MIAMI GARDENS — What, now?
Fire Chris Grier again?
Mention trading players this week, too?
The Miami Dolphins gave everyone the kind of November afternoon you once might have expected from the them, but then didn’t expect at all as this season played out.
De’Von Achane ran behind a dominant offensive line. The Dolphins defense shut out Buffalo for three quarters. Mike McDaniel coached like he’d discovered the formula to beating Buffalo after seven consecutive losses — and it was running on the Bills’ suspect defense from the start and never stop running.
Of course, running the ball was made easier by having the lead, because Buffalo’s Josh Allen was roughed up by this defense rather than the other way around like for so many years.
You didn’t have to be seduced by the Dolphins 30-13 win. One game doesn’t change the season, or the looming decisions over this franchise. In fact, the less said about how Sunday fits into the season or some certain future, the better. It doesn’t fit.
Just enjoy it. Just take it in with a smile, like Achane did, leaning against a wall under Hard Rock Stadium as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa answered a question about what Achane meant to the day.
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“He had two touchdowns,” Tua said. “I think that affects the game. Every time you can get someone like that, a playmaker, on your team, you get him the ball in his hands and you know what he’s capable of doing.”
“That’s right,” Achane said softly, smiling.
“But it’s not just that. It’s also in the pass game where he helps us thrive as well. Having someone like that who can align at running back, who can align at slot or at receiver, I think that tells you a lot about the playmaker he is.”
Achane had 174 yards rushing, averaging 7.9 yards a carry. He had another 51 yards receiving. That’s why some team offered a second-round pick for him at last week’s trade deadline, according NFL Network.
He’s worth more in the here and now. It doesn’t matter if he’s a running back looking to get paid this offseason. There’s not a more electric player in the league, and the Dolphins holding on to him said as much.
They ran him, too, in a way McDaniel abandoned when Buffalo expanded its lead earlier this season in Orchard Park, N.Y. Maybe that’s a lesson learned. Maybe it’s too late to be talking of lessons learned in a 3-7 season.
Sunday also explained why the Dolphins didn’t trade Jaylen Waddle to Buffalo for a second-round pick in 2026 and a first-round pick in 2027. It wasn’t just because of Waddle’s burst of speed and good catch of a nice Tagovailoa pass for a 38-yard touchdown that made it 13-0 in the first half.
“It was a good play, great play,” Waddle said, adding, “It’s good when a play comes to life on Sunday.”
The Dolphins couldn’t trade Waddle because it was to Buffalo, too. You can’t help your top rival get a prime piece it’s missing. Buffalo has no good receiver with speed. Allen has a couple of tight ends and a running back, but the Dolphins didn’t worry too hard even with a suspect secondary about a receiver going deep on them.
Allen did find Keon Coleman deep for a 35-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. But it wasn’t like backup cornerback Ethan Bonner wasn’t on him. Coleman just made a play. It happens.
So, at the end of a crazy week for the Dolphins, the craziest part of all was this game against Buffalo. Maybe it starts a run of good Dolphins play against struggling teams like Washington, New Orleans and the New York Jets.
But that gets them, where, to 6-7?
Haven’t we lived that close-enough-to-dream idea too many seasons?
Sunday was a surprise. A nice win. A good win. The kind of win that in another November would have you thinking big thoughts about the Dolphins. But this day just asked to be enjoyed for what it was, like Achane’s smile afterward.
