MADRID — It took a week, a flight to Spain and the happenstance of the interview lineup the Miami Dolphins had set up to promote their international game against the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
But the truth may have finally been unveiled about the Pop-A-Shot mystery after the mini-basketball game went missing from the team’s locker room at the practice facility in Miami Gardens last week.
An interview session at Estadio Metropolitano, where the Dolphins are practicing this week, had just concluded with running back De’Von Achane and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. The final question for Achane, semi-playfully, was about an answer he gave the “Night Cap” podcast about the ousting of the Pop-A-Shot.
As Achane and Waddle stepped off the stage and made way for linebacker Jordyn Brooks to step up, Achane — maybe noticing the irony of the last question he received combined with the player he crossed paths with — outed Brooks as the teammate responsible.
Achane shouted to reporters Brooks was the one that needed to be asked because he was the one who took it out.
Mystery solved: It was Brooks!
But the always-serious, stern-faced linebacker would neither confirm nor deny.
“No comment,” he said, same as in South Florida last week when media members first noticed the Pop-A-Shot missing.
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Players were mostly mum about it back at team facilities, possibly following the lead of Brooks, a team captain. Defensive tackle Benito Jones did offer that it was a player-led decision.
Whether causation or correlation, the Dolphins had likely their most impressive win of the season Sunday after the Pop-A-Shot was removed, 30-13 over the Buffalo Bills. Jones said it wasn’t causation.
“No, man,” he said after the game. “We locked in, man. We’re trying to win. Nobody likes losing.”
The Dolphins were 2-7 with the Pop-A-Shot in the locker room and are now 1-0 without it. They likely don’t have access to one in Madrid, although maybe a foosball table would be more the norm in locker and lounge areas at Spanish soccer club Atlético Madrid’s home stadium, which the Dolphins are using as a practice site this week.
Achane told “Night Cap” the team didn’t need the mini-basketball game back in the locker room and, on Thursday in Madrid, was consistent with that sentiment.
“I’m done, man,” he said. “They took it out of there. It’s not something that I was just big on just coming in there hoping to do, but we’ve got to win so ain’t no point of us putting it back in there.”
In 2022, Miami had a back and forth with a Ping-Pong table in the locker room. That year, the team was 3-7 with the table in the locker room and 6-2 without it.
The Dolphins face the Commanders from Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid, in a 9:30 a.m. kickoff Sunday, marking the NFL’s first game in Spain.
