Crazy moments sum up the Dolphins’ home schedule. Will the trend continue with Jaguars?
While 2018 is setting up to be another middle-of-the-road season for the Miami Dolphins, one point of positivity still stands out this season.
If Miami wins against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, they will finish their home schedule with a 7-1 record.
The last time that happened: 2002.
“It’s familiarity,” defensive end Cam Wake said of the Dolphins’ home success this year. “You definitely want to make sure when you’re in your home stadium that you knock out the games that you’re supposed to. Obviously we’ve got to clean things up on the road, but to say that we enjoy playing at home is an understatement.”
But it wasn’t just run-of-the-mill wins each Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Far from it.
From the longest game in NFL history to the Miami Miracle, craziness has happened at every Miami Dolphins home game so far this season. Some sort of emotional or physical turn that gave fans their money’s worth in 2018 despite how the season as a whole has turned out.
For a recap:
▪ Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans: A pair of two-hour rain delays turned the season opener into a seven-hour, eight-minute marathon, one that ended in a 27-20 win.
▪ Week 3 against the Oakland Raiders: Miami faced a 10-point deficit late in the third-quarter before scoring 17 consecutive points, capped by a 74-yard Albert Wilson catch-and-run where he high-fived fellow receiver Jakeem Grant before heading into the end zone. Final score: Miami 28, Oakland 20.
▪ Week 6 against the Chicago Bears: Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is ruled out shortly before the game and backup Brock Osweiler makes his first start of the season. The first game of the “Brocktober” era ends in a 31-28 overtime win with rookie kicker Jason Sanders hitting a 47-yard field goal as time expired.
▪ Week 7 against the Detroit Lions: This was Miami’s first home loss of the year, a 32-21 defeat in which the Lions jumped out to a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter and ever looked back. The craziness happened after the game, when DeVante Parker’s agent blasted coach Adam Gase, calling him incompetent for listing Parker as a healthy scratch for the game. Parker clarified the situation the one day later, saying his agent’s statement did not reflect his opinion of Gase.
▪ Week 9 against the New York Jets: Rookie linebacker Jerome Baker’s pick-six early in the fourth quarter picked up the slack of an offense that finished with just 168 yards and went 3 for 16 on third down in a 13-6 win.
▪ Week 13 against the Buffalo Bills: The Bills’ Charles Clay, who had no one within at least 25 yards of him, dropped a game-winning touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter. Miami ran out the clock shortly after that to pull out a 21-17 win over the Bills.
▪ Week 14 against the New England Patriots: The Miami Miracle. The sweet, sweet Miami Miracle. Down by five with six seconds left on the clock, Tannehill threw a short pass up the middle to receiver Kenny Stills, who lateraled the ball to Parker, who lateraled the ball to running back Kenyan Drake, who ran the rest of the way for a touchdown as time expired to pull off the 34-33 win.
“We take a lot of pride in winning at home,” Stills said, “but regardless of where it is, we have to figure out ways to win.”
So the question remains, what will happen Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars?
The Dolphins can’t predict the future, but Gase and the Dolphins are hoping for a similar outcome to what they’ve had all season, no matter how the game unfolds.
“Any time we play at home, we need to do everything we can to make sure we win those games,” Gase said. “I mean, we have a little bit of an advantage. We don’t travel. We’re used to the environment, the weather, the atmosphere. We just need to come out and play good football.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 2:51 PM.
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