Once again the Miami Dolphins leave fans broken hearted

Another playoff game for the Miami Dolphins gave them another opportunity to completely shatter our hearts into an infinite amount of pieces and the Dolphins took advantage of the opportunity.

I imagine many of us loyal fans of the Miami Dolphins did some mental gymnastics over the last few days and convinced ourselves that they could go into freezing-cold Kansas City with an undermanned defense and pull off the upset.

I was one of those people who manifested a path to victory when all the odds were against the Dolphins along with mounds of evidence showing that it simply wasn't going to happen.

I had a wonderful day yesterday. Had my Acahne jersey on everywhere I went, kept myself hydrated with my Troegs Nugget Nectar, and was ready to watch this playoff game.

The one thing I said needed to happen was that the Dolphins couldn't get blown out in the first quarter. Besides last year, the Miami Dolphins have this nasty habit of getting destroyed in the first quarter and although it was only 7-0 nothing in the first quarter nothing looked good.

The offense wasn't doing anything that looked like a competent offense and the defense, though playing hard, was not doing anything to make Patrick Mahomes nervous or uncomfortable.

Yes, the score was 10-7 after the Tyreek Hill score but that one play was all Tua and Mike McDaniel could muster up all day.

To say that the performance of the entire team was flat would be a slap in the face to flat things. For the entire game, the Dolphins played like they were more than okay being the inferior team. On top of that, they played undisciplined, uninspiring, and flat-out dumb football.

There were uninspiring plays all over the place. Tua not toughing out a scramble for a first down, being too scared or too unconfident to see Jaylen Wadde open only to check it down to Durham Smythe for two yards, or Dule Riley and Eli Apple deciding two-hand touch was the proper approach in tackling Mahomes on scramble are all off the top of my head examples of uninspiring lay.

This comes after last week when Kader Kohou did the same thing on the Josh Allen late-game scramble. You have an opportunity to blast the other team's quarterback, legally, and you act like he's Mike Vick and he can juke you out of your pads. Great job guys. Way to care a great deal about this stuff.

The undisciplined moments come from the number of penalties due to not being focused and not communicating well.

I don't know about that, Tua. I feel like the comunication has been awful the last few weeks so if anything the communication standard was hit last night.

And the dumb moments come from Mike McDaniel. How in the world can you get to mid-field, have a 3rd and two that you achieved by running the ball, and then proceed to pass it two times in a row? I need answers and I think I am entitled to them. I can handle that truth if there even is one besides you don't know what you're doing when calling plays. Developing plays, you're good at that. Calling the plays, you might be the worst at it.

It's 26-7 in the 4th quarter and it's 4th and 16. Yes, the game is pretty much over but you still keep trying to get points you know like a normal team would do. Not here. Not when Mike McDaniel is calling the plays because he would like to see another screen for six yards. Yep, that's what we need; more screens.

Seemed to me that Mike McDaniel, who loves adversity because it means an opportunity is upon you, had loads of adversity and in turn ran away from opportunity, or had no Earthly idea what to do what that opportunity.

Tons of offseason questions are out there concerning the Miami Dolphins. Some of those questions are what to do with Tua Tagovailoa? He led the NFL in passing yards and did well in other stats. But after what has transpired over the last month, I don't know how you can give him a long-term deal. He's under contract next year but he and his camp want the big pay-day. I don't know how you can give them to him.

What do you do with Christian Wilkins? That guy earned his money this year but is signing a defensive tackle with all the other players that need to be signed the proper play? I think he's worth it but who knows?

Jaylen Waddle, Jevon Holland, and Jaelan Phillips are entering year four meaning real soon conversations about their long-term futures start to get ramped up.

The Miami Dolphins, currently, are projected to be $42M over the cap. Naturally, some players will be let go. Some of them will be big names. But, there's a really good chance that the Dolphins look very similar to this year's team. We have to deal with that reality.

And finally, how hot will the seat be for Mike McDaniel? I think there is a 99% chance he is back next year but based on how this season ended I think he has one year left to show he can get this team to winning a playoff game.

For right now, we suffer another embarrassing Dolphins playoff defeat. It will hurt and all the talk from other fan bases about Miami being soft and all that is warranted and can't be refuted. It's another reality we have to deal with. It's a reality we should be experts in dealing with it due to how often it happens.

It was a fun year for about 2/3 of it but it's that final third that matters. Going into next season I will be very jaded about September, October and November football up until Thanksgiving. Miami could be 11-0 and I will not care. December and January football is where the real teams rise.

Have fun watching the other playoff games. Now if you excuse me, I have some sorrows to drown.

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