Fins' Jake Long Goes Down To Injury
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami Dolphins can ill afford to lose any of their few impact players for any length of time, but that may be the case after All-Pro left tackle Jake Long went down with a knee injury in practice Monday night.
Long was eventually able to walk off the practice field under his own power and walked out of the practice facility for further evaluation. Officially, the Dolphins said he tweaked his knee.
ESPN reported Long strained his medial collateral ligament and will have an MRI to determine if any damage was done.
Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin refused to reveal anything to the media Monday night related to Long's injury.
"I think you know our policy, and right now there's nothing that I know of anyway," Philbin said. "I got off the practice field, ate a meal, and I started watching a little practice film."
The Dolphins left tackle started the first 61 games of his career, but had back problems throughout last season and missed the final game with a torn biceps. When Long exited, rookie right tackle Jonathan Martin switched back to left tackle in Long's absence.
Martin spent the last three years at Stanford playing left tackle, protecting the blind side of current Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.
"I think we picked him (Martin), we felt like he was a guy who maybe if we got in a pinch or something could fit the bill outside," Philbin said. "Hopefully, we don't need to figure that out, but if we do, you have to have contingencies. It's a tough game these guys play. There's a lot of injuries out there."
The Fins hope to have Long back in the lineup for Week 1 of the regular season to build a strong line with Jonathan Martin on the right side and Long on the left with Mike Pouncey manning the center position.
