Linebacker Jaelan Phillips suffers a serious injury in the Dolphins’ win against the Jets. Miami is already preparing for the worst case scenario

The Miami Dolphins actually had plenty of reason to be happy in the first Black Friday game in NFL history. They won 34-13 at the New York Jets, with the franchise sitting in a commanding 8-3 lead in the AFC East.

Nevertheless, the visitors experienced some bad moments at the MeLife Stadium. Late in the fourth quarter, Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips went down without contact from an opponent and had to be taken to the locker room on a cart.

At the line of scrimmage, Phillips was injured at the moment of the opponent’s snap while running loose. TV footage showed a clearly visible twitch in the calf of his lower right leg, the moment of the injury.

Although the official diagnosis is still pending, nobody was optimistic for the Dolphins after the game. “It’s his Achilles tendon – it doesn’t look good,” explained head coach Mike McDaniel, who described the moments when Phillips was helped onto the cart before being carted off as “emotional. “

So the franchise is already preparing for the worst-case scenario. But despite the likely Achilles tendon tear, the head coach is optimistic that the linebacker will recover well.

Dolphins coach believes in Phillips

“If the worst comes to the worst, he’ll also get a chance to write his own story. He’s the type of person and has the right attitude to turn everything that’s perceived as negative into something positive. But it’s going to be tough.”

Phillips is not the first player to suffer a hamstring injury this season on the much-criticized artificial turf at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, including Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the first game of the season.