Miami Dolphins’ grip on playoffs loosens with blown lead in Buffalo & 3rd straight loss | Opinion

The winter-weather in Buffalo didn’t kick in until the telling fourth quarter Saturday night. That’s when Bills fans had a joyful sing-along to the classic Christmas carol, “Let It Snow.”

“The weather outside is frightful,” goes one of the lyrics.

The Miami Dolphins’ playoff hopes -- those have turned a bit frightful, too, more so after this 32-29 loss that was a victory the Fins let slip away through frostbit fingers.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen had said in quite the understatement, “Playing in December in Buffalo isn’t the easiest task to do.”

He might well have added, “Especially when I’m throwing three touchdown passes in the first half.”

Yet the Dolphins overcame all of that, elements and deficit, to lead into the fourth quarter Saturday in western New York, until the snow and the Bills’ comeback came along to deliver a third straight loss leaving Miami at 8-6 and fighting for its wild-card life.

Miami caught a break with the weather for much of the game. There wasn’t a blizzard, or even snow showers. Though the temperature at kickoff was 28 degrees, it was clear until the last quarter, before which the only white stuff falling was in the from of icy snowballs that Bills fans kept heaving from the stands onto the field from what had fallen the day before.

The Dolphin have regular season games left vs. Green Bay on Christmas Day, at New England on New Year’s Day and then back home vs. the New York Jets. There is a great chance Miami will have to win at least two to make the postseason, or even all three to assure that, depending on how other results fall.

Said Fins tackle Terron Armstead: “Nothing has changed. The layoffs are still in our control.”

True enough. But having control does no good until you exercise it.

Three straight losses have not shown us a team doing that.

Beating the Bills would have given the Dolphins breathing room they no longer enjoy.

This was a missed opportunity.

“We had a very good performance against a very, very good team,” said coach Mike McDaniel. “On the positive side, I think that [this game was] night and day from the football we’ve played since the bye. So I think perspective is important and I think there’s stuff to learn from it. It’s a gut check for sure, but I know the guys aspire to be great.”

The coach added, “The players have given me no reason to expect anything other than the high resolve and determination to finish the season off right.”

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa echoed the positive air, saying, “I think we played a great game.”

Miami led 3-0 but then trailed the the rest of the game until going up 26-21 late in the third quarter on Tagovailoa’s 20-yard scoring strike to Tyreek Hill, who evaded defenders and snowballs. A roughing-the-punter penalty that kept Miami’s series alive proved devastating to the home team.

A field goal put Miami’s lead at 29-21.

It was not safe.

Allen’s fourth TD pass of the game and two-point run tied it, then a late short field goal after a Fins interference penalty made the final score with 0:00 on the clock.

Tagovailoa had earlier thrown a 67-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle as Tua shed a two-game slump of his own --but still was outplayed by Allen.

Miami also ran with force, totaling 188 yards on the ground, with Raheem Mostert chugging for 136 including a 67-yard run, and Salvon Ahmed, little-used this season, effective off the bench in place of injured Jeff Wilson, including an 11-yard TD run.

None of it was enough. Not with the defense letting down late. Miami had ts sifrst 100-yard runner and receiver in the same game; still it was not enough.

“I think we let a few plays snowball on us,” said McDaniel, the play on words evidently unintended.

The Dolphins had beaten the Bills in Miami early this season, 21-19, but there was a flukey feel to it. Buffalo had a chance to win on the final play, after doubling up Miami in total yards.

A win in Buffalo by the Fins would have been a resounding statement that the Dolphins are as good as their division-leading rival ... at least. Alas, the Bills have now beaten Miami in 11 of the past 12 games in Buffalo played this late in a season.

Instead, t was the Bills clinching a playoff spot Saturday while Miami’s climb to get one got steeper, with less room for error.

McDaniel had downplayed the challenge of playing at Buffalo in winter by wearing a shirt at practice this week that read, I WISH IT WERE COLDER -- the latter word dressed in icicles.

The weather turned out not to be the big factor most had expected, until late.

No, the weather was not to blame.

Miami had in its grasp the chance to impressively shed its two-game losing streak in a hard place to do it, and look more again like the team that had won five games in a row before stumbling.

Instead, it’s three losses in a row have piled up now in a season that may be slipping away.

The ill-timed slump had left some wondering how good the Dolphins really are.

Saturday did not provide the kind of answer Miami fans wanted.

For better or worse, the next three games will.