MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins have gone through some major changes since the last time they played a football game.
General manager Chris Grier was fired to mark a new beginning for the franchise from a roster management standpoint.
Edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, a 2021 first-round pick of the team, was dealt to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Even the Pop-A-Shot mini-basketball game was removed from the locker room in a player-driven decision.
Through the tumultuous week and a half since the team’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the Dolphins (2-7) have a game to play Sunday at 1 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium against the Buffalo Bills (6-2), who have won seven in a row in the AFC East rivalry and 14 of the past 15.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who is set to stay in that role for at least the remainder of the season despite all the criticism swirling around him, sees his team staying locked in.
“The way the National Football League is, is you have an outcome, you have different things — the trade deadline right next to a major move from the front office standpoint — and from the outside looking in, it could appear that that’s a recipe for distraction,” McDaniel said early in the past week. “What I can go off of is my feet-on-the-ground observation and relying upon the leaders and the captains of this football team to show me where they’re at.”
A prime example would be fullback and captain Alec Ingold.
Related Articles
Game time: Fast facts, odds, injury report for Dolphins vs. Bills
Dave Hyde: Winning wasn’t a Dolphins priority this week — but it is for McDaniel starting now
Top Dolphins-Bills prop bets from Chris Perkins and David Furones
Dolphins looking to end seven-game, three-year domination by Bills
Dolphins’ beleaguered defense likely without key starters vs. Bills
“There’s a skill to find beauty in our struggle,” Ingold said. “A lot of us, when adverse times hit, when the results aren’t happening, you kind of dial your focus into your job, what you can control. I think, as a leader, the challenge is acknowledging the people that are doing a great job and making sure you’re encouraging and bringing them along, leading by example as well, and then being bold and convicted in things that you don’t want to see anymore and having the courage to speak up on that and holding everybody accountable to that standard.”
At 2-7, there’s not much in terms of playoff hopes to fight for. Then again, Miami was 1-7 in 2021 and 2-6 in 2024 and fought back into the playoff conversation down to the final weeks of the regular season.
Miami, though, is better off being motivated internally and not by any hopes for the final eight games as a whole.
Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver brought forth a comparison to his players of how Orlando Magic swingman Nick Anderson once handled his adversity of four consecutive missed free throws in an NBA Finals game to how a young Kobe Bryant did when he had an airball-riddled playoff game against the Utah Jazz. Anderson, still a serviceable player for years to come, never shot as high a 3-point percentage nor had as high a scoring average as he did in 1995 before that pivotal Finals game against the Houston Rockets. Bryant, of course, went on to become an all-time great.
“I go, ‘Well, here’s where we’re at from an adversity standpoint,’ ” Weaver said. “ ‘You can either be Nick Anderson and we can wallow around in self-pity.’ I go, ‘Or we can just figure out why we’re where we’re at, keep trying to get better,’ which I think our guys have done to date and try to be the Mamba (Bryant).”
But if the Dolphins, let’s just say, as 9-point underdogs, pulled off a shocking upset of the Bills, what follows is the Washington Commanders (3-6) with quarterback Jayden Daniels hurt, a bye week to regroup, the New Orleans Saints (1-8) at home and the New York Jets (1-7) at MetLife Stadium. With a win Sunday, although many fans may be prepared to tank for draft positioning, there would be a path to 6-7 before the final four-game stretch for a team still trying to win.
Dolphins Deep Dive: Prediction time — Will Miami keep it close vs. Bills? | VIDEO
“The bottom line is you’re playing an NFL football game against a division opponent, one that the last two times you’ve played them you feel like you have had the capability as a team to beat. We will play a game Sunday and we will either be prepared or unprepared for that,” McDaniel said.
“You explain that on the front end to the team which is what we talked about today and then you take it one day at a time, one step at a time and attack what our jobs are. I have conviction in focus, and I expect the rest of the team to follow suit.”
The Phillips trade was thought to be the start of a midseason fire-sale that never quite developed. All but one player on the Dolphins’ active roster as of Saturday still have Grier’s fingerprints on him from when he was brought on board.
For Miami to pull it off against Buffalo, the Dolphins’ No. 30 run defense will have to stand up against the Bills’ top-ranked rushing offense behind running back James Cook and quarterback Josh Allen’s ability to scramble. Incidentally, how the Dolphins stopped the run two weeks ago against the Atlanta Falcons and standout rusher Bijan Robinson was a key component in their best performance to date.
Miami will need to go to its ground game, where the Bills’ defense is vulnerable 28th against the run, to simplify things for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in the passing game.
The Dolphins would be aided greatly if they force Allen into turnovers, as his 15 regular-season games against Miami have seen him throw 40 touchdowns compared to just eight interceptions. But they will likely have to do it without second-year outside linebacker Chop Robinson (concussion) and veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas (foot/ankle).
