*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Nov 30, 1998: -- Donnalley Has Surgery --
Dolphins offensive lineman Kevin Donnalley had arthoscopic
surgery on his right knee today, which will sideline him for at least
a week, according to reports from Miami today. Donnalley becomes the
third starting offensive lineman to be sidelined with injuries this
year.
According to a quote from JJ, they removed a quarter-sized
piece of cartilage from his knee today. JJ further went on to say
that he might be back for the Jets game, although the Monday night
game against the Broncos is a more likely return date.
Mike Sheldon will start in place of Kevin Donnalley at right
guard, while journeyman Barry Stokes will be the generic backup for
everyone on the line. Sheldon is 6'4" and 305 pounds and played very
well in for the Rhein Fire of the World League in 1997, where he
started every game at left guard, earning all-league honors that
year.
My Comments:
Nuts.
Just as it appeared that Brent Smith and John Bock were going
to be able to do the job on the left side of the line, Donnalley goes
down and is out for the Raiders game. That means that Mike Sheldon
will have to line up against Russell Maryland and Darrell Russell this
weekend in his first start.
Fortunately, Sheldon is not a rookie and knows the Dolphins'
system and people pretty well. Unfortunately, he's not Kevin
Donnalley and the Dolphins will need some pretty good pass protection
against the Raiders' pass rush, which is pretty ferocious. The
Raiders rank 3rd in the NFL in pass defense and that's partly due to
their pass rush.
Well, I think that the success of Brent Smith and John Bock so
far says good things about the depth of the offensive line. We'll
find out just how deep it is on Sunday.
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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