Dolphins let Bills, AFC East and so much more slip from grasp | Habib
MIAMI GARDENS — Don’t get fixated on the 96-yard punt return, as game-changing as that play was.
Don’t grind your teeth thinking about the Buffalo Bills going for it on fourth down on their own 35 when they didn’t have to, simply because they didn’t think anyone was going to stop them.
And certainly don’t focus on the Dolphins banking their final hope of winning a division title on a pass to a double-covered player who had three receptions going into this game.
The Bills walked into Hard Rock Stadium, spotted the Dolphins a 14-7 lead, and still walked out with a 21-14 victory and their fourth straight AFC East championship Sunday night. With that, you heard the Dolphins talking about how each of the three above plays represented lost opportunities.
Which misses the point, really.
More: Explosive punt return triggers Dolphins collapse against Bills: 'You all saw it'
The real missed opportunity is much bigger. It raises questions of how a team with a three-game lead in the division, the No. 1 offense in the NFL and an unbeaten record at home entering the home stretch of the season can, in the end, prove none of that was enough.
Not for the Dolphins, who perpetually find themselves trying to overcome their history but instead keep repeating it.
Know what happens in the NFL when an opportunity is presented and you balk? It vanishes.
“When you let opportunities go by the wayside, it just completely absorbs you,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “We don’t have time to sulk.”
Chiefs game could be coldest in Dolphins history
The Dolphins can be thankful they went into Sunday night’s game having already clinched a playoff berth — not all is lost, after all — but their punishment for not seizing those dangling carrots is that a team that was chasing the No. 1 seed in the AFC a week ago instead will be on the road for the playoffs. Assignment No. 1 is Saturday night in Kansas City, where there is every opportunity (there’s that word again) for it to be the coldest game in Dolphins history, as frigid as 1 degree at kickoff.
The Dolphins-Bills game was barely over when sports books hiked the point spread to favor the Chiefs by 4 1/2 points. The Chiefs already defeated the Dolphins 21-14 in Germany in October. They’re not what they used to be, but they still have Patrick Mahomes, who is 9-2 all-time in playoff games at Arrowhead.
How did it come to this? Everything was set up for the Dolphins to win their first division title since 2008, with four of the final five games at home, before that collapse against Tennessee triggered a 2-2 finish in those home contests.
Sunday night was more of the same. The Dolphins went into the locker room with a 14-7 lead on the heels of an exclamation point: a touchdown-saving sledgehammer of a hit by linebacker Jerome Baker to stop Ty Johnson shy of the goal line. Besides, since results earlier in the day had already guaranteed the Bills a playoff spot, everything seemed to be set up for the Dol- … never mind.
Dolphins manage three first downs in second half
Here’s the reality of the second half: Miami’s high-flying offense, loaded with Pro Bowl talent, ran a total of 17 plays, managed three first downs, 57 yards and zero points. Josh Allen had done his part to hand Miami the game, turning over the ball three times, but no matter. Deonte Harty fielded a Jake Bailey punt on his own 4 and was rewarded 96 yards later with a touchdown to make it 14-all. McDaniel called that a “gut punch.”
Typical of the Dolphins’ luck, not only did linebacker Cameron Goode run into Alec Ingold on the play, costing Ingold a shot at Harty, but Goode suffered a leg injury in the process that McDaniel indicated was serious.
The Dolphins went three-and-out. The Bills went 74 yards, with Dawson Knox catching a 5-yard touchdown pass from Allen to make it 21-14, and all that was left was to eat up clock. The Bills rubbed it in the Dolphins’ faces on fourth-and-1 from their 35 with 4:26 left when Allen ran a modified tush push, with running back Leonard Fournette lifting Allen up and over the pile to move the chains. The Dolphins eventually got their fourth-down stop and advanced to the Buffalo 40 before Tua Tagovailoa tried to hit Chase Claypool deep and was intercepted by safety Taylor Rapp.
Why Claypool? Because Tyreek Hill was on the sideline, having just taken a hit on the previous play.
“I was pumped he just got up,” McDaniel said.
Forgive McDaniel for thinking that. He’s used to the opposite. The Dolphins played without receiver Jaylen Waddle and running back Raheem Mostert even though both were listed as questionable Friday. Apparently, the more the Dolphins thought about things, the less they questioned the logic of sending them out there, because by Sunday morning it had leaked out that neither man was going to suit up.
Injuries pile up as Andrew Van Ginkel is hurt
Worse, the Dolphins also lost Andrew Van Ginkel to a foot injury earlier in the third quarter — the latest hit to edge rushers already without Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb. Further insult came when the Bills’ first touchdown was the result of a pass that ricocheted off Van Ginkel’s helmet.
All those opportunities, and what’s to show for it? The Dolphins packing their winter gear hoping to knock off the Chiefs.
“I think that that is a very fair question,” McDaniel said when asked how it came to this. “I think it’s very frustrating to all parties involved that care about the Dolphins, whether you’re a Dolphins player, support staff, coaches, fans. I’ll have more of a concrete answer when the season ends, but the season hasn’t ended.”
No, but unless things change in a hurry, we’ll get our answers shortly.
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins let opportunities (and the Bills) slip from grasp
