Do the Dolphins Have a Prime-Time Curse?

What is it with the Miami Dolphins and major injuries in prime-time games?

Like, sheesh.

What happened to wide receiver Tyreek Hill against the New York Jets on Monday night, a devastating knee injury that at minimum will cost him the rest of the 2025 season and at worst could be career-threatening, was just the latest in a series of major injuries in prime-time games for the Dolphins.

And this is not just a recent phenomenon.

It wasn't even a first for Hill, whose ankle injury in the Monday night loss against the Tennessee Titans in 2023 was nothing compared to what happened against the New York Jets but also derailed his quest to become the first NFL player to reach 2,000 receiving yards in a season.

The Dolphins also saw QB Tua Tagovailoa sustain his two scariest concussions in prime-time games, first against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022 and then against the Buffalo Bills in 2024, both of those Thursday night games.

It also was during a prime-time game last season that Jaelan Phillips sustained a season-ending knee injury, that one also coming in a Week 4 Monday night game, against Tennessee.

NOTHING NEW FOR DOLPHINS

As we mentioned earlier, this unfortunately is old hat for the Dolphins.

Defensive end/outside linebacker Cameron Wake was remarkably durable during his decade with the Dolphins, but his one severe injury came — you guessed it — in a prime-time game.

For Wake, it was a torn Achilles tendon he sustained in a Thursday night October game against the New England Patriots in 2015, the injury coming after he had recorded his seventh sack in a three-game span.

And then we can look back at the worst injury of all, one that like Monday night happened against the New York Jets.

This one came in 1987 in a late-season Monday night game against the New York Jets when future Hall of Fame center Dwight Stephenson sustained a knee injury that would end his career. That one was particularly painful because it came toward the end of a comfortable Dolphins victory on a fumble return for a touchdown by the Jets with Stephenson nowhere near the play.

And then there was what happened to Ricky Williams in a late-November game at Pittsburgh in 2007, the Monday night slopfest at what was then known as Heinz Field.

It was Williams' first game of the season after serving an NFL suspension, and it would be his only one in the disastrous 2007 season for Miami as he went out with a chest injury.

Oh, and this is where we should point out the Dolphins have three more prime-time games currently on their schedule — Thursday night, October 30 against the Baltimore Ravens at Hard Rock Stadium; Monday night, December 15 against the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium; and Sunday night, December 21 against the Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium.

Hopefully, we've seen the last of those devastating prime-time injuries.

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