MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – For Tyreek Hill and the Miami Dolphins, this week is about balancing the perspective of life with the duties of playing pro football.
Hill has been at the center of a national debate on the use of excessive force by police after he was pulled from his sports car by Miami-Dade County police officers, pushed face-first onto a street and handcuffed during a traffic stop outside the Dolphins’ home stadium.
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The altercation happened just a few hours before the Dolphins kicked off their season, but Hill later went out and caught an 80-yard touchdown that helped the Dolphins rally past Jacksonville, celebrating the score by mimicking being handcuffed.
He and the Dolphins will need to rally again, with a Buffalo Bills team that has beaten them in 13 of their past 15 meetings coming to town.
Hill said he will use Thursday night’s AFC East rivalry game as therapy from the “shell-shocking” events that happened.
“(Football) is how I get away from a lot of stuff,” he said. “This is how I separate myself from past traumas in my life. I’m not gonna mix the two.”
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa acknowledged the importance of the game while not wanting the team to lose perspective.
“I think when we start to brush that away and think that this football thing is the most important thing to us when — this isn’t just something that Tyreek had gone through, this is something that people in general go through. That’s a life thing.” Tagovailoa said.
The Bills haven’t had much trouble against their rivals in recent years. Buffalo has averaged 31.7 points against Miami since coach Sean McDermott’s first season at the helm in 2017.
Quarterback Josh Allen has been selected as the AFC Player of the Week five times after facing the Dolphins. He’s 11-2 against Miami with 41 touchdowns.
“We just try and do our thing,” McDermott said. “There’s teams we’ve had success against. There’s teams we haven’t. And we just try to take them one at a time. Those games won’t affect this game at all.”
Allen’s health will be a big factor in continuing the Bills trend of success in Miami.
He hurt his non-throwing left hand when he appeared to land on it after hurdling Cardinals safety Budda Baker in the opener while scoring on a 6-yard touchdown. Allen was examined by the team’s medical staff on the sideline and had his hand heavily wrapped before returning to finish the game.
Allen spent this week practicing with a glove to protect it. He said the hand felt fine, but when asked if there’s any discomfort, he answered: “It’s as comfortable as we can make it.”
He said he occasionally wore a glove in cold weather games, and hasn’t determined if he’ll wear it Thursday.
“I felt like I threw it well today and was able to do all the things, " Allen said. “So I’m ready to go.”
Praising Poyer
McDermott and Allen praised former Bills safety Jordan Poyer, who was cut in March after seven seasons in Buffalo, and signed with Miami. Poyer and Micah Hyde, who is unsigned and considering retirement, formed Buffalo’s starting safety tandem for seven consecutive years.
McDermott recalled how Poyer — not cleared to fly because of a punctured lung but cleared to play — spent a two-day trip being driven to Kansas City for a game two years ago. “I can’t say enough good things about Jordan, I love him,” McDermott said.
“I got a lot of love for him, so it’s going to be fun,” Allen said. “There’s going to be some friendly jabs and hopefully I just don’t let him tackle me or the other word — I won’t even say it,” he added, referring to the possibility of getting sacked.
Injured running backs
Miami’s running backs are banged up already. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel ruled out Raheem Mostert on Wednesday because of a chest injury. McDaniel said Mostert sustained the injury early in Sunday’s game but tried to play through it. He finished with six carries for 9 yards and two receptions for 10 yards.
“His injury, not many people play with,” McDaniel said.
Achane, who had 100 all-purpose yards and a touchdown, is nursing an ankle injury and will likely be a gametime decision.
Minor procedure
Hill can be heard in the body camera footage released Monday evening yelling repeatedly that he’d just had surgery on his knee as officers forced him to the ground.
The receiver said Wednesday he had a minor stem cell procedure on his knee this offseason in Antigua. McDaniel called it a procedure that Hill “makes sure that he takes care of.”
“Just some stem cells injected into my body. That’s it. A lot of people don’t know that because I just be on the low with it, but yeah.” Hill said.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl