A month ago, to think these Miami Dolphins would be two days away from playing in a game of this magnitude this late in the season, would have been a reach of epic proportions.That’s because one month ago, this once premiere organization had hit the rockiest of all bottoms.
The locker room was under a national attack. The head coach and GM were sticking “for sale” signs up on the South Florida palm trees surrounding their houses. And the players were fresh off a Monday night debacle in Tampa Bay.
This team was toast. The season was over. The franchise, a laughing stock.
And then, something funny happened. Something you only see in sports. Something so unprecedented, so unpredictable, that it almost wasn’t believable.
This team, amid a national scandal that made you afraid to turn the TV on in the morning, began to gel.
It started with a defensive stand against San Diego. You know, that team that just beat Peyton Manning? Then it was the rout in New York, where these scandalous group of men bullied Geno Smith and the Jets from the word "go." Finally, you had the near-miracle in Pittsburgh, where a snowy, 34-point offensive outburst was nearly undone by a series of laterals that will forever live in Dolphins folklore.
Everybody had buried the Miami Dolphins — except, well, the Miami Dolphins.
So now here they sit, winners of three of their last four, above .500 for the first time since October and 48 hours away from the biggest game this franchise has seen in years. What a difference 30 days can make.
But, as Joe Philbin loves to say, there is still work left to be done.
Plenty of it.
It's work like beating Tom Brady for the first time in four years. It's work like beating Bill Belichick for only the third time since 2008. It's work like overcoming years of second half meltdowns and blown leads.
17-3 ring a bell?
Boston’s own Pedro Martinez once called the New York Yankees his “daddy.” If that was the case with Pedro, then what are Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to the Miami Dolphins? Pedro would later overcome New York, on the most pivotal of all stages. Can Ryan Tannehill and Joe Philbin do the same on Sunday?
Oh yes, For the Miami Dolphins, it doesn’t get any bigger than this.
The New England Patriots could very well be the only thing standing in the way of the Dolphins and their first postseason birth in five years. Think about that for a second.
After all this team has been through — a three game winning streak, a four-game losing streak, a national controversy and a snowy miracle — the only thing standing in their way now is, as Bostonians would say, the friggin’ Patriots.
And you know what, doesn’t it HAVE to be this way?
Shouldn’t it be the Patriots? If the Miami Dolphins ARE truly back, if Ryan Tannehill and Joe Philbin have really, honestly turned this thing around, then what better way to prove it?
For years the Miami Dolphins have waited for this chance. This team was built some nine months ago for this very moment, on this very stage.
And make no mistake about it, this is a big stage.
Sun Life Stadium will be sold out. No orange seats for this one! CBS is sending in their A team. Tickets are priced in the triple-digits. Heck, even today the grounds crew painted the end zone in Miami Dolphins aqua for the first time in... well, ever.
This is the game of the week around the NFL. Ask yourselves, Dolfans, how many times have you said that in the last decade?
Can Ryan Tannehill out-duel a legend? Can Joe Phibin out-coach one? Can the Miami Dolphins finish what they started some six weeks ago?
So many questions. So many unknowns. So much excitement for a game that, 30 days ago, would have given South Floridians nightmares. But not anymore. Not after the latest reclamation project.
For the first time in a while, South Florida is sleeping soundly. For now.
That could all change soon. After all, “daddy” does get home on Sunday. It’s time for the Miami Dolphins to face the music, once and for all.
It doesn’t get any bigger than this.
