The concussions have officially started to pile up for the Miami Dolphins.
After initially taking a hard hit towards the end of the first quarter , De’Von Achane has been ruled out with a concussion for the rest of the Dolphins’ 15-10 win over the New England Patriots. Achane is the fourth Dolphins player to suffer a concussion in 2024.
Two of the Dolphins’ key contributors — left tackle Terron Armstead and cornerback Kendall Fuller — returned Sunday after suffering concussions two weeks ago against the Seattle Seahawks.
Tua Tagovailoa, of course, is the most notable player to have sustained a concussion. His came during a Week 2 matchup against the Buffalo Bills and the quarterback was quickly placed on injured reserve. Tagovailoa, who has suffered at least four concussions , will be available to return after the Dolphins’ Week 7 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts.
While many believed the former Alabama star would hang it up after his latest concussion, Tagovailoa has experienced no symptoms and could potentially return against the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 27, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills also said the league won’t interfere with the Dolphins’ decision to bring Tagovailoa back.
“Patient autonomy and medical decision-making really matters,” Sills said via ESPN. “And I think that’s what we have to recognize goes on with our concussion protocol as well. Ultimately when patients make decisions about considering their careers, it has to reflect that autonomy that’s generated from discussions with medical experts giving them best medical advice.”
Added Sills: “It’s not like we can put in your number of concussions and how long between them and your age and some unusual constant or Avogadro’s number that always seemed to be in freshman chemistry somehow, and come up with a risk.”
With the loss of Achane, the Dolphins are now down to just two healthy running backs in Raheem Mostert, who also just returned Sunday from a chest injury, and the rookie Jaylen Wright. Jeff Wilson Jr. was inactive for the divisional matchup with a knee injury.
Both Mostert and Wright showed out in Achane’s absence. In just his first game since Week 1, the veteran Mostert had 19 rushes for 80 yards. Wright, on the other hand, finished with 13 attempts for 86 yards.
“It has been good,” Mostert said of his return, explaining that not playing caused “a little bit of a mental” stress. “I don’t know what my stats were but I really don’t care. I’m just happy we got the biggest stat which is that ‘W.’ Honestly, it feels good.”
“This win, it’s been needed,” Wright added. “We had a rough past few weeks but it’s the beat of the game. We put those past games in the past and just stay in the present. We got the win this week. We’re going into a bye week. Then we’re going to come back with the same mindset to win.”
The duo contributed heavily on the Dolphins’ only touchdown drive of the day, including six straight rushes to get the ball to the 3-yard line. Fullback Alec Ingold would cap off the drive with a 3-yard scamper up the middle.
“Jaylen Wright definitely stepped up big,” Ingold said. “One of his biggest runs of the day was called back because of a holding call. To see him not blink and be able to go back and convert on a first down later on that drive was really cool to see. Raheem to come back and play physical. He’s one of the fastest guys on the team. To be able to run in yards after contact and push the pile. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot but 2nd-and-3 is a whole heckuva lot better than 2nd-and-8.”
Added Ingold: “To be able to find those creases, both of those guys played very hard and very physical and it was really cool to see them flourish in the fourth quarter.”
The Dolphins luckily have a bye week on the horizon so Achane’s absence hopefully will not impact them greatly in the future.
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