Terron Armstead, the Dolphins Pro Bowl left tackle, will likely be sidelined weeks due to an injury he sustained in the loss at Buffalo.
MIAMI GARDENS — Terron Armstead, the Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl left tackle, will likely be sidelined a few weeks due to a left knee injury he sustained in the second quarter of Sunday’s 48-20 loss at Buffalo, coach Mike McDaniel said.
But that seems to be the only discouraging injury news. It seems center Connor Williams (groin) and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips (oblique), who both missed the Bills game, will be close to playing this Sunday against the New York Giants.
Armstead walked right into the tunnel at Highmark Stadium, after suffering the injury instead of going to the sideline.
Armstead was replaced by Kendall Lamm, who started the first two games of the season while Armstead was sidelined due to back, knee and ankle ailments.
When McDaniel was asked Monday about the outlook for Armstead, he said it’d be “weeks, not days.”
“We have to kind of see how everything settles down,” McDaniel said, “and then we’ll be able to make a better prognosis for that timeline here … but I can say that he won’t be playing in the next game. But he will be playing again this season.”
Armstead, a 32-year-old in his 11th season, has missed roughly 5.5 games per season the previous seven seasons.
McDaniel opted to go for a two-point conversion in the second quarter against the Bills, trailing, 31-20. Tagovailoa’s pass fell incomplete.
If the Dolphins would have kicked the extra point they’d have cut their deficit to nine points, meaning they could have won with a touchdown and field goal.
However, missing meant they trailed by 11 and needed two touchdowns to tie, or a touchdown and a two-point conversion along with a field goal to tie.
McDaniel explained his decision this way.
“It has to do with a lot of analytic talk,” he said. “It was an 11-point game at the time, so you’re trying to make it a nine-point game and understanding that if you miss the two-point conversion, your defense at least has to hold the offense out of the end zone regardless, and a field goal would just make it a two-score game.
“So it’s kind of a tactical measure that being down by nine, you’d be in a situation where you can score a touchdown and then win with a field goal, knowing that the defense was going to have to stop them from getting to the end zone at that point anyway, so it doesn’t hurt you as much. Some analytical talk that we discuss on a weekly basis, and that was the plan coming out of halftime.”
Running back Raheem Mostert fumbled twice against Buffalo, losing one. Here’s how rare that is: Mostert entered the game with seven career fumbles in 634 touches (carries, receptions, kickoff returns). That’s one fumble every 90.6 touches, or fewer than one fumble per season for his eight-year career.
Last season, Mostert had one fumble in 237 touches.
So Mostert having seven carries and fumbling twice against Buffalo is against all odds.
Safety Brandon Jones, who was basically playing a new position as a deep safety, played a team-high 70 snaps (all 58 on defense, and 12 on special teams) against Buffalo.
That’s noteworthy because it was Jones’ first significant playing time of the season. Jones was a starter last season until sustaining a season-ending knee injury, and he started the Bills game because DeShon Elliott, who started the previous three games, was inactive due to a groin injury.
Jones’ action is also noteworthy because previously in his career he was near the line of scrimmage as a run-stopper and blitzer, the so-called eighth man in the box. Playing under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio usually requires Jones to stay deep, which he did.
Dolphins special teams had a good showing, its first of the season.
The Dolphins finally had a kickoff return against Buffalo, their first of the season. In fact, wide receiver Braxton Berrios had four returns for 91 yards.
And there were no blunders such as a missed extra point, blocked field goal attempt or missed field goal attempt.
“It was cool to see guys making plays,” said fullback Alec Ingold, who plays on kickoff return and punt coverage teams.
McDaniel, who vowed to commit to running the ball more this season, acknowledged Monday he probably abandoned the run too early in Buffalo. He said the result was Tagovailoa (four sacks, nine hits) taking more hits than he probably should have taken.
The Dolphins had just 19 carries (for 142 yards). They had seven carries (for 20 yards) in the first half.
“We’ve been able to avoid situations like that where part of that, and part of the hits, are on the play-caller who is calling more passes than runs,” McDaniel said, referring to himself.
“I think probably in hindsight I abandoned the run game to a degree too soon and put them into situations that they didn’t need to be in. But overall, it was — I guess that’s a blessing in disguise that he did go through a game where he did get a little more contact and he was able to come out of it strong and ready to get ready for the Giants.”
