If there was a bright spot in the Miami Dolphins’ defense this year or in Monday’s game against the Titans, it was Jaelan Phillips. That has now changed for Mike McDaniel in the worst possible way.

Midway through the third quarter, Miami’s star defender was shown throwing his helmet onto the bench as he walked down the sideline. A replay of the injury showed him grabbing his knee after falling into the pocket. It didn’t seem like he was touched.

If there is a positive result, he did not immediately leave the sidelines and did not enter the blue medical tent after initially leaving the field, but he eventually went to the dressing room and could not return with a faulty knee injury.

Phillips missed the entire offseason recovering from a torn Achilles tendon on Black Friday at MetLife Stadium in 2023. Without Phillips, the Dolphins defense was unable to put pressure on Mason Rudolph, who is playing in place of the ailing Will Levis. The Titans were able to shut down Miami’s defense and gain a much larger lead.

Miami’s defense needs help. Without Bradley Chubb, Phillips and Emmanuel Ogbah are the Dolphins’ best pass rushers. Miami needs rookie Chop Robinson to replace Phillips, and the next few days will show us how serious the knee injury is.

The way things are going for the Dolphins, Miami could end up sending Phillips to IR, which would be terrible news. Hopefully his injury isn’t that serious and he can be back next week against the Patriots.

Miami’s defense against the Titans started strong, but by the end of the third quarter the unit was exhausted and unable to reach its potential. Everything went wrong for the Dolphins and Phillips’ injury was just icing on the cake.