It would be so Miami Dolphins if they won on Sunday
By Matt Serniak
![Xavien Howard . (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) Xavien Howard . (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Fphinphanatic-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2018-2F08-2F1348678505-850x560-2d1cc8d73e1eb96823c7c3fb075cdc5f5cff09f3569bfee46e3ac95f9dd9f106.jpg)
DISCLAIMER: I am not picking the Miami Dolphins to defeat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Nope. That’s not what I’m doing at all. What I am saying is that given the current state of the franchise, if that’s what you want to call it, it would be sort of on-brand for them to win this game.
So before many of you lay into me and tell me that I shouldn’t make any guarantees about football games that haven’t happened yet, I am telling you that I am not picking the Dolphins to win one of the more improbable games that they have been faced in a while. I’m just saying that the Dolphins have a way of strangely, pleasantly, surprising us from time to time.
Right now, I don’t know if there’s been a worse time to be a fan of this team. I know the folks who have been fans since 1966, and let me tell you they will tell you they’ve been fans since 1966 or somewhere around then without you asking them, can probably point out other times where things might have been worse. I’m 30 years in(yes, I know what I just did), can also rattle off the bad times that my fandom was tested.
I might even write a longer article in the near future about the current state of the franchise and how it compares to other times in Dolphin’s history. We’ll see. My point is, the last 5 days have been as awful as I have felt being a Miami Dolphin fan and yes it ties directly to the Tua/Watson stuff that seemingly will never go away. Let me tell you, even if Watson isn’t a Dolphin come November 2nd, it isn’t going away. Deal with it.
With how the coaching staff and the owner have addressed the Tua/Watson displaying the grace of an ant, most of us are feeling some kind of way. The most common emotion is a combination of frustration and despair. Common ones among us Miami Dolphin fans.
But Sunday is approaching and Tua Tagovailoa will be playing quarterback against the Bills up in Orchard Park. Obviously, there is a ton that can be said about how Tua has played as of late and how he has navigated completely unfamiliar waters for any quarterback ever. I’m not here to discuss that.
What I am here to discuss is that even though I don’t think the Dolphins will beat the Bills on Sunday, that it would be very Dolphin-like if they did. My reasoning for this is that the Dolphins often zag when everyone thinks they’re going to zig.
Remember when the Dolphins upset the Patriots on Monday night football back in 2004? I do. Miami ended up being a 2-14 team and beat a Patriots team that would end up going on to win the Super Bowl.
Or, when the team fired Joe Philbin and the beast they call Dan Campbell was the interim coach. That Miami team beat the brakes off the Titans and Texans immediately after the firing.
And let’s not forget the Miami Miracle, something I’m sure many of us are just watching on repeat just to give us something positive to watch concerning this team.
There are some other occasions I can shoehorn in there if I really feel like it but I think you get the point. When the Dolphins are counted out, they have a way of making things interesting and even sometimes overcoming long odds.
The odds are very long for the Dolphins not just to win on Sunday but to even keep it close. Currently, the Dolphins are around 14 point underdogs. They’re playing a Bills team in Buffalo that is coming off a tough loss to Tennessee. The Bills also had a bye last week. It’s hard to envision a world where the Bills lose two in a row with all those circumstances. All that and the fact that the Dolphins typically lose to Bills by around 16+ plus points every time they face them, that Miami has only beat the Bills once in the last four seasons and you have a recipe for another classic beatdown at the hands of the Bills.
But who knows? Maybe Allen is off-time with his receivers and the Dolphin’s defense makes a big play for once. And maybe the Dolphin’s offense takes advantage of some early Bill’s mistakes. It could happen. It probably won’ but I can see a reality where it does.
As I said, I really don’t think Miami wins. I think they hang early, don’t get blown out as they did in week two but ultimately the Bill’s offense is too much and then the Dolphin’s offense has to press and it goes bad.
Hope I’m very wrong but I probably won’t be. But maybe I will be but probably not. But maybe.