Dave Hyde: Close against Bills isn't enough for a Dolphins season that sinks to 2-6

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Nov 3, 2024

Published in Football

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You could think the Miami Dolphins might feel good about Sunday.

I could think they should feel better, too.

But it’s just a sign of just how bad this season is that there’s emotional hedging and style points awarded because the Dolphins finally looked like the kind of team everyone expected them to be in September and finally were in November.

“I’m proud of this team,” receiver Tyreek Hill said after a 30-27 loss to the Buffalo Bills. “We got better today.”

They’re 2-6.

“We played some good ball,” Hill said. “It’s all about getting better. Moving forward, next week, a lot of guys are going to take accountability on what we can get better at.”

If this was a different season, if they had better planning and playing to this point, they could feel just fine about losing by a last-play, 61-yard field goal against Buffalo a week after losing to a dumpy Arizona and two weeks after losing two an even dumpier Indianapolis.

But if they played like this against Arizona, Indianapolis and Tennessee this wouldn’t be such a gangplank game. So, no, they don’t get style points for this.

Tank with Tua?

Do they trade some talent for draft picks at the Tuesday deadline?

Go ahead, name a trade that makes any sense.

The Dolphins could have won Sunday considering their smart game plan, Tua Tagovailoa’s disciplined play and some timely defense if it weren’t for the kind of mistakes losing teams always seem to make.

Like: A fumble by Raheem Mostert at Buffalo’s 36-yard line to start the second half. The Dolphins led 10-6. They had a good chance to stretch the lead. Mostert, who ran for 56 yards, had costly fumble against Indianapolis, too.

“We talk about it all the time, defenders in pursuit, the guys you cant see are who you’re most vulnerable to,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “We’ve got to fix that.”

Then there was the Dolphins defense that pushed Buffalo into third-and-14 from its 26-yard line with 54 seconds left. The game was tied at 27. That’s a good situation to force overtime.

Then rookie Chop Robinson jumped offsides. He had played the best game of his short career, but …

“It’s tough, because you get a third down, I was just ready to rush,” Robinson said.

Then, on third-and-9, veteran safety Jordan Poyer delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit you can’t make. It gave Buffalo a first down. It led to the winning kick.

“It takes it out of everyone’s hands when you go helmet to helmet,” McDaniel said.

Somebody on the defense needed to make a play, and nobody did. You could say Zach Sieler, Jevon Holland and Jaelan Phillips are hurt. You could also say Christian Wilkins is in Las Vegas now and Andrew Van Ginkel is in Minnesota.

What you saw Sunday, if we’re being honest, was two franchises passing in opposite directions through yet another season. Buffalo made the kind of winning plays it has despite having one true star in quarterback Josh Allen. It’s 7-2 now. It’s essentially wrapped up another AFC East title.

The Dolphins, meanwhile, continue to drift through another season in a way that allows them to feel better by degrees after a loss their desperate season needed. Their offense looked like one.

Their defense had a good first half before Allen took over against too many missing pieces, some to injury and others to poor planning.

“This will hurt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing in the big picture,” McDaniel said. “It just depends on what you do with it. I think the guys are motivated. Didn’t see it coming down like this, but at the same time, you have to hunker down as a unit and come together and continue to progress, because we did show some progress, albeit not enough.”

Progress is good some seasons. But winning was necessary Sunday. You don’t get style points when you’re 2-6.

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