GARDENS OF MIAMI — Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins played only 33 snaps in Monday night’s 28-27 loss to the Tennessee Titans after injuring his ankle in the first quarter
After collecting a pass from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Hill was tackled out of bounds and writhed in pain before leaving the field. He first strolled from the Titans’ sideline to the Dolphins’ sideline, then ran the final 20 yards after hearing “MVP” cheers from the home crowd.
The NFL’s leading receiver didn’t take another snap until the Dolphins’ second drive of the third quarter, which was prompted in part by a text from his wife
“When it happened, like my first reaction was like, man, my ankle is gone,” he told me. “My adrenaline kicked in, and I ran off the field, then sat for a while, and it stiffened and I was in a lot of pain.” Then I just made up my mind, came in at halftime, texted my wife, and said, ‘This s— hurt.’ Tonight I need an ankle massage, and she says, ‘You’d best get your a$$ back in that game, dawg.’ I said, ‘All right.’
“So I just decided it was going to hurt.” It’s going to be a disaster. Tonight and the next morning. I just got back into the game on my own, with no one telling me, ‘Reek, go.’ No, f— this, I have to come out there and bring some enthusiasm and be that spark.”
Miami was outgained by the Titans, 403 yards to 366, and suffered in the absence of Hill. Miami was without starting offensive lineman Terron Armstead, Robert Hunt, and Isaiah Wynn, as well as center Connor Williams, who left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury and did not return
Following the game, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel stated that he had not yet spoken with the training staff for an update on Williams, who was observed wearing a knee brace while standing on the sideline.
“I know it would take a lot to keep him out,” McDaniel admitted. “It’s probably not the most positive.”
While the Dolphins rushed for 158 yards on 31 tries, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, they were significantly less successful passing the ball.
The Titans attacked against Miami’s depleted offensive line on Monday night, pressing Tagovailoa on 39% of his dropbacks. When under pressure, Tagovailoa completed only 4 of 11 throws for 27 yards and was sacked five times.
He finished with 240 yards without a touchdown, completing 23 of 33 throws and halting a 21-game stretch with a throwing touchdown.
“I think what they wanted game-plan-wise was to put a shell over our team, forcing us to run the ball, forcing us to beat them that way,” Tagovailoa said in a statement. “But having someone like Tyreek go down makes it tough, but having a couple of your key O-linemen go down also hurts the guys up front and sort of the way we operate.”
“I think one of the most difficult aspects of it is that a lot of those guys haven’t gotten reps at some of the positions.” these is not to say that we train for scenarios like these. We just happened to have a handful of our guys out when Connor went down. But, needless to say, I’m confident the men up front will improve. I know the guys around me will improve. I will continue to improve. That is the only way we can progress. We just need to see the tape. It was a tough loss tonight, but it will linger if we don’t do something about it.”
Hill finished with 61 yards on four catches despite playing a limited role. Jaylen Waddle led the team with 79 receiving yards on six catches.
Miami appeared out of sync without Hill, but McDaniel attributed the loss on a lack of red zone output (two touchdowns on five red zone visits) rather than Hill’s injury.
