Miami Dolphins Lose Emmanuel Ogbah for the Season
A great day for the Miami Dolphins that featured a fourth consecutive victory and taking over first place in the AFC East also included some disappointing news.
Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah will miss the rest of the season because of an elbow injury he sustained in the second quarter of the 39-17 victory against the Cleveland Browns at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, according to a league source.
The Dolphins announced at the time of the injury that Ogbah was questionable to return, then ruled him out as the second half began.
ANOTHER BLOW TO THE DOLPHINS DEFENSE
Ogbah becomes the third significant player the Dolphins defense has lost to a season-ending injury in 2022.
The first was cornerback Nik Needham, who sustained an Achilles injury in the Week 6 loss against the Minnesota Vikings. He was followed by safety Brandon Jones, who sustained a torn ACL the following week in the Sunday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Linebacker Trey Flowers also landed on IR after being injured in the Minnesota game, though his foot injury was not described as necessarily season-ending at the time.
And, of course, the Dolphins have played all season without starting cornerback Byron Jones, who is still recovering from offseason leg surgery.
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DIFFICULT SEASON FOR OGBAH
The injury put an disappointing exclamation point on what was a rough year for Ogbah, who the Dolphins signed to a new contract in March just before the start of free agency.
After leading the Dolphins in sacks in both 2020 and 2021 with nine each season, Ogbah had only one sack in nine games in 2022. It came in the season opener during the 20-7 victory against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium.
Ogbah was slowed for a couple of weeks by a back injury that forced him to miss that Week 7 Sunday night game against Pittsburgh.
Head coach Mike McDaniel expressed his confidence Friday that Ogbah was on his way to becoming a factor for the Dolphins defense.
“I’m not worried at all about the distinction and any sort of production because of what he’s shown me in preparation, as he’s gotten back from getting healthy,” McDaniel said. “Right when he had progressed this season, I thought he was playing his best ball and the stat sheet was going to start filling up. He had an injury setback that he’s worked his way back from. The good news is I’m seeing some of the best stuff that I’ve seen, including the stuff from last year. I’m seeing it in practice. I’m seeing him get back into full health and full confidence. So it doesn’t bother me because I can see that the level of stat sheet production is a matter of time because of how he’s going about doing his job on a day-in and day-out basis.”
Unfortunately, Ogbah now will have to wait until 2023 to regain the form he showed during those brilliant first two seasons with the Dolphins.
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