How Tyreek Hill’s injury might impact Dolphins
MIAMI GARDENS — The biggest challenge the Miami Dolphins face Sunday when they host the New York Jets might not just be finding a way to beat one of the best defenses in the league, or avoiding their first losing streak of the season with playoff positioning on the line.
Their biggest challenge might be doing those things without All-Pro Tyreek Hill.
The NFL’s leading receiver injured his left ankle in Monday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans, limiting him to a season-low 47% of Miami’s offensive snaps. Hill is considered “day-to-day” as Miami prepares to host the Jets (1 p.m. ET, CBS). His absence would leave coach Mike McDaniel with a dilemma he hasn’t faced in his two years as Miami’s head coach: put together a game plan without Hill.
“I’m optimistic about Tyreek in general. I know if there’s a will, there’s a way,” McDaniel said Tuesday. “Either way, that was a painful ankle (injury) … He’s given me only reason to be confident in his ability, but until he flat out tells me that there’s no doubt that he’s going to play, you always have to plan for everything.”
Hill has not missed a game since he was traded to the Dolphins last offseason, and no player in the NFL has more receiving yards than Hill’s 3,252 in that span. In fact, Hill is on pace to break Calvin Johnson’s single-season record of 1,964 receiving yards, set in 2012, when seasons were 16 games instead of the current 17. Hill has 1,542 receiving yards, averaging 119 per game. He needs 423 yards over the last four games to break the record. If he misses one game, he’ll need to average a difficult 141 in the last three games, which are against two of the top five passing defenses in the league in the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens, and the No. 11 passing defense in the Buffalo Bills.
The Dolphins got a taste of life sans Hill on Monday as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa averaged 6.4 yards per attempt without his top receiver on the field, compared to 9.2 yards per attempt with Hill playing.
Despite a strong run game — 158 yards on 31 carries — the Dolphins were outgained 403-366 by the Titans and Tagovailoa failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time all season. The fourth-year vet admitted the absence of Hill and center Connor Williams, who tore the ACL in his left knee on Miami’s opening drive, disrupted what is usually a potent offense.
“I think we got a little out of sorts with how we went about our drives,” Tagovailoa said. “I think one of the biggest things that happened, that I think personally had something to do with the game, was when Connor went down, as well. But this is how the league works. You pray that you can have healthy seasons and you can stay healthy for as long as possible. But it’s a physical sport, and things like that happen.”
Hill hasn’t participated in either of Miami’s practices this week, although both were walkthrough practices.
Similar to how the Dolphins have handled injuries to other key starters, like Terron Armstead and Robert Hunt, McDaniel said his staff will be smart when it comes to managing Hill’s health moving forward.
“He’s such an important part of our team that we’re going to make sure that when he’s on the field, he’s not at risk of further injuring himself,” McDaniel said Thursday. “We’re just going to be prudent and smart with him. He’s a competitor and he’s a captain of this team and he very much wants to dictate the terms. But he’s in a good place where he’s not going to do it at the cost of further progression of injury. I’m happy where he’s at.”
McDaniel said Hill captures a defense’s attention any time he’s on the field — whether he gets the ball or not — and that as one of the best players in the NFL, his skill set isn’t replicable.
