Notes, nuggets on every Dolphins position, plus playing time change and disturbing data

News and notes, by position, in the wake of the Dolphins’ 24-3 loss to Seattle on Sunday:

▪ Quarterback: It’s difficult to envision Skylar Thompson being able to play anytime soon with his painful rib injury; he couldn’t dress himself after Sunday’s game.

That could leave Tim Boyle and Tyler Huntley (who’s still learning the offense) competing to start Sept. 30 against Tennessee. Another quarterback might be added this week.

Tua Tagovailoa is sidelined at least another three games and potentially longer while in concussion protocol. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Tagovailoa feels “fine” but his meetings with outside neurologists were delayed until this week because the neurologists were busy.

The website The 33rd Team offered this notable statistic: During Mike McDaniel’s two-plus years as coach, the Dolphins have one passing TD every 18.25 attempts with Tagovailoa under center, and one every 39.3 with all other quarterbacks under center.

In games that Tagovailoa starts and finishes healthy with Mike McDaniel as coach, Miami is 20-11, as Pro Football Network noted. The Dolphins are 1-7 in all other games.

Thompson, who was to blame for most of his five sacks because he held onto the ball too long, has a poor 66.1 career passer rating after Sunday’s game, when he went 13 for 19 for 107 yards and an 82.6 rating.

Boyle has a dismal 56.4 career passer rating after Sunday’s game, when he went 7 for 13 for 79 yards and 72.3 rating.

▪ Running back: After tying for the league lead in yards per carry last season at 5.0, the Dolphins are 27th at 3.7 per carry this season.

The blocking hasn’t been good enough, one reason De’Von Achane’s yards per carry has dropped from 7.8 per carry as a rookie to 3.5 this season (43 for 150).

Achane played 45 of the Dolphins’ 61 offensive snaps against Seattle. Jeff Wilson Jr. played 14 and Jaylen Wright 13.

▪ Tight end: Julian Hill — who played the most among Dolphins tight ends in the opener and again on Sunday — is off to a rough start; he committed four penalties and now has five for the season. He played 25 snaps Sunday, compared with 23 for Jonnu Smith, 18 for Durham Smythe and eight for Tanner Conner.

Thompson couldn’t hit Conner on a deep throw; he caught one pass for 1 yard.

The Dolphins have fundamentally changed snap allotments at tight end, giving a bigger role to Hill and a lesser one to Smythe, who dropped two passes in the opener and dropped a difficult potential touchdown catch on Sunday.

PFF said Smith was Miami’s worst player on offense on Sunday and Thompson the second worst.

▪ Wide receiver: Jaylen Waddle played 51 and Tyreek Hill played 46 of Miami’s 61 offensive snaps. They combined for just 66 yards in receptions, the second lowest combined total in their two-plus years as teammates and barely more than the 65 they combined for in Week 2 against Buffalo.

Hill, who caught three passes for 40 yards, did not express any frustration about his involvement, essentially saying he’s enjoying playing the game he loves and isn’t going to complain about targets.

Braxton Berrios played 17 snaps, Erik Ezukanma 11 and Dee Eskridge 8.

Dolphins quarterbacks are now 3 for 14 when targeting any wide receiver other than Waddle and Hill this season.

▪ Offensive line: Terron Armstead played only 20 of 61 snaps because of an eye injury; he was placed in concussion protocol after the game. Kendall Lamm replaced him, but Patrick Paul replaced Lamm for one snap when Lamm was shaken up.

Pro Football Focus blamed Dolphins quarterbacks for five of the six sacks; left guard Robert Jones was held responsible for the other.

PFF said Lamm and Armstead were Miami’s best offensive linemen Sunday, followed by Austin Jackson, Aaron Brewer and Liam Eichenberg.

▪ Defensive line: PFF said Calais Campbell and Zach Sieler were Miami’s best two players on defense on Sunday, with Brandon Pili sixth, Da’Shawn Hand seventh and Benito Jones 20th and next to last, ahead of only linebacker David Long Jr.

Sieler played 44 of 64 defensive snaps, while Campbell played 29 of 64.

Hand played 32, Jones 24 and Brandon Pili 9.

▪ Linebacker: At inside linebacker, Jordyn Brooks again played all 64 snaps, and Long played 48 of 64 before leaving with a hamstring injury. Anthony Walker Jr. played 16 and Duke Riley 1.

PFF said Walker was Miami’s best inside linebacker Sunday.

The starting inside linebackers (Long and Brooks) struggled in pass coverage, allowing all 11 passes thrown against them to be caught for 104 yards.

At outside linebacker, Jaelan Phillips played 45 snaps, Emmanuel Ogbah 41, Chop Robinson 29 and Quinton Bell 14. PFF rated Phillips fifth and Robinson ninth of the 21 players who played defense for Miami on Sunday.

▪ Safety: Jevon Holland and Jordan Poyer played all 64 snaps, and Marcus Maye got a season-high 19 snaps.

PFF said Poyer and Holland were two of Miami’s four worst players on defense Sunday.

Holland allowed four of five passes thrown in his coverage area to be caught for 95 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown by DK Metcalf.

Poyer allowed both targets to be caught for 26 yards.

▪ Cornerback: Jalen Ramsey played 59 of the Dolphins’ 64 defensive snaps, and PFF said he was Miami’s third-best defender on Sunday; he allowed only 6 yards on three completions (on four targets).

Kendall Fuller managed only 16 snaps before leaving with an injury; he’s now in concussion protocol. Kader Kohou played more (55 snaps) in Fuller’s absence.

With Storm Duck playing 25 snaps before exiting for a time with a shoulder injury. Siran Neal played six snaps on defense.