Perfect72
It's Only Happened ONCE!
It gets old hearing players mutter the same “next man up mentality” phrase around the Dolphins’ facility every week, but it’s not as trite as it might sound. It’s become their rallying cry.
The final three weeks of the season will be a compelling adventure for Miami after it gained ground in the playoff race Sunday with a 26-23 last-second win over the Cardinals at Hard Rock Stadium, but lost starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the process. He took a hit to the left knee late in the third quarter, and the team fears it will be a season-ending torn ACL as it awaits further examination.
Matt Moore came in and led Miami 44 yards in 1:29 to set up Andrew Franks’ game-winning field goal as time expired. Moore went 3 of 5 for 47 yards, including a gutsy 29-yarder to Kenny Stills with 43 seconds left after not taking a snap all season.
But Tannehill’s injury is merely the latest in a list of them. The Dolphins (8-5) beat Arizona despite missing six players who came into the year as starters and going with at least four others playing through significant pain. They had none of their starting linebackers and have gone without Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones since mid-October.
As the absences stacked up, the Dolphins survived. Most of the time, like Sunday, they had barely enough, and that’s how it’ll be during the upcoming three-game quest for the franchise’s first postseason berth since 2008.
“It’s been enough to get the W,” right tackle Ja’Wuan James said. “I don’t care if it’s barely or whatever you want to say. It’s a W.”
Arizona (5-7-1) immediately attacked the perceived weakness of a Dolphins linebacker corps that included Mike Hull making the first start of his career in place of Kiko Alonso, who had thumb surgery and a hamstring injury this week. Koa Misi has been on injured reserve most of the season and Jelani Jenkins has fought an assortment of ailments, leaving holes for second-stringers Neville Hewitt and Spencer Paysinger to fill.
Paysinger and Hull led the team with eight tackles each, and Paysinger recovered a fumble forced by Cameron Wake in the first quarter. Bacarri Rambo, an unemployed safety the Dolphins signed a month and a half ago, grabbed his first interception of the season.
No Cardinal put up more than 45 receiving yards against Miami’s battered linebackers and a secondary that features exactly one healthy starter from the beginning of the year.
On the other side of the ball, the Dolphins are operating with Anthony Steen and his mangled ankle at center while they hope Mike Pouncey returns and called on former castoff Sam Young at left tackle when Branden Albert left for part of the second quarter.
The Dolphins are tied with Denver for the sixth and final spot in the AFC field as they prepare for Saturday’s game at the hapless Jets. Barring a shocking diagnosis on Tannehill, that game will be Moore’s first start since the final game of the 2011 season. After that, Miami ventures to Buffalo on Christmas Eve and closes the season with a home game against New England that could be meaningless to the Patriots.
More at LINK: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports...hance-with-games-left/YmskB5HiYtUuvxUz4B6TwL/
The final three weeks of the season will be a compelling adventure for Miami after it gained ground in the playoff race Sunday with a 26-23 last-second win over the Cardinals at Hard Rock Stadium, but lost starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the process. He took a hit to the left knee late in the third quarter, and the team fears it will be a season-ending torn ACL as it awaits further examination.
Matt Moore came in and led Miami 44 yards in 1:29 to set up Andrew Franks’ game-winning field goal as time expired. Moore went 3 of 5 for 47 yards, including a gutsy 29-yarder to Kenny Stills with 43 seconds left after not taking a snap all season.
But Tannehill’s injury is merely the latest in a list of them. The Dolphins (8-5) beat Arizona despite missing six players who came into the year as starters and going with at least four others playing through significant pain. They had none of their starting linebackers and have gone without Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones since mid-October.
As the absences stacked up, the Dolphins survived. Most of the time, like Sunday, they had barely enough, and that’s how it’ll be during the upcoming three-game quest for the franchise’s first postseason berth since 2008.
“It’s been enough to get the W,” right tackle Ja’Wuan James said. “I don’t care if it’s barely or whatever you want to say. It’s a W.”
Arizona (5-7-1) immediately attacked the perceived weakness of a Dolphins linebacker corps that included Mike Hull making the first start of his career in place of Kiko Alonso, who had thumb surgery and a hamstring injury this week. Koa Misi has been on injured reserve most of the season and Jelani Jenkins has fought an assortment of ailments, leaving holes for second-stringers Neville Hewitt and Spencer Paysinger to fill.
Paysinger and Hull led the team with eight tackles each, and Paysinger recovered a fumble forced by Cameron Wake in the first quarter. Bacarri Rambo, an unemployed safety the Dolphins signed a month and a half ago, grabbed his first interception of the season.
No Cardinal put up more than 45 receiving yards against Miami’s battered linebackers and a secondary that features exactly one healthy starter from the beginning of the year.
On the other side of the ball, the Dolphins are operating with Anthony Steen and his mangled ankle at center while they hope Mike Pouncey returns and called on former castoff Sam Young at left tackle when Branden Albert left for part of the second quarter.
The Dolphins are tied with Denver for the sixth and final spot in the AFC field as they prepare for Saturday’s game at the hapless Jets. Barring a shocking diagnosis on Tannehill, that game will be Moore’s first start since the final game of the 2011 season. After that, Miami ventures to Buffalo on Christmas Eve and closes the season with a home game against New England that could be meaningless to the Patriots.
More at LINK: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports...hance-with-games-left/YmskB5HiYtUuvxUz4B6TwL/