BALTIMORE — There was no good reason that the Miami Dolphins starters were still on the field when Bradley Chubb suffered what most fear was a season-ending knee injury here Sunday.
The game was long out of reach when Chubb suffered a non-contact injury while trying to tackle third-string running back Melvin Gordon III.
Gordon was on the field because John Harbaugh made the decision Mike McDaniel should have made — he pulled his starters late in a 30-point game.
There was less than four minutes remaining when Chubb got hurt, and the Ravens were on the doorstep of their eighth touchdown of the game when Chubb’s knee buckled.
There was no coming back from that deficit, and with Week 18’s winner-take-all game against the Bills no more than seven days away, McDaniel should have pulled all essential personnel.
He didn’t, and Chubb’s best season as a pro might have gotten wrecked because of it.
Latest on Miami Dolphins LB Bradley Chubb’s Injury
While the fear is Chubb tore his ACL, McDaniel was not ready to say that postgame Sunday.
“We’ll have to get more information tomorrow,” McDaniel said.
If Chubb did indeed tear his ACL, it’ll be the second such injury he’s suffered since the 2019 season.
And considering how late in the year it happened, Chubb’s availability for the start of the 2024 season is very much in doubt. And a torn ACL would mean that both of the Dolphins’ edge rushers will spend their entire offseasons rehabbing.
Chubb’s injury comes a month after Jaelan Phillips tore his Achilles.
“In hindsight, I would absolutely not have wanted him out there if I had known he was going to [get] hurt, for sure,” McDaniel said. “… I would like a time machine, for sure, in that situation, after the events occurred. But you don’t know that when you go into it. You do the best you can.”
Why Was Chubb Still on the Field?
McDaniel didn’t have a great answer for why Chubb was still playing other than that Chubb wanted to be playing.
He alluded to the team overcoming a three-touchdown fourth-quarter deficit the last time they were here, but the game’s margin was nowhere near what it was Sunday at that point of the game.
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It was a lost cause, and he risked topline players so they could play for pride.
“The team was very confident in themselves going into the game, with good reason,” McDaniel said.
“And our expectations fell very short. Hats off to the Ravens for really taking it to us. Guys were very frustrated. I think that my role on gameday, the players wanted to go back in and play and finish the right way heading into next week.
“I have the ability to tell them no on everything. In those situations, there’s plenty of decisions that I’ll cross-examine. It’s hard not to. I do every week with the amount of regard I hold this position and the decisions I do make, the intent is always purposeful.
“I made the call that the guys that went out there, they wanted to be out there. It’s just one of those things that will forever be a part of the job that I think is, as a competitor, you understand that the results will always be what you are held accountable for, as you should. It’s not an exact science. I think there’s a part of it that you just have to literally take all the information that you do have and make your best decision.”
Christian Wilkins at the podium pic.twitter.com/uqBRjANyvs
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) December 31, 2023
The decision was the wrong one — even if the players didn’t see it that way.
“You always want to fight to the end,” Dolphins defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. “Obviously it’s a tough situation, the way it went down.”
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