Miami Dolphins upset as MetLife adds Jaelan Phillips to list of victims
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — They know.
The official confirmation won’t come until Saturday, but the Dolphins walked out of MetLife Stadium knowing they’d both won and lost. Won a game, lost a star in the making.
They knew the moment Jaelan Phillips went down, untouched. Of all ways football players can go down, that is the absolute worst.
The first thing you think is Achilles.
The second thing you think is one year — the normal recovery time for these things.
Even though Phillips has yet to undergo an MRI to confirm his Achilles injury is a tear, it says something that coach Mike McDaniel, strong candidate as the most optimistic man in the organization, said after Friday’s 34-13 victory over the New York Jets that it “doesn’t look great” and that the Dolphins must “prepare ourselves for the worst-case scenario.”
For his part, Phillips seemed to be doing his best to raise spirits of teammates in the locker room. He was hobbling around a minefield of duffel bags while wearing a boot on his right foot, supporting himself with metal crutches in both hands and chatting with teammates. He even laughed when defensive tackle Christian Wilkins walked in with a monstrous-looking sandwich he was given on the postgame show.
What was beneath the surface told a different story.
“Absolutely devastated,” Phillips wrote on social media. “But I feel strength in knowing that this is all a part of God’s plan, and that I have an incredible team and support system around me. I’ll be back strong than ever (muscle emoji) Fins up (Dolphin and prayer emojis).”
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As soon as Phillips went down came a string of signs, one just as ominous as the next. A group of medical professionals grouped around him, quickly followed by McDaniel. A man turned away from tending to Phillips to address what appeared to be a stadium employee, who immediately got on his radio, summoning, yes, the dreaded cart. Then, all the Dolphins and some Jets grouped around the cart, wishing Phillips well.
Finally, Phillips riding off into the tunnel, his face buried in both hands.
Oh, wait. Was there still a game to finish? A game that truly was finished long before this wrenching scene played out?
Christian Wilkins: Concerns over this turf ‘an ongoing thing’
Just as we can’t be certain it’s a torn Achilles, some might say we also can’t be certain where to place the blame, even if every piece of circumstantial evidence points in one direction: the infamous MetLife Stadium turf whose season deserved to end long ago.
“I know that’s been like an ongoing thing,” said Wilkins, the team’s union rep. “You know, who’s to say what was the cause and effect?”
Running back Raheem Mostert is. Mostert was part of a San Francisco 49ers team that came into this stadium three years ago and limped out. Mostert was one of them, spraining his MCL in the process. That year, he wrote “shut that field down” in a tweet.
“Obviously, it did contribute to it (Phillips’ injury) and this turf has issues and it needs to be addressed,” Mostert said.
Imagine, the field, in a stadium named after an insurance company, offers players little assurance they’ll leave it in the same shape as when they stepped on it.
“Since being in the league, I’ve heard that field is trash,” Dolphins safety Jevon Holland said.
The turf is notorious enough that various sites have tracked the growing list of players suffering major injuries on it. The Dolphins didn’t need to look any further than across the field Friday, because Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was in street clothes, having torn his Achilles on this field four plays into this season. Down with him went the Jets’ expectations of competing for the AFC East title. They’re now 4-7, having suited up a trivia answer named Tim Boyle at quarterback against the Dolphins.
The Dolphins are determined to make sure their season doesn’t take that same route even if Phillips is done.
“I definitely want to do my all to honor Jaelan the rest of the season,” Wilkins said.
Several players said it was “heartbreaking” to see Phillips go down, especially as he was emerging as the edge-rushing force that was surprising no one. Friday alone he had four tackles, one sack, two quarterback hits, three tackles for loss and one pass defensed, and came within an eyelash of a sack for a safety.
“Anytime anyone goes down it breaks your heart, especially someone like Jaelan, who’s my little brother,” Wilkins said. “We’ve had a good relationship since he’s been here, since Day 1. And he’s been playing lights out. I was just complimenting him in the middle of the game.”
Just like that, Phillips’ day went from hearing compliments to receiving well-wishes. Some came from the player in the next locker over, safety Nik Needham, who’s just coming back from an Achilles injury suffered more than a year ago. Needham didn’t want to go into detail on the road ahead for Phillips, saying he first wanted to hear the final diagnosis.
“I’ve been there and know what it takes to get through there,” Needham said of Achilles injuries. “So if he has any questions, talk to me.”
Another player feeling the hurt was Bradley Chubb, Phillips’ opposite number as a bookend edge defender.
“It sucks now,” Chubb said. “It’s unfortunate, but he’s the type of guy that’s going to put his head down and work to get back as fast as he possibly can. We’ll be right there to support him the whole way.
“I told him when I first got in here, ‘Whatever it is, I’m gonna be on your ass in the rehab room, making sure you do everything in order to be the best.’ ”
So will linebacker Jerome Baker.
“It’s our job to have his back,” Baker said. “Not just on the field, but off the field.”
Baker said he didn’t need any further evidence to finger the culprit.
”Absolutely, man,” Baker said. “We all have been saying this for a while now that we need to get rid of turf.”
Drew Rosenhaus: No amount of money worth seeing players go down
Outside the locker room was agent Drew Rosenhaus, who counts many Dolphins as his clients, although Phillips isn’t one of them.
“I would implore the NFL to figure out a way to get rid of turf, pure and simple,” Rosenhaus said. “I don’t think anyone can dispute the fact that turf fields are bad for player health and every player in the NFL would tell you that. Hopefully they change it for the good of the game. The only reason you wouldn’t is because of economics. And if you keep losing great football players, there’s no amount of money that’s worth that.”
Economics say the Jets gave Rodgers a $112.5 million contract, but who’s counting?
“I know there’s a lot of analytics and stuff like that, and, and people go back and forth on different sort of playing surfaces,” Mostert said. “But if you’re truly out there, and you’re a player, and you know how it feels, to at least have some give and grass is the ultimate, ultimate give in that aspect.”
Nobody will ever be able to prove the turf caused Phillips’ injury. Just as no one could be certain exactly how serious Phillips’ injury is.
This was a brutal day when your eyes gave you all the evidence you need.
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.
