The Lions were obviously without linebacker Jack Campbell at practice on Wednesday and two other key defensive players were also on the sideline as the team worked to get ready to face the Dolphins.
Cornerback D.J. Reed (hip) and defensive end DJ Wonnum (concussion) were both out of action for the Lions. Both players were injured during last Sunday’s win over the Vikings.
Center Cade Mays (ankle) was also hurt in that game and he missed practice as well.
Safety Brian Branch (concussion), safety Kerby Joseph (knee), linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga (toe), running back Jacob Saylors (neck), and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (rib) were all limited participants. Cornerback Rock Ya-Sin (cramps) was a full participant for the Lions.
Dolphins Clips
In Dan Campbell’s first season as the Lions’ head coach, he went 3-13-1. By Year 2 the Lions had improved to 9-8, and in Year 3 they were in the NFC Championship Game. Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley wants to build his team the way Campbell built the Lions, and Campbell thinks Hafley is doing it the right way.
With the Dolphins set to face the Lions on Sunday, both Hafley and Campbell said today that they see similarities between where the Dolphins are now and where the Lions were in Campbell’s first season: Building a winning culture, even if their record doesn’t show it yet.
“That’s how I want to play football. Let me retract that: That’s how we are playing football,” Hafley said of the way the Lions play. “I think if you watch us right now, every coach has said it, and everyone who watches us, whether it’s on TV or they turn on the tape, I get texts or phone calls, that’s what’s showing up on tape right now. And while it’s disappointing that we’re 1-6, the foundation of that with young guys, that’s really important to us. When you see the physicality and the toughness and how hard guys are playing, it means that they’re playing for each other and they’re bought in. We’ve brought the right guys here. That’s very, very important to me, and it will continue to be.”
Campbell said he thinks Hafley is building his team exactly the way a new coach should.
“Coach Hafley’s done a good job in his first year,” Campbell said. “A lot of similarities — it reminds me of what we were when we came in. They’re young, they’re hungry, they’re active, they run, they hit, they hustle, they finish, try to play disciplined ball. And they’re playing that way.”
Bob Heinz, a member of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins’ “No-Name Defense” and winner of two Super Bowl rings, has died at the age of 79.
Heinz was born and raised in Milwaukee but went out West to play his college football at the University of the Pacific. After an excellent college career, he was a second-round pick of the Dolphins in 1969.
The Dolphins defense that Heinz joined was known as the No-Name Defense, a term given to them by Cowboys coach Tom Landry, who called them “a bunch of no-names.” Some players might have taken offense, but the members of the Dolphins’ defense embraced it as a term that showed they were greater as a unit than any of them would have been individually.
Heinz was a starting defensive tackle on both the 1972 Dolphins team that remains the only undefeated, untied team in NFL history, and the 1973 Dolphins, who repeated as Super Bowl champions. He missed the entire 1975 season with an injury, but returned in 1976 and 1977. He finished his NFL career with one season in Washington in 1978.
It’s celebration time for the 1972 Dolphins.
After the Vikings’ loss to the Lions on Sunday, there are no remaining undefeated teams in the NFL. That means the 1972 Dolphins will remain, for at least another year, the only perfect, undefeated, untied team in NFL history.
Larry Csonka, the 79-year-old fullback who was the 1972 Dolphins’ leading rusher, posted a picture of himself having a celebratory cigar and a drink on social media.
“CONGRATS to the #DetroitLions on the Win and a game well played today,” Csonka wrote. “CHEERS to all my ‘72 undefeated teammates and #MiamiDolphin fans on our now 54 year record! Cheers!”
The 1972 Dolphins finished the regular season 14-0 and then won two playoff games and Super Bowl VII to finish a perfect 17-0. Players on that team have continued to celebrate their status as the only perfect team in the NFL’s 107-year history.
Dolphins running back Ollie Gordon II should have learned his lesson when he was yanked from a preseason game for flipping the ball at a defender.
He didn’t. And so, on Sunday, he got an earful from quarterback Malik Willis after Gordon was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Patriots.
After the game, Willis explained his blunt message for Gordon.
“I mean, Ollie is a competitor and he cares about the game a lot and I was just letting him know that in that situation, that he’s dead-ass wrong,” Willis told reporters. “I mean, that’s the honest truth. And it would be wrong if I didn’t tell him the truth. If I was like, ‘It’s okay, you were just trying to compete.’ Like, no, we went from third-and-four to like third-and-15 or 20, and we did not convert. . . . That’s something that we can control and that is wrong. I finished it by telling him I’m on his side, I’m with him and we’re teammates and we’re in this together, and he’s going to go out and help us win this game and we’re going to fight the next play and he’s going to go back out there. But at the same time, I got to tell you that you’re dead wrong when you’re dead wrong.”
Coach Jeff Hafley approved Willis’s message.
“Well, I think it’s good leadership,” Halfley told reporters. “I hope you guys have seen in a short period of time with us right now is I think telling people the truth and being able to have honest conversations is really important. And for a player to tell a guy how he feels in the moment, and for the player to respond ina non-antagonistic way, I think is a really good sign. It shows good leadership. Good leadershp is telling people the truth, and I respect and appreciate Malik doing that.”
It neeeded to be said. And it needs to not happen. Fifteen yards can, at the wrong time, be the difference between winning and losing.
In this case, the Dolphins led, 13-10, at the time third-and-five became third-and-20. Miami didn’t convert, and the Patriots took the lead for good on their next drive.
The Patriots have had some rough trips to Miami in the past and it looked like this might be another one through the first 30 minutes of play, but things took a positive turn after halftime.
The Dolphins led 13-3 at the break, but the Patriots scored the first 21 points of the second half to build a two-score lead of their own. The Dolphins cut into that just before the two minute warning on a 35-yard Kevin Coleman touchdown catch, but they missed the extra point and the Patriots were able to run out the clock on a 24-19 win after recovering the onside kick.
Running back Rhamondre Stevenson picked up the final yards and he had 18 carries for 77 yards overall, but quarterback Drake Maye was in the center of the action for the Patriots’ comeback.
After going 7-of-10 for 53 yards while being sacked twice in the first half, Maye completed eight straight passes to open the second half. Those passes picked up 144 yards and two of them went for touchdowns that covered more than 40 yards. The first was to Kyle Williams and the other was a short throw to Pop Douglas that Douglas turned into a 48-yard score in the fourth quarter.
Douglas’s touchdown came a couple of plays after safety Kevin Byard’s first interception as a Patriot. Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis’s throw went off of Patriots defensive lineman DaQuan Jones’s helmet and spun into the air before coming down to Byard for Miami’s first turnover of the game.
Maye also ran for a two-yard score and it makes two weeks in a row that Maye has produced points with his arm and his legs. It’s also five straight games with multiple touchdown passes for Maye, which is made all the more impressive given how little of that success has come with wide receiver A.J. Brown playing a meaningful role on the New England offense.
Brown missed Sunday’s game with a knee injury and the 5-3 Patriots will wait to see if he’s able to return for next Sunday’s game against the Packers.
Willis was 21-of-32 for 211 yards and two touchdowns, which makes it two straight strong performances for the first-year starter in Miami. Running back Ollie Gordon added 19 carries for 69 yards, but had a costly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after one of his runs and the Dolphins don’t have the kind of margin for error that allows them to overcome mistakes on a regular basis.
They’ll stay at home for a visit from the Lions in Week 9 and the 1-5 club will need to be sharper if they want to pull off an upset in that matchup.
The Patriots were down 10 at halftime in Miami, but they’re back on top before the end of the third quarter.
Quarterback Drake Maye used a fake pitch to running back Rhamondre Stevenson to fool Dolphins linebacker Willie Gay and kept the ball for a two-yard touchdown. The extra point put the Patriots up 17-13 with 59 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Maye was able to get into the end zone thanks to a second fortuitous replay review of the quarter. A pass to wide receiver Pop Douglas on fourth down was ruled short of the first down by officials, but replay showed Douglas had reached the line and the Patriots were able to continue their drive.
Maye’s touchdown pass on the previous Patriots possession was initially and incomprehensibly ruled incomplete by referee Alex Moore’s crew, which necessitated a successful challenge by Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Moore and company were supposed to work Sunday night’s game this week, but were pulled from that assignment after a rough day in last Sunday’s Lions-Packers game.
The Patriots are back within a field goal in Miami.
Quarterback Drake Maye hit wide receiver Kyle Williams with a deep pass that Williams appeared to take into the end zone before losing control of the ball. Officials ruled the play an incompletion, however, and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had to throw a challenge flag to get the call corrected.
Andy Borregales’s extra point cut the Dolphins’s lead to 13-10 with 9:23 to play in the third quarter.
Maye is now 9-of-12 for 100 yards and Williams is up to two touchdowns on the season. Tight end Hunter Henry has not returned to the game since hurting his foot in the first half, which has left the Patriots even shorter on options after making wide receiver A.J. Brown inactive ahead of the game.
The Dolphins got their first win of the season in Week 7 and it seems they’ve developed a taste for victory.
Quarterback Malik Willis zipped a one-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Malik Washington with eight seconds to play in the first half and the Dolphins extended their lead to 13-3 before the halftime break in Miami.
The Dolphins’ touchdown completed a big swing that started when Patriots kicker Andy Borregales missed a 40-yard field goal before the two minute warning. Willis completed five passes on the ensuing drive and Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss picked up a costly personal foul for lighting up Washington away from the play on one of them.
Wide receiver Efton Chism made another big mistake for the Patriots when he lost the ball after a short gain and the Dolphins recovered to set up one of Zane Gonzalez’s field goals. Those errors along with a strong half from Willis have the Patriots in need of a big comeback to avoid a second straight loss.
They may not have tight end Hunter Henry to help with the effort. He is called questionable to return with a foot injury.
Cornerback Carlton Davis is back in the lineup for the Patriots.
Davis has missed the last three games with a neck injury, but he avoided the inactive list after being listed as questionable to play on Friday. Linebacker Christian Elliss is also in the lineup after drawing a questionable tag.
Wide receiver A.J. Brown and running back TreVeyon Henderson were ruled out on Saturday. Cornerback Karon Prunty, safety Elliott Davison, cornerback Channing Canada, and quarterback Behren Morton are the other inactives.
Guard Kadyn Proctor, tight end Justin Joly, cornerback Marcellas Dial, cornerback Jaylin Simpson, guard Christian Haynes, wide receiver Jared Wayne, and defensive end Jamree Kromah are out for the Dolphins.
