Injuries pile up for Dolphins in second half
One of the best games in the best season of Mike Gesicki’s career came to an abrupt — and scary — end in the fourth quarter of the Miami Dolphins’ comeback effort against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Less than three minutes after catching his second touchdown for the second multi-touchdown game of his career, Gesicki went down with a right shoulder injury after getting dragged down awkwardly on a tackle with 9:58 left in regulation.
The tight end immediately grabbed at the shoulder as he writhed in pain on the Hard Rock Stadium turf, then walked into the tunnel with his right arm dangling limp and held firm against his body by a trainer. With Gesicki sidelined, the Chiefs hung on for a 33-27 win.
Gesicki’s injury was just the latest in an injuryriddled second half for the Dolphins, with the receivers corps hit especially hard. DeVante Parker did not play in the second half because of a leg injury and fellow receiver Jakeem Grant also sustained a leg injury, which limited him in the second half.
Miami also lost safety Bobby McCain for some of the third quarter because of an ankle injury.
Brian Flores didn’t have an update on the severity of Gesicki’s injury — or any other players’ — immediately after the game.
“We had a number of injuries today,” the coach said. “I checked in on a couple guys, but it’s too early right now. They’re still being evaluated. We’ll prob
ably have more information later in the week.”
Gesicki’s injury was especially costly. He was leading the Dolphins with five catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns before he exited. After Gesicki left, unproven wide receivers Mack Hollins and Lynn Bowden became Miami’s two leaders in targets.
On Sunday, Gesicki set a new career high for singleseason receiving yards with 602. He also has 44 catches and six touchdowns this season.
Gesicki’s first touchdown gave Miami an early sevenpoint lead, as rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa rolled to his left on a designed rollout and threw an underneath pass to Gesicki with his top target doubleteamed in the back corner of the end zone. Gesicki’s second touchdown was one of the most impressive plays of his career, as Tagovailoa threaded a pass
into triple coverage and Gesicki pulled in the touchdown catch through a mess of limbs.
Most of Gesicki’s production this year has come with Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starter, but Tagovailoa said the two are building chemistry.
After he caught just 10 passes for 133 yards in Tagovailoa’s first four starts, Gesicki had nine catches for 88 yards and a touchdown last Sunday in a win against the Cincinnati Bengals, then followed it up with his first two-touchdown game of the season.
“Me and Mike’s relationship has been growing in practice,” Tagovailoa said. “I had the opportunity to go in after the game and see Mike, talk to him. He’s really hurting, but I just told him my thoughts and prayers are with him, that the rest of the team is playing for him.
“You just hate to see that for someone like him.”
SPECIAL TEAMS ISSUES
Flores was right in saying the Chiefs beat the Dolphins on Sunday because they made more big plays.
But he could have been even more specific.
The Chiefs beat the Dolphins because they made the plays on special teams that the Dolphins had consistently all year, but couldn’t Sunday.
The Dolphins, who entered the game with the NFL’s No. 1 special teams unit according to Football Outsiders, made two uncharacteristic mistakes against the Chiefs:
They gave up a punt return for a touchdown and Jason Sanders missed a makeable field goal.
If both of those plays went the other way, the Dolphins probably would have knocked off the defending champs Sunday.
Sanders’ miss was a simple push from 45 yards, just his second unsuccessful attempt this year in 32 attempts. He did make kicks from 31 and 44 yards Sunday.
But that mistake was minor compared to the touchdown Danny Crossman’s group gave up to
Mecole Hardman, which stretched the Chiefs’ lead to 18 points early in the third quarter.
The issues on that play began with Matt Haack’s punt. It traveled just 37 yards. Hardman fielded the punt cleanly at the 33 and immediately broke to his left.
Quickly, a wall of blockers formed. Core Dolphins special teams contributor
Clayton Fejedelem got double-teamed, letting Hardman break contain to the outside. Linebacker
Calvin Munson couldn’t shed a block by Darius Harris.
But ex-Dolphin Chris Lammons delivered the big, possibly illegal hit on
Kamu Grugier-Hill to allow Hardman to race down the sidelines. Andrew Van Ginkel and
Blake Ferguson took unhelpful angles and Hardman’s 4.3 speed did the rest.
As Hardman turned for home, Lammons waved his hands like a windmill in celebration.
The return was by far the longest surrendered by the Dolphins this year and added to a Chiefs lead that proved impossible to overcome.
“I’ve got to watch the film, but just on the field, looked like Hardman made a good play,” Flores said. “He’s a good player. He’s a good punt returner. You give him a chance, and he makes people miss. That was the case on that play. It’s a good player making a good play.”