South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Hyde: Today could be Dolphins’ biggest day
Forget 2008 when former team owner H. Wayne Huizenga cried in a raucous Meadowlands locker room after going from 1-15 to the playoffs. Forget the electric 1985 win over the undefeated, Super-Bowl-Shuffling Bears in the Orange Bowl as the 1972 Dolphins lined the field for support.
Forget, too, that final Sunday in 2007 when the Dolphins secured the No. 1 draft pick. This is it.
Or it can be, anyhow.
This can be the greatest regular-season Sunday (or Monday) in franchise history — even in the cold of a Buffalo January. Especially there, actually.
Go through the history. Fiftyfive years. Eight-hundred-and-six regular-season games (counting Sunday). And none came with the double-sided opportunity the third day of 2021 could serve up:
■ A playoff berth;
■ The No. 3 draft pick.
By definition, these rewards are allergic to each other. It’s like being happily married and happily dating a supermodel. Either one is a treat. But how can both happen?
Yet both can arrive for the Dolphins within a few hours of each other Sunday. The Dolphins play Buffalo at 1 p.m. for a playoff spot. Tennessee plays at Houston at 4:25 p.m.
probably for the Dolphins to secure Houston’s No. 3 draft pick.
Which reward is better? I go with the draft pick, considering the number of quarterbacks in this draft, the number of teams that need quarterbacks and, thus, the inherent value the pick has. Any idea starts with this question: Do the Dolphins need to back up their hope for Tua Tagovailoa with another quarterback?
The good news there is the No. 3 draft pick looks easier to grab than the playoffs, too. Houston just has to stay in character and lose to Tennessee, which needs the game to win the AFC South.
That’s not to dismiss the achievement in a Dolphins’ playoff berth. It’s just that this season’s success isn’t based on that. It’s on how the young players have developed. The full answer to that won’t be coming until next year.
The playoffs would be a bonus, especially since Tagovailoa won’t have any relief help Sunday from Ryan Fitzpatrick, who tested positive for COVID-19. That ends the inane two-armed quarterback comparison to the Dolphins’ 1982 “Woodstrock” success.
Those Dolphins won with the third-best rushing attack and second-worst passing game. That’s not something to imitate, especially when such hope rides on Tua’s arm. Sunday is a full opportunity and tough test for the rookie — a lot tougher than playing in the Las Vegas dome last week against 27th-ranked defense.
Tua was benched in that game for the second time in five weeks. Now he goes against 14th-ranked Buffalo’s defense as well as Mr. January in western New York. The load could lighten if Buffalo decides to rest its starters for next week’s playoffs.
But Tua knows this is his show all the way now with Fitzpatrick out. This season began with everyone talking about Tua’s development so it might as well end there.
Actually, it might end in the draft with the question: Who would you want: (a) Tua and a bushel of draft picks from some team clamoring to trade up for one of the quarterbacks, or (b) whoever falls to third among Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Brigham Young’s Zach Wilson and Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
That’s all down the line. For Sunday, the question is if the Dolphins can haul in these goodies. The big picture is of two rewards that would be mutually exclusive except for general manager Chris Grier’s smart trade last year of Laremy Tunsil and Houston plummeting this season.
The last time the Dolphins made the playoffs in 2016, they drafted 22nd. That netted them defensive end Charles Harris, who is already out of football.
The last time they picked third in 2013 they went 8-8 and traded their 12th and 42nd picks to move up for defensive end Dion Jordan. He struggled with personal demons.
Harris and Jordan tell how it can all fall apart even when it looks to be coming together. This rebuild remains fragile. Nothing’s certain starting with the third pick in the draft considering it could fall closer to 10th if Houston beats Tennessee.
And the playoffs? There’s also a decent chance the Dolphins don’t make them. Win and they’re in. Lose, and they have to see how Baltimore, Cleveland and Indianapolis finish.
Sunday is all about two prizes this or few other franchises have grabbed together. One is to enjoy today — the playoffs hope. Another would be to enjoy tomorrow — the draft hope.
Forget Dan Marino’s “Clock Play.” Forget the Joe Auer returning the opening franchise kickoff for a touchdown. If both come in, this would be greatest regular-season day in franchise history.