There Are No More Moral Victories for the 2024 Dolphins
Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
The Miami Dolphins played some of their best football of the season against the Buffalo Bills. Tua Tagovailoa was efficient, Tyreek Hill was explosive, Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane were effective in the ground game, Jonnu Smith and Odell Beckham Jr. got in a rhythm early, and the defense forced multiple stops in the red zone against one of the best offenses in the league.
Incredible snatch by Jalen Ramsey for the INT pic.twitter.com/h8xX2hj3St
— FinCuts (@FinCuts) November 3, 2024
Oddsmakers weren’t expecting this version of the Dolphins to show up on Sunday. At the opening kickoff, Buffalo was favored to beat Miami by 6.5. Yet, the Phins not only managed to keep pace with a talented Bills squad on the road, but they ultimately ended up gaining more total yards of offense and won the time of possession battle. Despite losing 30-27 after Tyler Bass nailed a 61-yard game-winning field goal, it was a promising performance by the Dolphins. A moral victory, if you will.
Unfortunately, the 2024 Miami Dolphins are well past the point of celebrating moral victories. This was a must-win game for a 2-5 Dolphins team trying to slowly claw their way back into the AFC playoff picture. The stakes for the Phins got even higher after The New York Jets pulled off an upset on Thursday Night Football against the Houston Texans, who had the same record as the Bills entering Week 9. Miami needed to beat Buffalo outright, but instead, fans were left with a worthless moral victory in a lost season.
Eternal optimists within the Dolphins fan base are starting to sound like a broken record at this point. They’ll try to convince you these Dolphins are still a competitive team that is better than their record suggests. It makes sense that some people want to find reasons for optimism after having to witness three terrible backup quarterbacks struggle to play football. We get it, rooting for your favorite team is supposed to bring joy, but when the team isn’t showing any signs of hope, that’s when the fans start to cope.
Which is exactly what happened in Week 8. The biggest storyline heading into the Dolphins matchup against the Arizona Cardinals was Tagovailoa’s much-anticipated return. As controversial of a figure as Tua is, there’s no denying that this team is much better with him than without, and the four weeks he was out proved that. However, Phins fans were so excited to see Tua return, that some were willing to overemphasize how the offense suddenly looked competent, rather than focusing on the actual result of the game.
The sentiment from a sizable portion of the Dolphins fan base seemed to be: “Hey, we only lost by one point, but Tua looked pretty good!” It’s pure copium at its finest. To all the optimistic Dolphins fans out there: at some point you have to stop making excuses for this team and start holding them to a higher standard. 2024 was supposed to be a season with playoff expectations. Miami used to be a team that struggled to make it past Wild Card Weekend, but now they’re nowhere near the postseason to begin with.
Again, we get it: the Tua injury derailed the offense and there’s only so much the Dolphins could’ve realistically achieved with a backup quarterback. That being said, Chris Grier should’ve signed a proven backup for Tagovailoa in the offseason. Especially given the fact that he knew Tua was more susceptible to concussions than most players. Mike McDaniel also deserves criticism for not being able to find success with his stable of backup quarterbacks. Fellow Kyle Shanahan protege Matt LaFleur was able to beat the Indianapolis Colts with Malik Willis at quarterback, yet McDaniel couldn’t do the same with Tyler Huntley.
Teams with the kind of talent on offense that the Miami Dolphins have should be able to find ways to overcome adversity and win games. Miami just hasn’t been able to do that this season, with or without Tua. The fact of the matter is, the Phins are a 2-6 team sitting at third place in the AFC East. This “moral victory” against the Bills was the final nail in the coffin for the Dolphins playoff chances this season, which leaves no room for celebrating individual performances.
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