Is Tyrod Taylor playing tonight vs Dolphins in Week 9?

Tyrod Taylor has been absent from the Houston Texans lineup since Week 2, when he suffered a hamstring injury during a touchdown run against the Cleveland Browns and had to miss the last six Texans games as he was still recovering from the problem.

Taylor was activated from injured reserve on Saturday and practiced all week in light of the contest against the Miami Dolphins. With Houston currently sitting at 1-7, some good news is coming for the Texans - it may be too late, though, as a playoff spot is virtually out of reach.

Will Taylor play against the Dolphins?

Tyrod Taylor will return to the starting lineup against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. This will be his first game since September 19.

Nobody thought this was going to be a year where the Texans would be competitors for a playoff spot, but there were glimpses of hope once the team beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 and gave a proper fight to the Cleveland Browns the following Sunday until Taylor got hurt.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Houston Texans

Davis Mills lost all the games he started in place of Taylor. In Mills' defense, he was anywhere near being prepared to start an NFL game - as you might remember, Deshaun Watson has been made inactive for every NFL game this season as he deals with legal issues.

Building a new culture and new standards was always the main point of the 2021 Texans season. They don't have enough talent to fight for the playoffs. Taylor spoke on Friday about new head coach David Culley and how he's setting the standards for hard work during the year:

“Obviously, we have a new group — not necessarily new now, but when you look at the roster last year or years prior to this year, a lot of new faces,” Taylor said. “So, I think the culture throughout this year will continue to still be built around here. It’s values and standards that Coach (Culley) talks about in our team meetings, as values and standards that we set man to man in the locker room, and we’re going to continue to keep shifting it the way that we need to shift it.”

The Texans are a team with not much talent, but one who plays hard every week. As they build a new roster from scratch - perhaps accelerating the process when they trade Deshaun Watson - having a new culture is really important.

But so is winning games. And with Taylor back for the first time since mid-September, the chances for Houston improve greatly. They are considered 5.5 points underdogs against the Dolphins on Sunday, but with both franchises sitting at 1-7 right now, this could be a redemption week for the veteran quarterback and his team.

At least the game will be more competitive than it'd be if Davis Mills was still starting.

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