Dolphins’ season ends in wild-card round as comeback falls short in 34-31 loss to Bills
An offseason of grand changes sparked enthusiasm and thoughts of what a Dolphins team that hasn’t touched postseason success in two decades could be.
And through a 2022 season full of ebbs and flows, Miami saw bits of that vision come to fruition.
But as Dolphins players walked off the field at Highmark Stadium to stomach a 34-31 season-ending loss to the Buffalo Bills, they were maybe left again to wonder what could be — in the opportunities that just escaped them and in what lies ahead.
The Dolphins were on the cusp of staging one of the biggest upsets in playoff history, as double-digit underdogs in their opening-round game.
And Miami fought back after falling behind by 17 points early in the second quarter. But a second double-digit deficit, this time in the second half, proved insurmountable.
With the chance for a game-tying or go-ahead score, rookie Skylar Thompson’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete with 2:29 left, just out of the grasp of tight end Mike Gesicki.
Moments later, the Bills were in victory formation and the scene that broke out in Orchard Park, New York, was an all-too-familiar one: the jubilation of a raucous crowd and the feeling of disappointment in a game that could have been won.
“We were very aware of the drought of winning a playoff game,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said, “but that’s something that since I got the job that was been a huge motivating factor for me and I really wanted to bring the team, the organization and the fanbase and we fell short. But it wasn’t because of lack of effort or lack of determination or lack of intent. It’s because we didn’t get it done. We’re a young team and we had to learn from it and unfortunately we had to learn the hard way.”
One month ago, the Dolphins went back and forth with the Bills in Orchard Park. And the 32-29 defeat, despite being their third consecutive loss in a string of five defeats, was a reminder of how dangerous a team they could be with marginal improvement. They returned to the home of their division rival without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, sidelined by a concussion, and facing long odds to win their first playoff game since the 2000 season. With backup Teddy Bridgewater recovering from a pinkie injury and Thompson, the team’s seventh-round pick, making his third start, the Dolphins were the biggest underdogs ever in the wild-card round.
And for the opening portions of the afternoon, they looked like the team that went 1-3 without Tagovailoa during the regular season. Thompson was intercepted on the offense’s second possession and the Dolphins’ blitzing had no impact on quarterback Josh Allen. Miami trailed 17-0 after a flurry of Bills scores on three consecutive possessions.
But the Dolphins tied the game with 17 consecutive points in the second quarter and trailed 20-17 at halftime. A pair of interceptions by cornerback Xavien Howard and safety Jevon Holland, plus a season-long 50-yard punt return by wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr., set up short fields for an offense unable to maintain long scoring drives.
The Dolphins even held a brief 24-20 lead after safety Eric Rowe stripped-sacked Allen on a blitz and defensive lineman Zach Sieler returned the fumble for a 5-yard touchdown on the Bills’ first drive of the second half.
But Thompson’s second interception, which came on 3rd-and-19 from the Dolphins’ 8-yard line, allowed the Bills to take a 27-24 lead with a 6-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cole Beasley. And a 23-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gabe Davis put the Dolphins behind 34-24 late in the third quarter.
The Dolphins responded with their best possession of the afternoon, an 11-play, 67-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 1-yard run by running back Jeff Wilson Jr. to cut the deficit to three, with 10:53 remaining. But Miami failed to capitalize on opportunities and recurring issues doomed them in the defeat.
Thompson couldn’t connect with receivers downfield and didn’t get enough help with multiple dropped passes. The Dolphins couldn’t replicate their rushing output from the teams’ last meeting without running back Raheem Mostert, sidelined by a broken thumb, totaling 42 yards on 20 attempts.
And season-long issues with offensive alignment and snapping the ball with little time on the play clock were elevated in a hostile environment. Miami used all three of its second-half timeouts with 4:13 remaining and each timeout came to avoid a delay of game penalty with the play clock about to hit zero.
The Dolphins, though, couldn’t prevent an infraction before their decisive play. Miami originally faced fourth-and-short from their 48-yard line but the penalty moved the offense back 5 yards.
After the game, McDaniel pointed to “compounding variables” that led to the disjointed operation of the offense, including crowd noise and communication issues within the huddle. On the delay of game penalty, McDaniel indicated he was informed the offense got a first down on the previous play, and by the time he realized they were short, the team had to substitute personnel with time winding down.
“It shouldn’t happen as much as it did,” McDaniel said.
The biggest question the Dolphins faced entering the 2022 season was if McDaniel could get Tagovailoa to perform at a level such as Allen, who will be a roadblock in the division for years to come. Despite a breakout season, Tagovailoa was forced to miss the game because of his second diagnosed concussion. And yet, the Dolphins were still on the brink of ending their 22-year drought without a playoff win.
McDaniel said he wouldn’t ponder what the presence of Tagovailoa could have meant for his team in the postseason. But as Allen’s arms and legs helped advance the Bills to the divisional round for the third consecutive season, Tagovailoa’s absence headlined an afternoon of missed opportunities.
“I do feel like we’re moving in the right direction in this organization,” said Thompson, who completed 18 of 45 passes for 220 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. “Guys are hungry.”
“Honestly I don’t really think about it like that,” McDaniel asked if he wonders how the game would have played out with Tagovailoa starting. “Every team that I’ve ever been on that’s successful, one of the mantras and just I think people in general is if you just look at what you could have done better, I think that was the situation at hand. That was the hand that was dealt and that was part of the story that we were willing to completely — we thought that we were good enough to win this game in the hand that was dealt. So that won’t weigh on me as much as the things that as I comb the game that will be pretty tough to watch, but you do it nonetheless and I’m sure there are going to be some decisions that I would like to have back. There always are win or loss, really.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2023 at 5:01 PM.
