Jaelan Phillips injury could be a big problem on Sunday for the Miami Dolphins
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins may have an edge problem on Sunday if Jaelan Phillips misses the game due to a back injury. The Dolphins best pass-rusher is listed as questionable.
Last week, Phillips was a presence keeping pressure on Justin Herbert throughout the game. Without him, the Dolphins will need to rely on Emmanuel Ogbah and Bradley Chubb. Neither have been playing well and Chubb continues to look like another miss by Chris Grier.
Without Phillips, the Dolphins may not be able to get pressure on streaky Matt Jones which could create problems for the Dolphins secondary. Vic Fangio is going to need to find a new way to get pressure on the Patriots' signal caller.
Miami fans are still waiting for Chubb to become the player that he was in Denver. His best season was under Fangio but so far, he has not looked good and while many point to the match-up between he and Slater last week against the Chargers, his performance woes date back to last year.
The Dolphins are looking to improve to 2-0 on the season and win back to back road games to start the season. No easy task.
The game will be in primetime on Sunday Night Football and you can watch it on the Peacock Network or NBC.
In other injury news, Terron Armstead is closer to returning after practicing this week and despite an injury designation early this week, Raheem Mostert is not injured and will play.
As for Phillips, it's a wait and see for sure but the Dolphins need his playmaking ability off the edge. The Patriots are a very good running team on offense and will test the Dolphins defense early and often after Miami gave up over 200 yards in week one.
Fangio doesn't like to blitz often and he didn't against the Chargers until late but the Dolphins defense is built more for that type of play. Without Phillips, it will be interesting to see if either Chubb or Ogbah can fill the void successfully.