Miami Dolphins have feasted in the valley. Now it’s time to climb the mountain | Opinion
Now it gets really difficult.
The Miami Dolphins have an 8-4 record and are a playoff contender with meaningful games to play at season’s end for the first time since 2016. But they’re not quite there yet.
Stuff, you see, has to happen between now and the end of the season for the Dolphins to actually get in the postseason.
And by any practical measure the assignment is a mountainous climb for a team that has mostly prospered in a comfortable lush valley this season.
Consider:
The Dolphins play the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. They’re the defending Super Bowl champions as everyone knows, but they’re more than that because, with an 11-1 record, they’re actually on course to have a better record this season than last season when they won it all.
So they’re the season’s biggest challenge.
“Great coach, great quarterback, they have some great players defensively, they do a great job in the kicking game as well,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said Monday, running through the list of reasons the Chiefs are good.
“So it’ll be a great challenge for us. We’ve got a bunch of guys in our locker room who compete and are tough. We just have to do a great job of preparing.”
Preparation is a good topic to bring up because the schedule maker has done the Dolphins no favors on that front.
That’s because after the Dolphins host the Chiefs, they will play their final home game against the New England Patriots on Dec. 20.
The issue is that is while the Dolphins will have the usual seven days to prepare for the Patriots, a team that beat them 20-11 in the season opener, the Patriots will have 10 days to prepare for the Dolphins.
That’s because New England plays at the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday and then not again until the Miami game.
In short, Bill Belichick will have extra time to prepare against quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, assuming the rookie is the Dolphins starter for that game.
And this: Since the NFL instituted Thursday night games in 2006, the Patriots have a 9-1 record in the games after those Thursday nighters, when Belichick gets that extra preparation time. The Dolphins accounted for two of New England’s victories, in 2008 and 2012.
The shocking thing is the Dolphins will travel to Las Vegas the following week to play a Raiders team that also will have extra preparation time before playing Miami.
That’s because the Raiders are scheduled to host the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday, Dec. 17 and remain home for their Dec. 26 game against the Dolphins.
What’s up with that?
The Dolphins then finish their season at Buffalo on Jan. 3, and it will mark the fourth consecutive game against a team that currently has a .500 or better record.
That presents its own challenges.
The Dolphins this year have feasted on teams that are under .500. They have a 6-1 record against that caliber of teams.
But Miami is so far 2-3 against teams with a .500 record or better, with the two wins coming against the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams.
Overall under Flores, the Dolphins have a 4-9 record against teams with .500 records or better. They are 9-6 against under .500 teams.
So obviously the next four games will present a hurdle the Dolphins have so far struggled to maneuver, even this season.
Call it a test in the team’s development in Year 2 of the current administration, if you wish. Just don’t ask Flores about it. Because the only test he’s considering answers for is the coming game against Kansas City.
“We’re in a position we get to play some meaningful games and that’s good,” Flores said. “But in order to take advantage of them you can’t be thinking three, four, five weeks ahead. You have to focus on today, focus on this week, focus on this team.
“We’ve got plenty to focus on with the Kansas City Chiefs as you guys know. Look, they’re the reigning Super Bowl champs.”
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 3:39 PM.
