Dolphins LB describes playing with broken nose vs. Jets

"They wanted me to go into the medical tent just so nobody could see how bad it was and all the blood coming out. But after about five minutes it started to calm down and they put gauze in it with Afrin on it and they were doing everything in their power to get me back out there," Van Ginkel said. "I didn't even think about it. It's just something that is engrained in me. Just get back out there and continue playing."

Even with the scary situation, the 28-year-old ended up tying his season high of playing 88% of the team's defensive snaps (51). Van Ginkel finished the 30-0 victory with 0.5 sacks (his first partial sack since Week 5), as well as two quarterback hits, two solo tackles and one pass defended.

The 2019 fifth-round pick has spent his entire career with Miami and hasn't missed a game since making his NFL debut on Nov. 24, 2019. Van Ginkel recorded his first career interception during the 2022 campaign and had his first career pick-six in Week 13 earlier this month against the Washington Commanders.

He's tied his career high with seven passes defended in 2023 (tied for third on the Dolphins) and is also in the team's top-five with 14 quarterback hits (fourth) and seven tackles for loss (tied for fourth). Van Ginkel also has 4.5 sacks this season, which puts him one away from his career high set in 2020.

Professional athletes playing through brutal injuries is nothing new, and there have been a couple of other notable instances this month alone.

Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz recently explained that he "almost threw up" while watching game film of the team's Week 14 contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars. This was due to seeing defensive end Ogbonnia Okoronkwo play with a torn pectoral.

With Cleveland's NBA team, it was recently reported that Cavaliers star point guard Darius Garland played nearly an entire half vs. the Boston Celtics after suffering a fractured jaw.