Offensive linemen, as a unit, are often probably the most personable guys on any NFL crew. You make it a degree to test in with the offensive line day-after-day. They’re steadily the wittiest, most down-to-earth, gritty assortment of powerful guys on the crew.
This 12 months’s Dolphins didn’t disappoint.
Tip your hat to this Dolphins offensive line.
I do know, I do know. That sounds unusual.
Yeah, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has had a head trauma/concussion problem this season.
And, yeah, backup quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson have additionally had bother ending video games because of accidents.
Here’s my factor: this offensive line, which hasn’t at all times been responsible for the quarterback accidents, has performed its collective butt off.
No, it hasn’t at all times been efficient.
And, no, they’re not among the many league’s greatest.
But the offensive line, considered as a weak point coming into the season, hasn’t performed beneath expectations, and plenty of instances they exceeded them.
On prime of that, they’re an fascinating group.
There’s left sort out Terron Armstead, the Pro Bowl choice, the chief of the pack.
“He’s that vet and that leader,” guard Robert Jones mentioned, “a guy who plays at a high level who can help everyone get to the next level of their game. He’s like that extra coach out there, especially knowing what we’re going through while playing. He’s like that big brother to us.”
There’s Jones and fellow guard Rob Hunt, the sensible guys.
“Rob Hunt is probably the funniest guy on the team, huge personality,” Armstead mentioned. “Rob Jones, he might be runner up in that category.”
“We’re two characters,” Jones mentioned of himself and Hunt.
There’s heart Connor Williams, who has a severe demeanor however can get off a humorous line once in a while.
“Connor’s pretty serious,” Armstead mentioned.
There’s additionally guard Liam Eichenberg, probably the most severe man within the group.
“Coming from Notre Dame, yeah, as you would expect,” Williams mentioned of Eichenberg.
“Liam is unique in a lot of ways,” Armstead mentioned, “He’s older than his age.”
And that’s just the start of the introductions.
There’s tackles Brandon Shell, Greg Little, Kendall Lamm and Austin Jackson, and guard Michael Deiter.
“When it’s just us we all have fun together,” Jones mentioned. “But when we’re on the field we’re all locked in.”
Some method, by some means, this assortment of personable powerful guys discovered time to dam in final Sunday’s 11-6 victory over the New York Jets, the sport that despatched the Dolphins to the playoffs.
This would have been earlier than Shell, who didn’t observe Wednesday, walked by the postgame locker room carrying a knee immobilizer.
It would have been through the time Eichenberg, who additionally didn’t observe Wednesday, was on the sideline, flexing an arm. This is similar Eichenberg who simply returned from a seven-game absence because of a knee harm.
And it might have been after they discovered Armstead, the person who missed Wednesday’s observe as a result of he’s battling toe, pectoral, hip and knee accidents, wouldn’t play.
It’s been a tumultuous season for the Dolphins’ offensive line, and the Jets sport was a becoming snapshot of the disarray they’ve needed to overcome on a weekly foundation to assist lead their crew to the playoffs.
They’ll need to dig even deeper Sunday to assist the Dolphins defeat Buffalo in a wild-card playoff sport.
Injuries have worn out a lot of this week’s beginning crew. Armstead, Eichenberg (hand) and Shell (knee/ankle) are all within the questionable/uncertain class for this Sunday’s playoff sport.
That’s OK. Hunt likes what he sees when he appears to be like across the offensive line room.
“A bunch of tough guys,” he mentioned. “A bunch of physically and mentally tough guys that’s willing to do anything for the team to help the team out.”
That’s what occurred in opposition to the Jets.
After shedding Shell they shifted Hunt from proper guard to proper sort out and inserted Jones at proper guard.
All the whereas, Williams, the one offensive participant who has performed all 1,057 snaps for Miami this season, was doing his factor (Hunt has performed 1,056 snaps). Yeah, Williams had a foul snap that quarterback Skylar Thompson needed to cowl up, however that’s the best way it goes generally.
The Dolphins’ offensive line, which has undergone lineup shakeups the complete season, beginning with Jackson (ankle) being changed by Little in Week 2, isn’t in search of any sympathy, by the best way.
Every crew has accidents, generally extreme, generally to the offensive line. It occurs. And in some methods it ought to have been anticipated for the Dolphins’ offensive line.
That’s not the purpose.
The level is the Dolphins’ offensive line has not often let Miami down, and infrequently performed past expectations relative to their expertise degree.
Did the offensive line contribute to every quarterback harm?
Probably not.
Buffalo’s Matt Milano received previous the road and knocked Tagovailoa foolish.
Cincinnati’s Josh Tupou did the identical.
But the Green Bay concussion was completely different. So was Bridgewater’s harm in opposition to the Jets.
Hey, we may analyze all the quarterback accidents, however let’s not digress.
The level right here is acknowledging the gutty effort put forth by the offensive line this season.
Don’t concentrate on their accidents. Every crew has accidents.
Don’t concentrate on the outcomes.
Focus, as coach Mike McDaniel likes to do, on the method.
These guys discovered a method, each week, to place their greatest effort on the sphere.
It wasn’t at all times a successful effort.
But it was at all times a hard-fought, sincere, well-intended effort.
Armstead, for instance, has a live-in coach through the season from Dallas to present him fixed care so he can get on the sphere.
“I try to play at a high level,” Armstead mentioned. “I put together a Pro Bowl, All-Pro campaign even dealing with injuries. I could have gotten surgery Week 1 and been done. Against advisement, we locked in and suited up.”
Armstead’s additional effort isn’t distinctive, it’s consultant of the Dolphins’ offensive line.
They helped get their crew to the playoffs.
Well performed.
I tip my hat to them.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com