Calamity ended game & season but Dolphins’ 34-31 playoff loss in Buffalo showed fight, hope | Opinion
“Inexcusable,” CBS analyst Tony Romo called the way the Miami Dolphins’ season ended Sunday in Buffalo — and he was right.
In what would be a dramatic 34-31 playoff loss to the rival Bills, Miami had fourth down and a half-yard to go from its own 43 in the closing minutes, needing a first down for any hope.
Delay of game. Now it was fourth-and-6, and the ensuing desperation pass was incomplete.
It was Miami’s fifth delay of the game on the day. And that number would have been even higher, but the Dolphins had to waste timeouts to prevent other delay penalties.
“Our operation struggled at times,” rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson, again called into emergency duty, understated it afterward. “I take full responsibility for it.”
Coach Mike McDaniel said there were communication issues that led to some of the delay of game penalties but admitted, “It shouldn’t have to happen as much.”
Something as rudimentary as clock management may well have cost Miami the biggest upset of these NFL playoffs and the franchise’s first postseason victory since the 2000 season.
And it was a plain shame, that the dumbest, most preventable penalty in football repeatedly hurt the Dolphins so dearly on a stage so big.
Because we should be praising the Fins right now.
Buffalo won, as expected but so narrowly.
Yet Miami won in a lot of ways, too, even as the way it ended had to leave Dolfans shaking their heads.
The Dolphins, a two-touchdown underdog and trailing 17-0 early, won respect for the fight they showed against all odds.
Miami won respect for coming this close to shocking the AFC’s No. 2 seed despite playing with their rookie third-string quarterback in overmatched Skylar Thompson.
And Dolfans won the right to leave this season optimistic, or at least hopeful, knowing it might have been much different had starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa not been missing due to a second concussion.
Buffalo was the heavy favorite not only of bettors but of America at large after safety Damar Hamlin nearly died on the field after a recent cardiac arrest. He is recovering and watched the game from his home Sunday.
“My heart is with my guys,” he tweeted.
And America’s heart was with Buffalo.
The Dolphins, though — they showed heart, too.
From 17-0 down the Dolphins grabbed their first lead at 24-20 when Eric Rowe’s sack forced a Josh Allen fumble that Zach Sieler returned 5 yards for the touchdown.
Sieler’s hobby is hunting (“Huge passion of mine”), including hogs, deer, turkeys and alligators. Add end zones to the list.
The lead was short-lived.
Buffalo had it back, 27-24, when Thompson’s interception on a third-and-19 pass from his own end zone set up the Bills at the Miami 33, which would lead to a short TD pass to Cole Beasley. On CBS Romo criticized a “very poor decision” by Dolphins coaches to put Thompson in that position, but that’s playing the result.
I liked the gumption and self-belief of a huge underdog, on the road, willing to be aggressive and take chances.
The Bills grew their lead to 34-24, but Miami came back to get within the final score.
In a 17-0 crater early in the second quarter the Dolphins were playing like the overmatched underdogs America had pigeonholed them as.
Jaylen Waddle dropped a long pass. Xavien Howard seemed no match for Stefon Diggs. Thompson threw an interception. Tyreek Hill dropped a pass. The Fins had a false start ... after a timeout.
It was on the edge of embarrassing as Bills fans howled with delight.
Could have been over right then. Dolphins could have quit and the game could have collapsed into an unholy rout.
Neither happened. No quit. No rout.
Howard intercepted Allen to set up a second field goal that drew Miami within 17-6.
Cedrick Wilson’s 50-yard punt return set up another field goal: 17-9.
Jevon Holland picked Allen off a deflection and that led to a Mike Gesicki touchdown catch and two-point conversion to Hill to tie it 17-17 just 33 second before the half.
Miami scored 17 points in 7 minutes and 1 second, thanks to two takeaways after the Fins had only 14 all season — the fewest of all playoff teams.
Buffalo would gain the lead back on the next-to-last play of the half, but, no matter.
The Dolphins had muted the crowd and owned the momentum with a rookie third-string quarterback at the helm.
That it unraveled at the end with yet another maddening delay of game penalty leaving the worst kind of sour taste, one that begged, “What if?”
From a larger view and perspective, though, one is allowed to imagine Sunday might have been much different with a healthy Tagovailoa.
That’s an “if” even bigger than Sunday’s loss.
But it encourages hope coming out of it.
“Absolutely. Absolutely,” said McDaniel. “Very, very proud of that. Heartbroken for the guys because they didn’t want their season to end and did everything they could, but it’s part of the sometimes hard learning lessons that are appropriate when you have high expectations, high dreams, high goals. You utilize hard things to make you better and I was very proud of the way they fought.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2023 at 5:18 PM.
