With the playoffs at stake, the odds may actually be in the Dolphins’ favor Monday night
Dolphins coach Brian Flores refused to even let his mind wander and entertain the idea of not giving his undivided attention to his team’s Monday night road game against the New Orleans Saints.
“You only have so much energy,” he responded when asked about watching other AFC games on Sunday as the Dolphins await their own pivotal matchup. “I want to put all of my energy into our team and this game, and we’re going to need all of it against this opponent in this environment. They are very talented.”
Throughout the second half of the 2021 season, the Dolphins faced an uphill battle just to get back to playoff contention. And, after six consecutive wins, the Dolphins can move past .500 and keep their playoff push alive with a win in prime time.
The team’s margin for error remains slim and for a group in just its second prime-time game this season, the moment is not lost on the countless Dolphins who will be playing on Monday night for the first time in their young careers.
“Monday night is a big game,” said rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who is returning to the lineup after missing one game with the coronavirus. “Obviously, it’s a big game. Everybody is watching. Nothing really else is on TV so it’s a big prime-time game. Always watch them. Same thing with Thursday nights. It’s a late game, a prime-time game.”
Winning the final three games of the regular season — in New Orleans, on the road against the Tennessee Titans and at home against the New England Patriots — remains the Dolphins’ clearest path to miraculously clinching a spot in the playoffs, even though they would still need assistance from other teams to reach the postseason. No team in the NFL has made the playoffs after a 1-7 start and even one loss all but dashes the team’s playoff hopes.
The Dolphins’ trip to Caesars Superdome brings them head to head with a Saints team that, on paper, is not much different from them. Relying on a defense that has been of the league’s best this season, New Orleans has an identical 7-7 record and just as much to fight for. The Saints entered Sunday’s slate of games tied for the seventh and final wild-card spot in NFC but on the outside looking in by virtue of head-to-head tiebreakers.
The health of the two teams is where they diverge.
Just two weeks removed a late bye week, the Dolphins are as healthy as they’ve been all season. The only concerns for availability lie on the reserve/COVID-19 list, where, as of Sunday morning, six players — all reserves — are sidelined by coronavirus protocols.
On the other hand, the Saints are the latest team to see a chunk of its roster sidelined by the coronavirus. As of Sunday morning, 16 players are sidelined by coronavirus protocols, including starting quarterback Taysom Hill and defensive stalwarts Demario Davis and Malcolm Jenkins, the majority of whom are not expected to play Monday night, barring them returning two negative tests.
The extent of the team’s potential absences? When it was announced rookie Ian Book would make his first career start, the betting line for the game abruptly shifted from favoring the Saints by a field goal to siding with the Dolphins.
But in a season that has seen very few teams, especially in the AFC, separate themselves from the rest of the pack, and many overcome COVID-19 disruptions, the Dolphins know they have to be ready for everything, especially in a pressure-filled, stand-alone game.
“Everyone is watching those Monday night, Thursday night, Sunday night games,” offensive lineman Austin Jackson said. “Everybody is watching those. ... We just prove ourselves right. We don’t just try to prove the whole world wrong. It’s not the Miami Dolphins against the world. We just lock in together and try to prove us right. At the end of the day, that takes you a lot farther than trying to prove a bunch of people wrong.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 10:10 AM.
