Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins Can Dagger Their Haters On Thursday

Nov 11, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) leaves the field after the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium.

Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

By Tony Abbott on November 27, 2024


In the completely original words of Steven Van Zandt’s Silvio Dante, “Just when they thought I was out, they pull me back in.” The NFL world left the Miami Dolphins for dead four weeks ago, after their heartbreaking loss to the Buffalo Bills sent them to a 2-6 record. Heck, Chris Grier was ready to throw up the white flag, only deciding not to trade important pieces like Calais Campbell because Mike McDaniel threw, in his words, “an adult temper tantrum.

But McDaniel was right to not give up in this club, because right now, they’re sitting at 5-6 after a three-game win streak. They’re the 8th seed in the seven-team playoff field, and they’ll need some help from teams like the 7-5 Denver Broncos or the 7-4 Baltimore Ravens getting cold, but they’re officially back in the hunt.

The Dolphins have their share of believers — Colin Cowherd is going all-in on Miami, for example — but they also have a healthy stable of haters at the ready. And Thursday’s game in Green Bay is the exact kind of game they’re 100% certain the Dolphins can not win.

It checks all the boxes. The Dolphins’ Thanksgiving affair is against a great 8-3 Packers team that just demolished the San Francisco 49ers in a 38-10 romp. Is it a cold-weather team? As they say up North: you bet’cha. But maybe it’ll be like that game in Buffalo, where the Great Lakes weather wasn’t a factor in November? Nope. The low is forecasted to be 20 degrees, and there should even be some snow.

You can write the grave-dancing articles now: They might have beaten up on weak teams, but once they faced a good team, Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins proved that McDaniel’s fancy-pants offense couldn’t hang in cold weather, blah, blah, blah.

Fortunately, McDaniel and Campbell know the true stakes for Thursday’s game, and they impressed those upon the celebrating team in the locker room postgame.

“It is the game of nationally televised football games,” the coach told his team. Campbell later added that the win was “A good feeling, but it don’t mean nothing if we don’t get this next one.”

Campbell couldn’t be more correct, because no matter what happens afterward, if the Dolphins lose on Thursday night, there’s nothing they’ll be able to do to silence their haters. Even a 5-0 streak to punch their ticket into the playoffs at 10-7 would come with a world of skepticism. Their final five opponents include the 3-8 New York Jets (twice), the 3-8 Cleveland Browns, and the 5-6 49ers. Winning their sole game against a playoff team won’t help their cause, either. The 7-5 Houston Texans are a warm-weather team, and winning those road games don’t count in the minds of the haters.

But as long as Tua is playing at this level, the Dolphins have a chance. Even against an elite team, and even in the cold.

Tua returned to the field in Week 8. Since then, no one has had a better passer rating (minimum 20 attempts) than his 116.2 mark. Only Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford, and Patrick Mahomes have more touchdown passes, and Burrow is the only QB with a better TD/INT differential (plus-11) than Tua’s plus-10. For as many eyebrows that were raised when Tagavailoa signed his mega-extension in the offseason, he’s looked the part since returning from his Week 2 concussion.

But of course, that’s not going to be enough for the haters — of which there are plenty even in Miami Gardens. Tua faced off against teams that held a combined 9-19 record heading into those three match-ups, and winning games against losing teams was never the problem. All they’ll see is that in the game against Buffalo, Tua’s team lost 27-30. Never mind that he went 22-for-25 with no picks! Don’t think about how no other QB has put up 231 yards and 27 points at Buffalo this season — not even Mahomes! You only get credit for the Ws.

Not that this should change the equation for Miami one bit. There’s a reason they say haters are gonna hate — that’s kind of their whole thing. Even if the football world was tripping all over each other to give the Dolphins their flowers, they’d still need to win Thursday’s game to realistically have a shot at the playoffs. But it’s not just another game, and it’s not even a run-of-the-mill must-win game. Thursday is a chance for McDaniel, Tua, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and the rest of the Phins to shove three years worth of narratives in everyone’s face, on national television. They need to take this opportunity.


Up Next

Jump to Content