PITTSBURGH — The Miami Dolphins’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday night eliminated them from playoff contention with three games left in their disappointing season.
But players after the game at Acrisure Stadium vowed that won’t affect team morale and effort during home games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a road finale against the New England Patriots.
“It’s tough, to be honest with you,” linebacker Jordyn Brooks said. “Being eliminated, you never want to hear that, but we still got to play. We still got three games left on the schedule, so I feel that we should finish the right way. I think that shows character and that’s what we’ll be playing for.”
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who could be benched in favor of one of the backups, took it a step further.
“For everyone, it’s not just about football. It’s about life,” Tagovailoa said. “When things go good, everyone understands how certain people react or how people are more motivated to continue to do things. You got to take yourself back to whenever it was, that 12-year-old kid, take yourself back to that and tell yourself, ‘Dude, what if you were playing in the NFL?’ You’d be excited. That would have been your dream. You get to live it.
“With that being said, you also got to come out with a sense of urgency. Do you take pride in what you do when things are going good and when things are going bad? It falls into every facet of what you do in your life. That was sort of my message to the guys after the game.”
Miami was on a four-game winning streak before Monday night’s elimination.
“It’s tough, obviously. We play this game to make it to the postseason,” wide receiver Jaylen Waddle said. “But we’ve got a good work that’s going to come to work the next three weeks with the right mindset. We’ve got a job at the end of the day, and that’s to go out there and play ball.”
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Throughout the win streak, the Dolphins, at 2-7, were more process-focused while putting results aside and not thinking about chasing a playoff berth. That same approach will help through three games with less at stake.
“A lot of guys on the team, they care for each other,” Waddle said. “We got a good group that they enjoy spending time with each other, enjoy practicing, enjoy being in the building with each other. Let’s make the most of these three weeks because, teams and stuff, they change every year.”
This story will be updated.
