The Miami Dolphins made it through the season without any major injuries, aside from running back De’Von Achane’s knee injury. Especially this season, it can be absolutely heartbreaking when you have high hopes and the season suddenly falls apart due to a season-ending injury.
As a Bengals fan, it’s all too real for me, but luckily for Miami, they haven’t lost any key talent to injuries so far.The best defensive tackle ends up on the Dolphins’ injury report That is, maybe until now. Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins was placed on the injury report Friday with a groin injury.
That could mean a long list of things, but it shouldn’t be overlooked that the name of a key defender in this defense is on the injury report. Honestly, it could be as simple as a teammate accidentally bumping Wilkins in the groin and him having to sit down a few times in pain. It could mean he has a significant muscle injury, but since that’s all you’ve heard, Wilkins will most likely play against the Titans on Sunday.
If this becomes a more serious injury, Wilkins’ absence on defense will be greatly missed by Miami. Wilkins has established himself as an elite 3-technique player, coming home to the quarterback 6.5 times this season and racking up 25 tackles. It may not sound that impressive, but it’s a widely accepted argument that tackles are pretty useless for defensive tackles. Their job isn’t to break down running backs – their job is to plug holes, stuff double teams, and reduce running lanes so that it’s much easier for linebackers to close down space.
The other side of the coin is that Miami will once again be without its best defensive lineman. Miami will look to stop perhaps the most talented running back in the NFL when Derrick Henry makes his way through the A-gap on Sunday. Defensive tackle is arguably the most important position on the field when playing against Henry, because Henry’s greatest strength is that once he gets up to speed, he is virtually impossible to bring down without giving up at least 4 yards.
As previously mentioned, Wilkins would help fill gaps and prevent Henry from having ample space and a lot of time to get up to speed. In all the games Henry struggled, defenders usually found him at or behind the line of scrimmage.
If the linebacker hits him a yard or two from the line of scrimmage, he will undoubtedly flatten the defender and gain the extra two yards of body length.Ideally, Wilkins will play, and this is purely a precautionary discussion. If Wilkins doesn’t play, Miami will be forced to blitz on plays A and B much more frequently during the game to try to use multiple players to do what Wilkins can do on his own.
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