A perfect day right to the draft-ilicious end
MIAMI GARDENS —
Perfect day. Perfect game. Perfect scene.
“We had the game in our hands at the end,’’ Miami Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake said. Perfect decision.
“We were going for two all the way,’’ Dolphins coach Brian Flores said of the two-point conversion with six seconds left.
Perfect play.
“We worked on it all week,’’ Flores said.
Perfect pass.
“I just dropped it — I’ve got to hold up my end,’’ Drake said. And so a perfect ending. Dolphins win 16-17. Meaning, they lost to Washington 17-16 on Sunday, but they won while losing. Or lost while winning. Or however you want to word success for this abnormal team in this dizzying season.
Who would have thought that failed two-point conversion would come as relief to a majority of Dolphins fans?
Who would figure an 0-5 record would have many nodding along in agreement?
And, finally, who would have put Drake on the receiving end of two Miami Miracles?
Sunday’s play was the opposite in form and fantasy of the triplelateral play that beat New England last season. To be sure, Drake wasn’t scoring even if he caught the quick, mini-screen pass.
Washington played it so properly that Drake would have needed, as Flores said, “a pretty spectacular play,” to convert the two points for the win.
But the Dolphins played a close game for the first time this year. That’s something. They came within that dramatic, two-point conversion of their first twin. That’s something, too.
And they lost on that final play. That’s everything, at least if you have your eyes on the No. 1 draft pick. And the Dolphins have come too far down reclamation road to view anything else.
There was good news all around in that draft department. Not only did previously winless Washington lose. The New York
Jets, who were 0-4, beat Dallas on Sunday. That knocks them down a draft peg.
So if the standings show the Dolphins are 0-5 and heading on the road for a couple of games, the draft order says something otherwise about their season. It says the big picture is trending to No. 1 in April.
The only debate left in this Dolphins season isn’t who starts at quarterback, even after Ryan Fitzpatrick sparked Sunday’s comeback.
Josh Rosen is the starter. That’s what this season is about. If you don’t know that by now, you haven’t paid attention.
No, the only worthy debate is whether the joy of one win is worth potentially costing the top draft pick. You know my take: We’re past such face-saving ideas at this point.
The Dolphins brass isn’t purposely throwing games, as Sunday showed. But if it was doing so it would keep star cornerback Xavien Howard out of the game with injury.
That let Washington rookie Terry McLaurin to catch two touchdown passes. That gave Washington a 17-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. That looked like the end of the day, as the Dolphins had been outscored 92-0 in the second halves of games this year until then.
So what they do? They came back. It wasn’t perfect. They were offside for a second time this year on an onside kick they recovered. But Fitzpatrick was FitzMagic in a fourth quarter with two touchdown drives to double the season total and spark the comeback.
If it was a normal season, you’d second-guess the conversion attempt. The Dolphins were at home, had full momentum and Washington looked to be melting in the heat. You play that game out rather than call a running-back screen.
But this isn’t a normal year, so there’s no secondguessing of such details. Nor was there wallowing in defeat, no matter what the scoreboard was.
“It’s much more fun to be involved in a game like that than one when you look up and you’re losing by 40-plus points,’’ Fitzpatrick said. Perfect. “It was a little bit wild all the way to the last minute,’’ Washington interim coach Bill Callahan said. Perfect. “The end result is what the end result is,’’ Drake said. “It’s a loss.” Absolutely, draft-ilicious perfect.