Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A lesson learned?
Dolphins traditionally flop vs. Bills after beating Pats
Suddenly, inexplicably, the Dolphins looked good.
So very, merry good.
They beat mighty New England, and since perspective is a week-to-week concept in the NFL, the adjectives around them immediately careened from awful to awesome.
“Buffalo’s next,” safety Reshad Jones said.
Oh, all this wasn’t said in the wake of Monday night’s win against the Patriots.
This was the fallout three years ago. This was said before the Dolphins followed a big, loud, fun win at home against the champion Patriots with what proved to be a dismal trip to Buffalo.
“That’s not something we’re thinking about now,” Jones said in Monday’s aftermath of the 27-20 win against the Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium.
Maybe they should. Maybe a detailed study lesson is needed. Because like the philosopher said: If you don’t know history, you’re bound to repeat the euphoria of a home win against New England with a decidedly disappointing road game in Buffalo. It wasn’t just in 2014 the Dolphins did this.
It also was 2013. And in 2006, too. Three times in the past 11 years – the only schedules to fall this way — the Dolphins have been full of accomplishment and maybe too full of themselves after beating the champion Patriots. They then flew to Buffalo to play a series of mediocre Bills teams.
That ended the euphoria. It ended the Dolphins’ season, in some cases, too, just as a loss today would end whatever minimal slice of Dolphins playoff hope is left.
You want perspective on that big Monday night win? There’s the perspective: Don’t go crazy over its significance. Go win again. And again. There’s a reason Dolphins fans feel they’ve been living a Groundhog Day existence this millennium, one in which seasons repeat themselves and tomorrow never arrives.
It’s threatened moments like this. It’s unmemorable history like this. It’s games like New England at home where the Dolphins show the upside of who they can be in what’s been an otherwise disappointing season. And it’s games like in Buffalo, where they immediately show who they are as well.
“Giving up big plays was our Achilles’ heel on defense,” Nick Saban said in 2006 after the Dolphins followed a 21-0 win against New England with a 21-0 loss in Buffalo.
“If I had a better answer, I’d have stopped it,” Joe Philbin said in 2013 after the Dolphins followed a 24-20 win against New England with a 19-0 loss in Buffalo.
“I think we are built to beat the Patriots,’’ linebacker Philip Wheeler said in 2014 after the Dolphins followed a 33-20 win against New England with a 20-10 loss in Buffalo. “We’re not built to beat the Bills.”
The obvious quirk of football fate here is the Patriots are a great team during the stretch while the Bills have been a step below the Dolphins. Buffalo hasn’t made the the playoffs since 1999, the longest drought of any team.
The harder question is just what a win for the Dolphins means in Buffalo. Does it fractionally increase the playoff hope that sits at a minuscule 5 percent entering today’s game?
Or what would the worth be in the bigger picture? The story of the push the past couple of weeks is the developing kids. Cornerback Xavien Howard and running back Kenyan Drake have played like stars. Jordan Phillips has suddenly grown up. Jakeem Grant made an impact. Does this keep going? Or does the story in Buffalo keep going?
“Any time in the NFL you shut out a team, that speaks volumes,’’ defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday said in 2006 after beating New England. “And to do it to this team …”
“You saw the way we can play,’’ Richie Incognito said in 2013 after beating the Patriots.
“That’ s us, that’s who we are,’’ receiver Mike Wallace said in 2014 after beating the Patriots. We’ve been here before. “That win [against New England] means nothing in Buffalo,’’ Reshad Jones said.
Have they learned that? Or is Sunday just another lesson?