Here’s what every Miami Dolphins starter should be doing this week:
Absolutely nothing.
They should treat their Week 18 showdown with the Buffalo Bills as a glorified preseason game.
But because they gave up 15 points in 51 seconds against the Tennessee Titans for the biggest late-game meltdown by any team in years, they’re more or less playing for their season — and will accept help from any able-bodied player they can find.
Did Titans Loss Wreck Miami Dolphins’ 2023 Season?
If the Dolphins had made just one stop, or picked up one first down during a would-be close-out drive against Tennessee in Week 14, they would already be AFC East champions.
What’s more, they would already be locked into the No. 2 seed and would have double the incentive to rest their key guys. They’d actually win by losing, knowing that an L to Buffalo in Week 18 would ensure the earliest they would see the Bills would be the AFC Championship Game.
Instead, their reward for beating Buffalo Sunday would very likely be … a rematch with their fiercest rivals just a few days later.
While there is a scenario in which the Dolphins can bounce the Bills from postseason consideration Sunday, ESPN pegs the odds of that inside straight hitting at just 5%.
You’ll never get rich counting on the Jaguars and Steelers doing what’s needed to be done.
So instead of a Super Bowl path that, at worst, goes: home against an AFC South also-ran, home against the slumping Kansas City Chiefs, and then a rematch in Baltimore (assuming the Ravens don’t slip up in the Divisional Round), here’s the likely reality for the Dolphins even if they pull the upset Sunday:
Home against the Bills, home against the Chiefs, then at Ravens.
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In that scenario, they’d have to face arguably three of the four best teams in the AFC, despite having the conference’s second-best record.
Now let’s get really morbid, Dolphins fans.
If the Dolphins lose Sunday, they will open the playoffs in Arrowhead, and if they can somehow survive there, will likely need to win in Baltimore (where they just lost by 36 points) just to reach the AFC Championship Game — which also will very likely be held outside of Miami Gardens.
The blame for this predicament is no one’s but their own. This is only possible because they couldn’t close out a two-score game against a bad team and a rookie quarterback — at home.
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