The Dolphins’ defense was already dealing with injuries going into Sunday night’s regular-season finale against the Buffalo Bills, and they carried those ailments into the postseason.
Miami lost the game 21–14 because both outside linebackers Andrew Van Ginkel and Cameron Goode had to exit due to injury. Both failed to return the ball. Early in the third quarter, Van Ginkel suffered a foot injury. He promptly returned to the team’s locker room. Van Ginkel was deemed unlikely to return by the Dolphins and was eventually ruled out.
Early in the fourth quarter, Goode hurt his knee during wide receiver Deonte Hardy’s 96-yard punt return touchdown. Goode was swiftly disqualified after being wheeled to the team’s locker room. Following the game, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel stated that Goode’s injury “doesn’t appear promising.” Van Ginkel’s agent told WSVN that X-rays for his client’s foot came back negative, but McDaniel stated that the club is still obtaining further information regarding the extent of Van Ginkel’s ailment. Miami didn’t have its two best edge defenders, Bradley Chubb (ACL) and Jaelan Phillips (Achilles), available for the game that determined the AFC East title. The Dolphins now only have two healthy outside linebackers: Melvin Ingram and Emmanuel Ogbah, due to the injuries suffered by Van Ginkel and Goode.
Ingram was participating in his third game after joining the team’s practice squad in mid-December, while Ogbah was active following his healthy scratch. During the warm-ups before the game, safety DeShon Elliott also hurt his calf, but he began at safety.
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