Clinched: Dolphins snap skid, edge Jets, get assist from Buffalo to secure playoff berth
The Dolphins had taken care of their own business, an unorthodox 11-6 home win capping one of the most unorthodox regular seasons in franchise history.
Now, for the first time all afternoon on Sunday, the video board at Hard Rock Stadium showed the score of the Bills-Patriots game.
Celebrations were already in order with Buffalo up by a pair of scores and two minutes left, but several thousand fans stayed in their seats anyway.
As the game clock reached triple zeros, the score became final — BILLS 35, PATRIOTS 23 — and another wave of jubilation swept across the stadium, the video screen quickly changed to a white background with bold, grey lettering printed: WE’RE IN.
With their victory over the New York Jets (7-10) and the Patriots’ loss to the Bills, the Dolphins (9-8) clinched the AFC’s No. 7 seed, their first postseason berth since the 2016 season. Miami, which ended a five-game losing streak, will face the No. 2 seed Bills in Buffalo in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
The NFL on Sunday night announced the Dolphins will face the Bills at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15. The game will be broadcast on CBS.
“It feels tremendous,” said Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who becomes the fifth rookie coach in franchise history to lead Miami to the postseason. “That doesn’t mean that that wasn’t the goal, was just to get to the playoffs, however, understanding all involved – you’re talking about people that have been within the organization for 30-plus years, you talk about a fan base that hasn’t seen their team go to the playoffs since 2016, you just talk about a lot of people involved, it’s very fulfilling for the way it happened.”
McDaniel said he didn’t want to be updated on the Bills-Patriots score while his team’s game was being played simultaneously. But as he shook hands with Jets coaches postgame and began to make his way off the field, he saw senior director of football communications Anne Noland. Her grin told him everything he needed to know about the other matchup.
Miami entered the game with starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sidelined by a concussion and Teddy Bridgewater’s pinkie injury resigning him to a backup role. It left Thompson, the team’s seventh-round draft pick, to make just his second career start. The absence of Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead, who like Tagovailoa missed his second consecutive game, set the stage for a disjointed, low-scoring matchup.
Additional injuries struck the Dolphins’ offense, as right tackle Brandon Shell (ankle, knee) and running back Raheem Mostert (thumb) left the game in the second half.
But Miami held the ball at their own 32-yard line with the game tied at six and 3:01 remaining. Four plays later, Thompson completed a 2-yard pass to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (five catches, 44 yards) and officials flagged New York linebacker Quincy Williams for a 15-yard horse collar tackle penalty, placing the ball at the Jets’ 39-yard line.
The Dolphins gained seven more yards before sending out kicker Jason Sanders for the game-winning attempt. Up to that point, he had supplied all of the team’s points. But the 50-yard field attempt that awaited him was the type of long-range kick that had bedeviled him all season.
It didn’t matter with the Dolphins’ season on the line, though. The snap was on point, the hold was in place, and Sanders swung his right leg confidently, giving Miami a 9-6 lead with 23 seconds remaining.
Moments later, the Jets broke out into a frenzied set of laterals before the ball bounced harmlessly into the New York end zone for a game-ending safety.
“Throughout this whole entire year, for this entire football team, to experience the things that we have experienced and to finish it like this, [it is] pretty special,” said Thompson, who got his first career win as a starter. “And I think it speaks volumes about the type of guys we’ve got in our locker room. They’re willing to fight.”
In the postgame locker room, McDaniel, just as he did after the team’s season-opening win over the Patriots, gave every player and staff member a game ball. It was a game rife with imperfections but one that required everyone’s contributions.
The teams were tied at 3 at halftime and traded field goals until Miami’s final points.
The Dolphins’ inability to put away a Jets team playing with third-string quarterback Joe Flacco only added to the late-game angst that was wafting through Hard Rock Stadium. But Miami avoided the late-game turnovers and prevented the back-breaking plays that have doomed them during its losing streak.
The offense didn’t turn over the ball and leaned on its running game, spearheaded by equal contributions from Mostert (71 yards) and Jeff Wilson Jr. (72 yards).
The defense made a pair of key stops on the Jets’ final two possessions to get the ball back to the offense. McDaniel’s first successful challenge of the season — he had failed on his previous five attempts — even effectively ended the Jets’ penultimate drive after a third-and-long completion to receiver Garrett Wilson was reversed.
In the Dolphins’ first playoff game in over five years, they will face a Bills team with whom they are well acquainted. Miami defeated Buffalo, 21-19, to start 3-0, the first of multiple streaks that would define the team’s season. About three months later, a reeling Dolphins team traveled to Orchard Park and came up short in a 35-32 loss, as Tyler Bass’ game-winning kick gave Miami its third consecutive defeat.
The Dolphins will be underdogs against a Buffalo team that entered the season as favorites to win the Super Bowl. There will be continued uncertainty at the quarterback position.
Tagovailoa watched the closing moments of the win with Mostert from the tunnel that leads to the locker room. He greeted his teammates with a wide smile after the victory but remains in concussion protocol after sustaining his latest head injury on Christmas Day. McDaniel said Tagovailoa is “day to day” and he wouldn’t consider his status until he is cleared by doctors to return to the field.
But for a moment on Sunday, none of that mattered. Not the Dolphins’ five-game losing streak. Not the string of injuries that have tested their depth. And certainly not the looming trip for a rematch against a bitter rival.
“I will be excited tomorrow to come to work and begin the game planning process again because I was not ready for that to be discontinued for the season,” McDaniel said. “It meant a lot to them, this team, and they didn’t want to see it go, and they knew what the stakes were, which is why I’m that much more proud of them.
This story was originally published January 8, 2023 at 4:14 PM.
