MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. Tua Tagovailoa walked toward Tyreek Hill while the star Miami Dolphins wide receiver was warming up Sunday and told him not to worry.
Hill didn’t practice during the week leading up to Sunday’s game against the Jets because he suffered an ankle injury last Monday. Tagovailoa wanted to assure him that the Dolphins would be fine, even if their leading receiver couldn’t suit up.
“I told him, ‘Dude, if you can’t go, we’ll get you, bro. It’s a team game. It’s going to take all of us, “Tagovailoa said. “And he said, ‘I appreciate it, but don’t exclude me yet.’
Hill did not take the field in Miami’s 30-0 shutout of the Jets on Sunday, the first time he has missed a regular-season game since being traded to Miami from Kansas City last offseason.
Still, the Dolphins recorded 290 yards of total offense. Tagovailoa was 21 of 24 with an 87.5% completion percentage and a 60-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle.
“Not having him and being able to score 30 points and have a shutout by our defense should tell you a lot about the team,” Tagovailoa said.
Hill was listed as questionable after falling awkwardly on his left ankle while tackling against the Tennessee Titans.
He fell down for a while and grabbed his left leg. He started running and then ran off the field. Hill stood on the sidelines with his helmet on when the second quarter began and didn’t return until there were about six minutes left in the third quarter.
Hill said after that game that he was in a lot of pain and couldn’t move normally or change direction. He leads the NFL with 1,542 yards and 12 touchdowns and entered Week 15 on pace for the first 2,000-yard receiving season in league history.
Coach Mike McDaniel said Sunday that Hill was close to playing and that it was a tough decision to sit him out.
“It was a collective decision that when you’re faced with, ‘OK, do we go ahead and just hope, or do we do the work that individual players and the team need for the season,’ it becomes easier in the moment,” McDaniel said. “Just because we have people with the right intentions who are looking at it as their responsibility to protect the players,.
“I think some decisions are difficult but at the same time easy.
Tagovailoa said Miami’s offense started the game with a series of short passes, mostly because McDaniel wanted to get a feel for how the Jets defense would play without Hill. He completed nine passes of 13 yards or less before connecting with Waddle on a 60-yard touchdown pass that put Miami up 17-0.
“It’s the first time Tyreek hasn’t played since I’ve been here, so additional unknowns can be distributed because you usually have an idea of how people are being threatened and how they’ll actually view the game,” McDaniel said. The reasons for this were more unknown than usual, so there was a kind of feeling-out process that was deliberate in the opener to understand what was going to happen.
Waddle also had his most productive game of the season, with 142 yards on eight receptions.
Published by : Reshraman
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