New Dolphins coach Dan Campbell promised more intense, physical practices.
He wasn’t counting on one of his wide receivers breaking his backup quarterback’s nose.
Of course, this wasn’t the result of some machismo-building Oklahoma drill, rather a freak accident which left the affable Matt Moore able to joke about it.
According to Chris Perkins of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Moore actually caught an elbow from wide receiver Kenny Stills while trying to hand off in a practice drill two weeks ago. Think for a moment about the relative positions of hands and elbows and facemasks, and understand why Moore was laughing about the fact he needed surgery Friday to fix his nose.
“We were kind of going different speeds and had a fake handoff going one way, and [I] tried to hand it off going the other way and I just caught his elbow. Or his elbow caught me,” Moore said. “Has it happened to anybody before? Probably not. It was kind of a one in a million deal. But that’s all it was.”
Stills said he could see Moore bleeding right away, saying: “I felt terrible, and everyone did a good job of making me feel even worse.”
Of course, some thought Stills did Moore a favor.
“I would say he’s on the verge of becoming a model after the procedure,” starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. “I know he still has the bandage and some black eyes, but I can see it coming together.”
The injury won’t require Moore to miss any time, but he’ll still have the bandage on his nose and he’ll wear a visor in his facemask when they play at Buffalo.
And that’s probably a good idea, since the Bills still have a guy who breaks quarterback faces on purpose.