Fitting finish to poor season
Miami displays wrong kind of fight in defeat
MIAMI GARDENS — Sunday's 22-16 loss to the Buffalo Bills brought a merciful end to a sometimes merciless Miami Dolphins season. But the end came a few minutes too late.
Midway through the fourth quarter there was a melee that resulted in wide receiver Jarvis Landry getting ejected for disrespecting an official and for unnecessary roughness, and running back Kenyan Drake getting ejected for flinging a Bills player’s helmet about 20 yards downfield.
The drama came after Landry, who established a franchise record for singleseason receptions with 111, scored on a 1-yard shovel pass from quarterback David Fales. Pushing and shoving ensued after Landry reached the ball across the goal line. At one point Landry appeared to almost headbutt Bills safety Jordan Poyer and possibly throw a punch.
Players from both teams gathered in the scrum on the field and one of the last things anyone saw was Drake angrily throwing a Bills helmet.
After all that, Miami kicked the extra point to cut its deficit to 22-16 and then recovered an onside kick with 1:52 left. That was the fourth onside kick the Dolphins have recovered this season, the most any team has recovered in a season since at least 1997.
The comeback hopes ended with 49 seconds left when Fales threw an interception to Poyer.
Despite the late-game drama, this game was ugly. The Dolphins (6-10), led by Fales because starter Jay Cutler only played one series, started poorly, trailed 14-0 at halftime, and never gained their footing.
The game could have been a metaphor for Miami's disappointing season.
There was Hurricane Irma postponing the home opener, linebacker Lawrence Timmons going AWOL before the de facto opener, former offensive line coach Chris Foerster resigning after his video scandal, and linebacker Rey Maualuga being released after his arrest at a Miami nightclub.
Before and after there were injuries, a lot of them, such as quarterback Ryan Tannehill (knee), right tackle Ja'Wuan James (hamstring), tight end Julius Thomas (foot) and rookie middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan (knee).
Oh, yeah, there was also a five-game losing streak at midseason.
And that doesn't even get to the disappointment of the offense, which was held scoreless in the first half Sunday for the fourth time this season.
The defense? Well, one of its low points came midway through the third quarter when Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run to give Buffalo a 19-0 lead.
Yes, it was a brutal season for the Dolphins. After making the playoffs last season, they reverted to the sort of absent-minded and inept football that made them largely irrelevant for the past 10 years.
For example, Miami had nine penalties for 70 yards in the first half Sunday, and the Dolphins were 1-of-7 on third-down attempts. Buffalo, on the other hand, had four penalties for 35 yards in the first half and was 4 of 8 on third down attempts.