Miami Dolphins LB Jaelen Phillips suffered a non-contact injury in his team’s win over the New York Jets on Friday which appears to be a season ending Achilles injury.
Phillips’ teammates surrounded the linebacker as he was helped onto a cart late in the 4th quarter. While the Jets won’t know for certain whether it’s a torn Achilles until the 24 year old undergoes additional testing, replays showed the telltale “ripple” vibrating up his calf, which is usually an indicator of a torn Achilles tendon.
“It’s his Achilles — doesn’t look great, but we’ll find out more tomorrow,” head coach Mike McDaniel said after the game. “Yeah, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but not fired up about it.”
“If it’s the worst-case scenario, it’s also you get a chance to write your own story. He’s the type of person and he has the right mindset where he’ll be able to turn anything that’s perceived as negative into eventual positive. But this is going to be tough.”
The Phillips injury overshadowed an otherwise dominant defensive performance from the Dolphins over their division rivals. Miami held the Jets to just 159 yards of total offence, while recording 7 sacks and 2 INTs in their 34-13 win.
Journeyman QB Tim Boyle was under duress all day starting in place of Zach Wilson as New York couldn’t get anything going on the ground or through the air. The day was perhaps best summed up by a failed Hail Mary attempt which resulted in a pick six by Miami to close the first half.
With the win the Dolphins take over the 1st seed in the AFC with an 8-3 record, while New York falls to 4-7 after dropping their 4th straight contest. While rumours of Aaron Rodgers making a December return to the Jets lineup have been making the rounds in NFL circles, if New York can’t pull themselves out of their offensive tailspin, one has to wonder whether the soon to be 40 year old will rush back for a team whose playoff hopes are quickly fading.
The Jets will have a two game homestead against the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans to attempt to right the ship, before making a final decision on a potential Rodgers return.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Atlanta Falcons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.