QB Brissett enters game with starter’s mindset
MIAMI GARDENS — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa went down, and backup Jacoby Brissett found himself immersed into action for the rest of Sunday afternoon’s ugly 35-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Excuse me — don’t call Brissett a backup, as he made clear postgame at Hard Rock Stadium.
“I don’t refer to myself as a backup quarterback,” said Brissett, interrupting a question that included the term. “I’m a starter.”
It was with that mentality that Brissett, who has 32 career NFL starts to his name, prepared throughout the week and subbed in for Tagovailoa. Regardless, it was never nearly enough to turn things the Dolphins’ way after Miami was already in a 14-0 hole when he came in midway through the first quarter.
“Not good enough,” said Dolphins coach Brian Flores when asked to assess Brissett’s performance.
Coming in after two drives where Tagovailoa got walloped, Brissett was 24 of 40 for 169 yards and an interception.
“Obviously, you never want to see a player go down, especially one of your teammates,” said Brissett. “It’s part of the game. Just be ready to go. My number was called, and it wasn’t my first time in this situation.”
He took four sacks after Taovailoa was sacked twice and hit again by Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa on the incomplete fourthdown pass that knocked him out.
“Still standing up here smiling,” he said after the multiple shots he was subject to behind a Dolphins offensive line that could not contain the Bills’ pass rush. “They do that. That’s Buffalo’s defense. … We were prepared for it. Obviously, it didn’t show that we were prepared for it.”
Brissett said he’s constantly throwing football, keeping his arm loose. He also has a role on quarterback sneaks, as exhibited in the Week 1 win over New England, so he has to keep his legs ready from that standpoint. With Tagovailoa’s status uncertain after Sunday, he will continue to prepare the same way ahead of the Dolphins’ Week 3 game at the Las Vegas Raiders.
“Like every week — prepare as if I’m the starter,” Brissett said. “I know that’s cliché, but that’s how I live my life because you never know. I’ve been in these situations before.”
Williams active 10 months later:
Dolphins wide receiver Preston Williams was active for the first time since the foot injury that cut his 2020 season short.
Williams, who entered Sunday as questionable, was not listed among the Dolphins’ inactives before their matchup with the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium. Those were: Wide receiver Will Fuller, who was already known to be out dealing with personal issues, cornerbacks Noah Igbinoghene, Trill Williams and Elijah Campbell, tackle Greg Little and tight end Hunter Long. He made one second-half catch for 2 yards and was targeted three times total.
Williams spent the offseason recovering from the foot surgery after the injury he suffered in last season’s Nov. 8 win at the Arizona Cardinals. He started training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list, was activated off of it during camp and played limited snaps in Miami’s preseason finale at the Cincinnati Bengals. He was inactive for the Dolphins’ regular-season-opening win at the New England Patriots last week.
Williams played eight games, starting seven, each of the past two seasons since joining the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State. He had 32 receptions for 428 and three touchdowns as a rookie in 2019. In 2020, he had 18 catches for 288 yards and four touchdowns.
He was developing rapport with Tagovailoa when he was injured in last year’s Cardinals game. His last play was a touchdown catch in a game where he made four receptions for 60 yards by the time of his second-quarter injury.