Dolphins fall to Buffalo, fail to win AFC East, head to K.C. — but at least avoid rematch | Opinion
Tua Tagovailoa was 9 years old when the Miami Dolphins last won an AFC East title in 2008. They got lucky back then. They won largely because star quarterback Tom Brady missed almost the entire season injured for then-dominant New England.
The Dolphins could have earned the division crown this time, but failed to do so Sunday night. Now their first playoff victory since the 2000 season gets more difficult.
No luck this time. No easy path.
The Dolphins’ game vs. the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night — main-stage crescendo of the NFL regular season — had the high-stakes heft of Miami’s biggest home game in decades. Had a winner-take-all feel.
Turns out, the Dolphins couldn’t win for winning. Or win for losing, either.
Turns out, win or lose, Miami would chance to have the unluckiest draw of anybody in the 14-team Super Bowl sweepstakes.
Turns out, a tie would actually have served the Dolphins’ best Sunday night. Yes, a tie.
A most bizarre night, this one. A situation that had to have Dolfans truly conflicted as to what result to root for.
The Dolphins lost, 21-14 ... but did they lose, really?
It means Miami is relegated to a lower, wild-card seed, and a trip to Kansas City to face Patrick Mahomes and the reigning champion Chiefs. The game will be Saturday at 8 p.m.
But had Miami won and was AFC East champ, the No. 2 seed and home next week — it would have been against Buffalo again. Against the nemesis Bills, and their traveling fans who filled large swaths of Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night.
Where would have been the high-seed reward in that, exactly?
Legit arguable whether you would rather be home against the Bills again or away at the Chiefs.
I think I might rather play at K.C., which has greatly disappointed this season while Buffalo has gotten hot at the optimum time.
The Dolphins did not seem to agree, and saw an opportunity lost.
“It hurts. It should,” said Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel. “Extremely disappointed. They did better than we did across the board. We got outexecuted substantially.”
Tagovailoa: “We understand what was at stake tonight, and we didn’t come through. Starting with me.”
As for the injuries, “It takes a toll, but nobody is going to feel sorry for us,” said the QB. “And we’re not making excuses.”
“Definitely a missed opportunity,” said tacle Terron Armstead.
Oddly, a tie game Sunday would have hit the jackpot for Miami.
With a tie the Dolphins would be hosting lowly Pittsburgh next week, a team that only sneaked into the postseason because Jacksonville lost earlier Sunday, a Steelers team with backup quarterback Mason Rudolph and without top defender T.J. Watt.
Jacksonville’s loss reshaped Dolphins vs. Bills somewhat.
It helped Buffalo — but might have helped Miami, too?
It helped Buffalo more tangibly by assuring the Bills a playoff spot win or lose in Miami. But that in turn might have helped the Fins, because now Bills would enter the prime-time finale knowing it was no longer must-win for them.
Both teams certainly acted like teams playing in a taut game with the playoff feel it deserved.
Tagovailoa and Josh Allen traded early interceptions and then Allen threw a second pick to help keep the first quarter scoreless.
Miami went up 7-0 in the second on on De’Von Achane’s 25-yard scoring run before the Bills tied it on a 6-yard scoring catch by ex-Dolphin Trent Sherfield. The Fins led 14-7 late in the half on Tyreek Hill’s 3-yard touchdown catch.
The play of the half was the last one as time expired, when a combined goalline stop by Eli Apple and especially Jerome Baker at the 1-yard line denied the Bills a tying TD.
Much was made of a supposed “Buffalo Takeover” by Bills fans gobbling up aftermarket tickets and having as many fans as Miami at Hard Rock Stadium. The “Bills Mafia” was plentiful and loud but less than half of the sold-out prime-time crowd on a chilly (for South Florida) night.
The Dolphins estimated no more than 15,000 Bills fans in the crowd. Miami, unlike many teams, does not sell tickets to brokers, and the team tracks how many tickets season-ticket holders resell and restricts renewing season tickets to buyers deemed in it for the resale.
Buffalo appeared driving to tie it late in the third quarter when Christian Wilkins sacked Allen and stripped the ball for a fumble recovery — Allen’s third turnover.
Buffalo did tie it, 14-14, early in the fourth on Deonte Harty’s 96-yard punt return score — the longest such TD in the Bills’ long history. Harty ran untouched on a play that should give Fins special teams coordinator Danny Crossman indigestion for about a month.
“Huge momentum swing,” said McDaniel. “A gut punch for sure.”
Momentum now wore dark blue, and the Bills rode it to a 21-14 lead mid-fourth on Allen’s 5-yard flip to Dawson Knox.
The AFC East crown that seemed Miami’s most of the season was now slipping away.
Miami had a last chance to win — or maybe better yet, to tie — but Tagoavailoa was intercepted in Bills territory with 1:13 to play.
Injuries on both sides of the ball had caught up to Miami. This was not the same Dolphins team we saw much of the season.
The game was not the offensive shootout some expected. Some of that was Miami missing two of its biggest playmakers in receiver Jaylen Waddle and running back Raheem Mostert, both out injured.
And Hill has been playing through a not yet fully healed ankle injury.
“And he’s a fast guy that cuts very violently, so I don’t think people can totally understand the amount of toughness it takes to do what he does,” said coach Mike McDaniel of Hill.
Defensive injuries also were glaring for the Dolphins. At one point in the fourth quarter 34-year-old linebacker Melvin Ingram, signed a month ago, was covering a Bills tight end deep. Not good.
No excuses, though.
Miami didn’t lose just because of injuries.
Miami lost to a nemesis rival that has its number.
The Dolphins have now lost 11 of the past 12 meetings and 13 of the past 15 vs. Buffalo.
McDaniel always preaches that “adversity is an opportunity.” I believe that. I thought Miami’s recent adversity -- being dominated by Buffalo lately in this rivalry, and coming off a 56-19 embarrassment in Baltimore — would be great motivators and prove enough Sunday night.
Nope. Injuries happened. The Bills happened.
“We have no time to sulk,” said McDaniel.
Now Miami’s playoff road begins in Kansas City against the reigning Super Bowl champions, and Buffalo opens at home against lowly Pittsburgh.
That is what Sunday night meant.
This story was originally published January 7, 2024 at 11:29 PM.
