Fangio discusses Pierre-Paul and plan to replace Phillips. And Holland update, more news

Twelve nuggets from Thursday’s media sessions with several Dolphins assistant coaches, as we approach Sunday’s game in Washington (1 p.m., Fox):

▪ Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said the plan to replace injured Jaelan Phillips will include, as expected, Andrew Van Ginkel and Emmanuel Ogbah and possibly Jason Pierre-Paul, who was plucked off the Saints’ practice squad this week.

“We’ll see if JPP can get up to snuff,” Fangio said of Pierre-Paul, who has 94.5 career sacks but hadn’t played in the league this season before logging 17 defensive snaps for the Saints last week.

Meanwhile, safety Jevon Holland’s status for Sunday is very much in question after he was sidelined again Thursday by injuries to both knees. Brandon Jones could start if Holland doesn’t play. Backup left tackle Kendall Lamm was the only other Dolphin not practicing. (Tyreek Hill and Raheem Mostert returned to practice after missing Wednesday’s practice.)

Fangio said the outside linebacker snap breakdown — opposite Bradley Chubb — could break down similarly to when Phillips missed time with an oblique injury earlier this season.

In the last game that Phillips missed, on Oct. 8 against the Giants, Van Ginkel played 59 snaps (some at outside linebacker, some inside) and Ogbah played 27.

Fangio said Van Ginkel will continue playing some inside linebacker when David Long Jr. is out of the game. But he said inside linebacker Duke Riley’s playing time also could increase.

“We can still play Van Ginkel inside some and put Ogbah outside some and even Cam Goode or JPP if he comes along,” Fangio said.

Phillips is out for the season after injuring his Achilles’ tendon.

▪ How long will it take Pierre-Paul to play?

“At this point, we’re going to focus him on nickel stuff,” Fangio said. “He can get there fairly quickly with the nickel stuff. In base, they drop [into coverage] some and in nickel, they hardly ever drop.”

▪ Fangio raised the possibility of using former seventh-round pick Goode if needed.

“He’s going to have to [help] if he’s called upon,” Fangio said. “I haven’t seen him play defense in a while.”

▪ Fangio talked about how much Phillips will be missed.

“Jaelan’s a great player,” Fangio said. “Make no mistake about it…. This last month he’s been playing great. We’re going to miss him. He’s a part of us playing the run and playing the pass. We are going to miss him tremendously.”

To replace him, Fangio said, “You want to play big on the edge for sure. There are some guys who are only in low 240s, 250s who play big on the edge.”

Chubb is listed by the Dolphins as 6-4, 268 pounds; Van Ginkel is 6-4, 242; Ogbah 6-4, 278; and Pierre-Paul 6-5, 270.

▪ Days after returning a Jets Hail Mary attempt 99 yards for a touchdown, Holland told Pro Football Talk: “I have the red light to return any Hail Mary. They want me to knock it down, 100 percent.

“But in that moment, it was going into halftime, score was close. I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve always wanted to do that,’ and I was like, ‘You know what? Might as well try it.’ It turned out to fall on my side.”

So did Dolphins coaches want Holland to knock down that pass instead of intercepting it? No, Fangio.

“If you are in a crowd, yes,” Fangio said. “If you have three or four guys jumping up at the same time, yes. The play the other day, there was nobody around, [so] definitely catch it. It’s definitely acceptable.”

▪ Fangio on Christian Wilkins, who has a career-high 6.5 sacks: “Christian is a good player, quick, athletic, sudden, strong when he needs to be. He’s a guy that should be eight, nine sacks a year.”

▪ With the Dolphins now seventh in total defense, Fangio was asked if he’s relieved to know if his system works with these players.

“I’ve been around too long for those worries,” he said.

Fangio offered this philosophical pearl: “You don’t want players who do nothing you tell them to do, and you don’t want players who only do what you tell them to do. There are times to use tools out there to help your play.”

▪ Left tackle Terron Armstead, who suggested on social media that he plans to play on Sunday, remains limited at practice with a quadriceps injury. Mike McDaniel has called his status “week-to-week.”

“If he tells you he’s good to go, you believe it,” offensive coordinator Frank Smith said of Armstead.

▪ If Armstead and Kendall Lamm (back) cannot play Sunday, then Kion Smith likely would start at left tackle.

“He’s very athletic, good initial movement, lower body power,” Frank Smith said of Kion Smith. “When you come from a smaller school and you display those physical traits, We are very pleased with his development. Gives us versatility. Plays guard and tackle. He’s been doing a really good job for us.”

▪ Tyreek Hill is playing 68 percent of Miami’s offensive snaps, his lowest percentage since his second year in the league. Hill, in his second year with the Dolphins, was at 86, 73 and 76 the past three years.

Jaylen Waddle is playing 69 percent of offensive snaps in the games he has played. He was at 74 last year and 83 as a rookie.

Is that partly a result of wanting to conserve their energy because of all of their presnap motion?

“A lot is the scores in games play a part; injuries play a part,” receivers coach Wes Welker said. “Always different aspects why that is. We do try to manage them. We do motion a lot. If you watch them run routes they go full speed all the time. If not full speed, I would rather them not be out there.”

▪ Receiver Erik Ezukanma, out since late September with a neck injury, tweeted this week: “I want to play football.”

Asked about that, Welker said his message to Ezukanma: “Just to get healthy. Whenever the doctors say he’s good to go, we will have him out there. I’m excited to hear he wants to play football.”

NFL teams can designate eight players to return from injured reserve or in Ezukanma’s case, the non-football injury list. But the Dolphins have used seven of those spots and might want to save the eighth for a starter who sustains a month to six-week injury in the next couple of weeks. Miami is deep at receiver.

▪ Practice squad receiver Anthony Schwartz runs as fast as 21 mph, which is Hill-type speed, according to Welker.

Schwartz “is very, very fast,” Welker said. “[Players are] constantly talking about who’s fastest in the room.”