week of practices. This week’s honorees are running back Salvon Ahmed, defensive tackle Josiah Bronson and linebacker Cameron Goode, the last two being practice squad players.

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