Week Eight Showdown: Dolphins vs Cardinals

A Week 8 showdown consists of the Miami Dolphins (2-4) hosting the Arizona Cardinals (3-4).

Tua Returns

QB Tua Tagovailoa returns to the Dolphins after suffering from a concussion in Week 2 of NFL play. With Tagovoila’s concussion history, his condition was taken seriously when he went down against the Buffalo Bills.

Since then, Tagovoila has met with medical professionals who all recommended that Tagovailoa should not retire from football. The Dolphins’ QB  passed through concussion protocol on Friday and is activated from the injured reserve list.

In his absence, the Dolphins have used three other quarterbacks: Skylar Thompson (one start), Tyler Huntley (three starts) and Tim Boyle. Thompson went out in Week 3 due to injury, as did Huntley in Week 7. C.J. Beathard was moved up to practice squad.

It is not confirmed who will back up Tua in Week 8 gameplay.

Dennis Gardeck Out

Outside linebacker Dennis Gardeck is IR for the rest of the season after suffering a torn ACL on a punt play in the third quarter of Week 7’s game vs. the Chargers.

Gardeck has had previous injuries with the same knee in 2020.

Gardeck is the fifth starter on the Cardinals front seven to land on injured reserve.

Victor Dimukeje and Xavier Thomas both look to be his replacement. However, both have not seen much field time this season. Dimukeje has been inactive for four games, and Thomas for the last three.

Offense vs. Offense

Arizona’s run game offense has been a strong suit for the team. As the Dolphins have allowed only 4.6 yards per carry this season, the Cardinal offense should be able to get far.

Moving on to Miami, their offense has been significantly below average. Overall, they have been outscored 129-70 in the past three games. In addition, they rank as the NFL’s worst-scoring offense.

To conclude, Miami is favored to beat Arizona.

The Dolphins host the Cardinals at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.