The Dolphins are bruised but are they broken? They seek redemption after collapse
The perception of a team can change quickly, and that’s just the nature of the week-to-week National Football League.
The Dolphins entered Week 14 as the AFC’s No. 1 seed and one of the hottest teams in the league, riding a three-game winning streak and dominant road victory to open their December slate.
But Miami left its “Monday Night Football” game against the Tennessee Titans a bullied, battered and bruised squad after a fourth-quarter collapse and 28-27 loss to the Tennessee Titans that dropped them from the top spot in the conference.
The Dolphins (9-4) are committed to proving that they’re not broken, though, and that starts with Sunday’s home game against the New York Jets (5-8) ahead of a three-game stretch against a trio of teams with winning records to conclude the season.
Given Miami’s stunning defeat, its first to a team with a losing record this season, the importance of Sunday’s game against its divisional rival has heightened. The Dolphins are the No. 2 seed in the AFC but can retake the No. 1 seed by winning their final four games.
The road to home-field advantage will be difficult, though, and Monday night’s loss, in which Miami blew a 14-point lead with four minutes remaining, was a reminder that nothing is given. Not the Dolphins’ assurance of a top seed as the Buffalo Bills are just two games behind. And certainly not a game outcome, even against a so-called inferior opponent.
Coach Mike McDaniel has often preached the importance of process over results and continued to do so in the aftermath of the team’s loss.
“I know there’s a lot of feelings, as there should be because people are invested, whether you’re on the team or a fan of it,” he said. “But the bottom line is we are constantly looking at what we’re doing today for the next game. We can’t live in last game whether we won 70-20 or lost 28-27. Really, the same rep for us. I think the whole building feels the same and we are carpe diem on this [day].”
For a coach and team that often boasts its “adversity is an opportunity” mantra, the upcoming stretch is a defining moment to actualize it.
Every team has injury issues at this point of the season, but the Dolphins’ have mounted into a precarious situation. The team is already playing with outside linebacker Jaelan Philips and inside linebacker Jerome and will be without right guard Robert Hunt and safety DeShon Elliott on Sunday. The availability of several other key contributors is up in the air, headlined by wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who didn’t practice this week because of an ankle injury.
The team’s center situation has become dire with Connor Williams sustaining a season-ending ACL tear against the Titans and Liam Eichenberg’s status uncertain because of a calf injury. The team added veterans Jonotthan Harrison and Matt Skura on Wednesday. They participated in their first team practice Friday. Neither player has appeared in a game this season, but either could conceivably start if Eichenberg is out.
Offensive coordinator Frank Smith noted that signing players midweek and asking them to start days later isn’t an unprecedented phenomenon. He referenced his time with the Chicago Bears in 2016 when the team signed tight end Logan Paulsen after training roster cuts and he started in their season opener less than a week afterward. Dolphins fans remember the days of the 2019 rebuild season when new faces joining the team and quickly starting was a weekly occurrence.
But Miami could be slotting in a player who hasn’t been with the team all season to man one of its most indispensable positions. And in comes a divisional rival in the Jets, who just last week were on the positive side of an upset win against the Houston Texans.
“You learn from your failures,” Smith said. “You learn more from areas where you can go, ‘Oh, and this is why.’ So I always go to the story of Abraham Lincoln. There’s that quote with Michael Jordan about how many shots he missed and everything. We all remember one side, but he remembers the other. Whenever you have adversity, you can either run from it, hide from it, or you embrace it, learn from it, grow from it, become stronger from it.”
After one of their biggest setbacks of the season, the Dolphins will have to quickly show it was an anomaly.
