The Dolphins suffered what is likely to be a massive loss while earning their first win on Monday night.
Miami wide receiver Tyreek Hill sustained a dislocated knee in the team's 27-21 victory over the Jets and will stay at a local hospital overnight for continued testing, head coach Mike McDaniel said postgame.
A dislocated knee is considered far worse than a dislocated kneecap, and often comes with multiple ligament tears, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.
Hill was carted off the field after sustaining the gruesome injury in the third quarter and was taken to a hospital for imaging, evaluation and observation, according to the team, which quickly ruled him out for the remainder of the contest.
The injury occurred as Hill was being tackled by Jets defensive back Malachi Moore after making a catch along the sideline. The cart quickly came onto the field, and team trainers cut off his cleat in order to put Hill's leg in a stabilizer. Hill was checked on by members of both teams, and he smiled and waved to the crowd as he was carted to the locker room.
"He was probably in the best spirits of any player that I've ever -- it's such a terrible experience when you go out and see guys when they have issues like that -- but he immediately had wide eyes and was talking, 'I'm good. Just make sure the guys get this win.' He was focused on the team," said McDaniel, who noted Hill was joking with teammates while on the cart and credited Hill's attitude with keeping the team focused on the task at hand.
Miami was leading the game, 10-3, at the time of Hill's exit, and three plays later extended the margin to 17-3 on tight end Darren Waller's second touchdown catch of the contest. Though the Fins would go on to secure the win without Hill to move to 1-3, he still ended the game as their leading pass catcher with six catches for 67 yards.
"We have talked a lot about all the stuff that Tyreek has done this offseason and big portion is leading by example and connecting with his teammates," McDaniel said. "He kind of utilized that connectivity to make sure that his team was finishing on the right end. He was inspiring in that situation and I think his teammates benefited from that."
For years, Hill, 31, has been the Fins' most terrifying wideout for opposing defenses, piling up 4,666 yards and 27 touchdowns on 334 receptions since 2022 heading into the prime-time tilt versus Gang Green.
As speedy as any player in the league, Hill had seen his production slowed during long portions of last season and at the beginning of this one due to offensive inefficiency and some injuries around him.
He had started to pick things back up recently, averaging 18.2 yards per reception on six catches in Week 2 against the Patriots and catching his first TD of the season in Week 3 versus the Bills. On several plays Monday, he found room to run that had been hard to come by during Miami's 0-3 start.
Hill has been incredibly durable during his 10-year career. He's missed only one game as a Dolphin and sat for consecutive games just once in his career due to injury -- back in 2019 when he missed four contests as a member of the Chiefs.
His injury is likely to keep him out for far longer than that stint.
Hill's looming absence makes Miami's hole to climb out of to reach the playoffs that much deeper, regardless of Monday's bittersweet win.
"It will take what the players were doing after he left," McDaniel said of how Miami can overcome Hill's injury. "It's football. It's a 100 percent injury rate. He's a great, valuable, very important player to us, but every team has the same situation going on, different cadence. Everybody has injuries. Nobody cares about who you don't have. So, it's the team playing football together."
