Dolphins Answer Questions About Beating Good Teams And Earn A Playoff Spot
Days ago when he was giving reporters his usual 4,000 words of wisdom about the upcoming game, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel offered the truest assessment of both his team and the Dallas Cowboys before they met:
"I think it sets up for two teams that feel internally that they really have something to prove to themselves and that makes for good football," McDaniel said.
The Narrative Bowl was played at Hard Rock Stadium on Christmas eve.
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 24: Tua Tagovailoa #1 of the Miami Dolphins throws a pass while pressured by Micah Parsons #11 of the Dallas Cowboys during the first quarter at Hard Rock Stadium on December 24, 2023 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Tua: Dolphins Can Play With Anyone
And while the Cowboys continue to be dogged by the narrative that they cannot win on the road, the Dolphins have freed themselves from the constant heralding that they cannot beat a winning team. Or cannot overcome a physical team.
Dolphins 22.
Cowboys 20.
"A lot of people have been saying we can’t beat good teams and I feel like today we kind of showed that," receiver Tyreek Hill said. "So we can scratch that off the box. Now we just are looking for Stephen A. and Shannon Sharpe and I wonder what Skip Bayless is going to say ‘First Take.’ So interesting."
That was the honest thinking inside the Dolphins locker room. But while everyone was locked in on proving the team is not a paper tiger, the way different players articulated that was, well, different.
"The way I look at it, man, is I continue to go back to the work our guys put in day in and day out," quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said after the win. "... I'm just very proud of our guys and I'm just very happy that collectively we were able to do something like that and show everyone that we're fast, but our team is also very physical.
"And we can play with anyone."
The Dolphins have answered the public doubt about their team now. Perhaps the only public doubt out there. But more importantly they've answered it in their building.
"Internally," as McDaniel noted.
And to answer it internally one has to understand it existed internally.
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 24: Alec Ingold #30 of the Miami Dolphins attempts to jump over Donovan Wilson #6 of the Dallas Cowboys during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium on December 24, 2023 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Cowboys Still Not Good On The Road
Let's be clear here that the narrative about these two playoff-bound teams was not fiction. It came from pundits who noticed a weakness in their twin 10-4 records (before Sunday's game) and blared that weakness for weeks and weeks.
The Dolphins had indeed not beaten a team with a winning record prior to this one.
And the Cowboys had indeed struggled mightily on the road, managing only a 3-5 record that made them look like a shadow of the team that built a 7-0 record at home.
So this was going to decide whether the resistible force or the moveable object was going to bow.
Everyone understood that when the Dolphins, trailing 20-19, took the football with 3:27 to play. Something was going to give in whether the Miami's offense drove to winning points, or the Cowboys stood firm on the road.
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 24: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys attempts to pass the ball while pressured by David Long Jr. #51 of the Miami Dolphins during the first half at Hard Rock Stadium on December 24, 2023 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Late Drive Seals Win For Dolphins
The Dolphins marched for the winning points.
Sounds like a gargantuan moment, right? Maybe not to the Dolphins.
"I think around the league everyone knows that three minutes and twenty-something seconds is normal play for any quarterback," Tagovailoa said. "That's how we looked at it. We didn't have to do anything more than what was required for us.
"We didn't have to take a shot if it wasn't necessary. As long as we got completions and got the ball moving forward and they were positive plays, that's all we could have asked for."
The road ahead doesn't get easier for the Dolphins. It actually gets harder. Much harder.
The Dolphins are now no more than four wins from a Super Bowl championship. This is big considering they haven't won it all since 1974. Fact is the franchise hasn't won a playoff game since January 2000.
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 24: Tyreek Hill #10 of the Miami Dolphins is tackled by Stephon Gilmore #21 of the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter at Hard Rock Stadium on December 24, 2023 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Dolphins Looking Forward To 'Dope' Big Games
But Miami will likely meet good, physical teams en route to whatever postseason road they ultimately take. And the next two weeks of the regular-season won't be easy, either.
They finish the season against the Baltimore Ravens as they try to wrestle the top seed in the conference away from Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh. And the season-finale is against their divisional nemesis, the Buffalo Bills.
"Each and every game is an opportunity, man, for us to like prove we are one of the best teams in the AFC," Hill said. "I believe going against the Ravens will be a good test. I'm looking forward to it. They got a real good defense and a real good team at that.
"So it's going to be fun. We can't take no matchup lightly. They got some good players over there. Good schemes. Great head coach ... It's going to be dope."