Miami Dolphins lose game and tight end Dustin Keller

Source: The Palm Beach Post, Fla.新蒲崗迷你倉Aug. 18--HOUSTON -- Quarterback Ryan Tannehill and receiver Mike Wallace finally hooked up on the Dolphins' best drive of the preseason.The celebration didn't last long Saturday night in what turned out to be a 24-17 loss to the Houston Texans.Tight end Dustin Keller, a free-agent acquisition who was expected to be one of Tannehill's top targets this season, was carted off the field in the second quarter after Texans rookie safety D.J. Swearinger came in low to make the tackle and hit Keller's knee with his helmet.Keller's leg buckled, and he appeared to be in serious pain before being carted away. The extent of his injury wasn't immediately known but ESPN reported that Keller would undergo an MRI Saturday night in Houston.Coach Joe Phiblin said after the game he did not know Keller's status, but players were already talking as if they would have to move forward without him."Sometimes things look worse than they are," right tackle Tyson Clabo said. "But from where I was it didn't look good. My heart goes out to him."Swearinger told The Palm Beach Post after the game that "it was a clean hit.""I was makiing a hit playing football," Swearinger said. "In this league you've got to go low. If you go high you're going to get a fine."I'm playing football, bro. I don't know if anybody think I did wrong, but it's football and at the end of the day I pray for him, I hope he has a speedy recovery. It's a thing you never want to happen."When asked if the play was clean, Phiblin said he hadn't reviewed the footage yet."I'm not going to comment on how the Houston Texans tackle," Philbin said.Keller signed a one-year $3.25 million deal with the Dolphins in the offseason after tight end Anthony Fasano left for Kansas City.The Dolphins have inexperienced tight ends behind him. Miami coaches like Dion Sims, a rookie chosen in the fourth round who has strong blocking skills. Michael Egnew, a third-round draft choice last year, is fighting to make the roster. Miami also has Charles Clay, who plays tight end and fullback.There aren't many quality free-agent tight ends left on the market. Former Dolphin Randy McMichael, who last played with San Diego, is available. Former Baltimore and Arizona tight end Todd Heap is also available. The Dolphins could also explore a trade.Keller's loss would be a big blow to the Dolphins. He and Tannehill have developed good chemistry in minicamp and training camp, and Keller looked like he could develop into one of the team's receptions leaders."It's tough," Tannehill said. "Dustin brought a lot to the team. He was a great player. It's a tough situation. At the end of the day we have to have somebody to step up and play in his shoes."Philbin said the team has "other guys that have caught down the middle.""We've got some big targets," Philbin said. "Egnew is a big man. Dion Sims is a big man. Clay has caught the ball down the middle before. We'll adjust."Miami's first-team offense has struggled in the preseason and it took six drives in the first two preseason games against Dallas and Jacksonville until the starting unit scored a touchdown last week against the Jaguars on a Tannehill pass to Keller.Against Houston, the first-team offense struggled early again. After Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes intercepted a Matt Schaub pass on the game's opening drive, Miami went three-and-out.On Miami's next drive, starting running back Lamar Miller couldn't hold on to a short pass that would have given the Dolphins a first down.But Miami's third drive was everything the team had envisioned when they gave Wallace a $60 million contract with $30 million guaranteed.Tannehill started the drive by finding Wallace deep right for a 16-yard gain. After Thomas ran up the middle for an 8-yard gain and Tannehill scrambled for 6 yards, Tannehill found Wallace deep again and Wallace gained 33 yards.The drive ended up with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Wallace.In the second quarter, Wallace made a key block that allowed Lamar Miller to run for a 4-yard touchdown."He had a touchdown (and) he had an outstanding block, which is something that a receiver has to do as well," Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said at halftime.Tannehill finished the half 10-of-15 for 141 yards and a touchdown for a 119 quarterback rating.Wallace had three receptions for 58 yards. Keller had one catch for 14 yards before leaving the game.At halftime, Philbin said he liked what he saw from running back Daniel Thomas, who will back up Miller butmini storageshould see significant playing time.Thomas had four carries for 25 yards in the first half and made a 27-yard reception."We had that little screen we hit him on," Philbin said. "He has (run) the ball hard."This was the third of five preseason game for the Dolphins after they opened up with the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.They will play their first home preseason game Saturday night against Tampa Bay. Philbin will likely use that game as the season's dress rehearsal and play starters for the entire first half.Texans unveil largest in-stadium HD displays: Everything is bigger in Texas. And Houston wants to be even bigger than Dallas.The Texans debuted their new video boards against the Dolphins on Saturday night, and they're the world's largest in-stadium HD video displays.The Dallas Cowboys wowed the world when they debuted an 11,200 square-foot video screen in 2009 at the then-new Cowboys Stadium, now known as AT&T Stadium.Houston's new video displays at Reliant Stadium, which opened in 2002, are 14,549 square feet each. There is one above each end zone.But in one regard, Dallas isn't handing over the "largest" title to Houston. The Cowboys' entire screen can show live game action, but only the middle portion of Houston's screens shows live footage.All of Houston's screens can be used to show graphics, photos or recorded footage. During games, the Texans will use the middle portion to show the game and the right and left sides to show fantasy football statistics, in-game statistics and scores from around the NFL.While Dallas' screen stretches between the 20-yard lines of its stadium, Houston's screens take up the entire width of both end zones above the upper-deck seats. The screens are 70 percent larger than the next-biggest end zone video screens in Nashville, Tenn. The Dolphins' main video board at Sun Life Stadium is 56 feet high x 142 feet long."We took feedback from our fans, and what they wanted was fantasy updates, out-of-town scores and game info," said Evan Koch, communications manager for the Texans. "Instead of having to search different areas for it, you can look up and it's right there."The Texans gave a VIP unveiling earlier in the week and showed graphics of Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt and Texans star defensive end J.J. Watt.It would take Bolt 8.14 seconds to run across the entire video screen.It would take 320 Watts standing arm to arm to fill up the screen.The video boards weren't cheap. They cost $16 million of taxpayer money, but local officials said Houston will easily recoup the money by attracting major sporting events.The Dolphins tried making a similar argument on a larger scale when owner Stephen Ross sought about $175 million of taxpayer money to refurbish Sun Life. That plan died in the state legislature earlier this year, and the NFL denied bids for South Florida to host the 50th and 51st Super Bowls shortly thereafter.Injuries: Two Dolphins starters missed Saturday's game.Right guard John Jerry was out again with a knee injury and replaced by Josh Samuda. Samuda started for Jerry in the second preseason game against Jacksonville but struggled and was replaced by Nate Garner. Garner was injured this past week in practice, however, and was out Saturday with an undisclosed injury.Defensive tackle Randy Starks also missed Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury and was replaced in the lineup by Jared Odrick.Rookie defensive end Dion Jordan, who didn't practice during the week as he continues to rehabilitate from offseason shoulder surgery, also didn't play. Jordan was the No. 3 overall pick in April's NFL draft.Noteworthy: Saturday's game was the second preseason matchup between the Dolphins and Texans. Miami beat Houston 24-3 in 2002 in the first-ever game for the Texans. However, Houston is the only team Miami has never defeated in the regular season. The Texans are 7-0 all time against the Dolphins in the regular season.--Eight Dolphins players returned to their home state. Defensive end Derrick Shelby and defensive tackle are from Houston. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (Big Spring) and receiver Jeff Fuller (McKinney) are both from Texas and played at Texas A&M. Tight end Michael Egnew, linebacker Alonzo Highsmith, fullback Jorvorskie Lane and defensive tackle Kheeston Randall are also from the state.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.) Visit The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Fla.) at .palmbeachpost.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage