The NFL knew exactly what they were doing when they had their schedule makers put the Dolphins against the Buffalo Bills in Week 18 for all the marbles in the AFC East Division! They also knew that they wanted to put the showdown in Miami in January to mitigate any heat elements that could afflict the Bills seeing as how Josh Allen and company spent all of the last offseason complaining about how hot it was in Miami in September. Now here the Dolphins are with their season on the line and a chance to make history.
Yes, the Dolphins have already clinched a playoff berth, so a loss this week would not be the end of their season. However, a bottom of the table playoff spot was not the goal this season. The goal for this season was to make a run at Las Vegas. The Dolphins went all in on that vision by aggressively making trades and signing free agents in a way that makes our salary cap situation extremely precarious for next season. In order to make that vision a reality the Dolphins must get the two seed and get home field at least through the divisional round of the playoffs. Going on the road to Kansas City as the 6th seed is an absolute worst case scenario situation that the Dolphins do not want to find themselves in. We can absolutely say the Phins should have handled business at home against Tennessee and they wouldn’t be in this do-or-die situation, but in December the Dolphins have a way of swimming in funny directions.
So here we are in the final week of the season with injuries galore and a must-win situation staring at us down the barrel. This is the regular season finale where a win can lock up the two seed for Miami and also potentially knock the Buffalo Bills out of the playoffs. It would be sweet poetic justice. We could witness revenge of the highest order served in the coldest dish for a transgression back on January 3rd, 2021 when the 13-3 Bills had nothing to play for and they played their starters anyway in order to make sure that a 10-6 Miami did not make the playoffs. They crushed our heart and our spirit that day. Now we have an opportunity to do the same to them.
Most of the prognosticators are not giving the Dolphins much of a chance. Vegas has Miami as a home underdog. The national media has hated us the whole season anyway and they don’t like our chances. They’ve been quietly, or in some cases, loudly cheering for the Bills to make this run and win the division. From Tony Romo to the guy on that Good Morning Football show that shall go unnamed in this article, they have been saying the quiet part out loud. Even AFC East rival fans of the Patriots and the Jets are somehow on the Bills Mafia bandwagon this week. It’s disgusting. Makes me want to throw up.
The Dolphins have not had any sustained success in the past 20 years and still the hatred for us runs deep. We can’t even get one season over on these guys. They would rather see Josh Allen and the Bills and their overrated mistake riddled offense continue their dynastic dominance over the AFC East than to see the Dolphins topple Goliath once. Well, bleep them! We don’t need ‘em. The Dolphins have a chance to break the fever in Miami and claim this regular season as a major success.
Tua Tagaovailoa, shabby shoulder and all, has a chance to rise to the occasion, quiet the noise about him in big games, snuff out the cacophony that is the Bills Mafia fanbase, and place the Dolphins in a prime position to make a run at Vegas by giving his team two home games to start the playoffs in one simultaneous swoop. Beating the Bills on Sunday could end McDermott and potentially have Pittsburgh come to visit instead of having to go to Arrowhead Stadium on Wildcard weekend. That would be a monumental correction in the postseason trajectory of the Miami Dolphins that can make all the difference in the world considering how dominant the Dolphins have been at home and how absolutely feeble they have been on the road this season.
When the Dolphins decided not to put the record on the Broncos they said it was for “good Karma” and because the scoring record was not the reason they were playing these games this season. Well Karma hasn’t been so kind since then with major season ending injuries to both of our star edge rushers, our quarterback getting hurt on an inconsequential 4th & 13 in a blowout, both of our star receivers having bad wheels, and the offensive line that had this offense on record breaking pace to start the season being decimated. We’ve had so many players go on IR that we can’t even bring them all back if we wanted to. But still we persist. But still, we must attempt to rise up to this moment.
This is the opportunity where legends are made and songs of glory are sung. If I told you before the season started that the Dolphins just needed to win a home game in their final week of the season in order to lock up a two seed you would have taken it for sure considering the brutal stretch of road games to begin the season and the difficulty of the schedule down the stretch. The fact that it is against Buffalo would be even sweeter and we have enough. We have a decent chance to win this game. Make no mistake, the Dolphins have a chance to win this game! We will need a lot of things to break our way but we can absolutely win this game. The Dolphins went up to Buffalo in a playoff matchup last January with a third string rookie QB and no defensive secondary, had a late 4th quarter lead, and almost won that game. The Dolphins can do this. We desperately need them to. Fins up!
