The Miami Dolphins again have three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster.

As part of their customary pregame roster moves ahead of the Thanksgiving night game against the Dallas Cowboys, the Dolphins activated Tyler “Snoop” Huntley off injured reserve to join Tua Tagovailoa and Skylar Thompson on the 53-man roster.

To make room for Huntley, the Dolphins placed linebacker Tyus Bowser on injured reserve. They also elevated newly signed long snapper Zach Triner to the game-day lineup after previous Tucker Addington had used up his three practice squad elevations.

The noteworthy move, though, clearly involved Huntley, who was placed on IR after he sustained a shoulder injury in the Week 7 loss against the Indianapolis Colts, a 16-10 loss during which he made his third start at quarterback.

Because he has yet to practice, one would think that Skylar Thompson would remain the backup quarterback for the game against Green Bay, but it’s certainly open season on the No. 2 job after that.

This move, incidentally, comes two days after head coach Mike McDaniel was asked whether he trusts Thompson in the aftermath of the muffed handoff with rookie Jaylen Wright that ended in a New England touchdown on Thompson’s second play in the game last Sunday.

The head coach offered pretty much the only answer he could: “Yeah, I trust Skylar. I think the situation this past game was unacceptable from just the whole unit. I think that from our perspective, I think across the board that’s not to our standard from the way we came out of the huddle to the execution of plays and then to give up points on an offensive play. And I won’t get into the nitty gritty of – I’m not going to point fingers at a microphone, but ultimately, that falls on everybody involved including the coaches that we can’t have that collective effort. That wasn’t him just responsible for, but my reaction towards it wasn’t strictly based on him; it was more of a tonality with the whole group.”

During his three games, Huntley completed 39 of 66 passes for 377 yards with one touchdown and one interception for a passer rating of 73.9.

The offense, though, took a massive step back with him at quarterback and the week before when Thompson started against the Seattle Seahawks.

The addition of Huntley gives the Dolphins another option, though the question remains whether they have the right option on the roster.

The loss of Bowser leaves the Dolphins with four outside linebackers currently on the 53-man roster — rookie Chop Robinson, Emmanuel Ogbah, Quinton Bell and rookie Mohamed Kamara.

Head coach Mike McDaniel has said that former Pro Bowl selection Bradley Chubb is expected to return at some point in 2024, and the Dolphins also could fellow outside linebacker Cameron Goode back.

The Dolphins declined Thursday to activate Shaquil Barrett off the Reserve/Retired list after he applied to the NFL for reinstatement because he wants to play again.

Bowser will have to miss at least four games before he can return, meaning the first game for which he would be eligible would be against the Cleveland Browns in Week 17.

Huntley becomes the fifth Dolphins player to be activated off IR, joining Tua Tagovailoa, WR River Cracraft, CB Cam Smith and S Patrick McMorris.

That means the Dolphins have three designations left, and that doesn’t count either Chubb or Goode because both of them were on PUP.

Long snapper Blake Ferguson has been eligible to return from the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list, and that one would count against the eight-return limit for the regular season.

The only other player the Dolphins have who’s eligible to return from IR who hasn’t officially been declared out for the season is wide receiver Grant DuBose.

The Indianapolis Colts had another long injury report featuring plenty of starters on Thursday ahead of their week 13 battle with the New England Patriots.

The Colts will likely be without Josh Downs to a shoulder injury, but it’s still a slight possibility. Pass-catchers Ashton Dulin (ankle) and Alec Pierce (foot) didn’t practice for a second straight day. Their injuries will be a few of the ones to monitor the closest with Indy’s receiving room wearing thin if one or both can’t suit up. The good news is that Michael Pittman Jr.’s back issue seems to be behind him after having a solid performance in week 12 against the Detroit Lions.

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Center Tanor Bortolini is in concussion protocol and might not get the chance to clear in time for Sunday. Since Bortolini is the backup to Ryan Kelly (injured reserve – knee), this means third-string center and Colts veteran Danny Pinter is in line to start against the Patriots.

One of the biggest names on the report ahead of the Patriots is offensive tackle Bernhard Raimann (knee). After missing the last three contests, it appears Raimann is on track to return. This is welcome news to Shane Steichen and Anthony Richardson, as Raimann is one of Indy’s most consistently good offensive linemen. If this happens, we’ll see if Steichen decides to switch rookie Matt Goncalves over to right guard to relieve the struggling Dalton Tucker.

The Colts are in must-win mode against the Patriots when they hit the field in Foxborough. While New England isn’t much of a threat with a new coach in Jerod Mayo and a rebuilding team led by quarterback Drake Maye, Indianapolis can ill-afford to overlook a team like the Patriots. Mayo has instilled a fighting mentality in his troops, so Steichen will need to have Richardson on point to get this win in hostile territory.

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The New England Patriots will take on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Gillette Stadium for a Week 13 AFC battle.

Neither team has been overly impressive this year with both unable to secure a winning record through the first 12 weeks of their 2024 campaigns. In fact, both squads have had issues on both offense and defense at points this year.

If Jerod Mayo’s team wants to earn their fourth victory of the year, especially against a franchise that hasn’t been much better than his, this is what they’ll have to do.

Avoid pre-snap penalties

New England doesn’t need to help out other teams by moving backward consistently, yet they did just that last week, receiving five offensive penalties on either false starts or offensive offsides.

Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt made his feelings clear about those mistakes earlier this week.

“There’s no question, that’s horse crap in my opinion,” Van Pelt said. “We went down there with the intent, and one of our main objectives of the game was the operation. That was a huge one, and that’s pre-snap. We talked about not going backward on first down or second down, and we went backward. We were digging ourselves out of holes, especially in the first quarter. That’s just an area of just locking in… That was disappointing. The most disappointed as I’ve been. It was more like a dang preseason game.”

Contain Colts CB Anthony Richardson

Richardson is a phenomenal athlete who can affect the game with his huge arms and legs, and the Patriots haven’t really played a mobile quarterback this year.

In his 12 starts of his first two seasons, Richardson has thrown eight touchdowns, but he’s also ran for seven himself. He’s built like former Patriots quarterback Cam Newton, and he has some of that running ability, especially in close.

New England’s defensive front will need to step up and keep him from converting short-yardage attempts.

Protect Drake Maye

The offensive line has been a huge issue all season. Not only are they struggling with the pre-snap penalties, but they’re also just getting flat-out beat.

Demontrey Jacobs was abused last week by Miami Dolphins rookie pass-rusher Chop Robinson, and it led to his benching. Starting left guard Michael Jordan had struggled so much against stunts that he was released earlier this week.

It will be intriguing to see what changes New England makes for Sunday, but they have to protect their franchise quarterback.

Win the turnover battle

Speaking of that franchise quarterback, he’s been too loose with the ball. Whether it’s the five fumbles (four lost) or seven interceptions that he’s thrown, he’s putting his defenses in bad positions too often. He may feel like he has to do everything, but sometimes it’s better to throw the ball away or take a sack.

The defense also hasn’t held up their end of the bargain when it comes to takeaways. They’ve only recorded nine takeaways this year and have just two in their last six games.

DeMarcus Covington’s unit needs to give their offense more changes to score, or they can score themselves, as Christian Gonzalez did last week on the fumble-return touchdown. 

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