Oh how the mighty have fallen as the Miami Dolphins head into the wild-card round of the NFL Playoffs traveling to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. The team was once in contention for the No. 1 seed and a for sure lock to take the AFC East crown.
However, Dec. 11 against the Tennessee Titans will go down as a night to forget for Dolphins fans as they suffered a home loss to them that would ruin the chances to capture the No. 1 seed or the division. Now they have to deal with extreme cold temperatures and win a playoff game which they have not done since 2000.
While they have a tough road ahead of them, there have been other factors that will impact or even be their “fatal flaw” that will doom them for this post-season run. Dolphins fans really can't have nice things, can't they?
Frigid temperatures will certainly impact Miami
This might be the most simple disadvantage the Dolphins has going into Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium Saturday night. Miami and the cold do not go together. But this isn't just the plain old chilly weather that the team has played in before, this weather projected for Saturday might be historically frigid.
Per the projected temperature at Arrowhead Stadium for Saturday night, it is “to be -6 degrees, prompting AccuWeather to highlight in their forecast that it's ‘potentially the coldest home playoff game in Kansas City history ‘” according to NFL.com. As the Dolphins are used to playing in the warmer climate due to their region, this could be a massive disadvantage.
It is ironic as people make fun of the Dolphins for using the hot weather as their advantage putting opposing teams on the hotter end of Hard Rock Stadium. How can Miami adjust? Usually with these type of games, the running game has to be at their very best.
While the weather could eventually call for the end of the Dolphins, their rushing attack has been exceptional as De'Von Achane is excellent in space and Raheem Mostert has been a touchdown machine. The status of Mostert is still yet to be determined as he has missed the last two games.
Injuries, injuries, and injuries
This might be seen as a common excuse used for any NFL team, but anybody can admit that the Dolphins luck has been disastrous. Players such as Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, Jaylen Waddle, Mostert, Andrew Van Ginkle, Jerome Baker, Xavien Howard, and others have missed time, will miss the Chiefs game, or even if the Dolphins win, will be out for the season.
Their pass rush has been utterly depleted, which has resulted in the signings of 36-year old Bruce Irvin and 34-year old linebacker Justin Houston. Those and other signings have made the Dolphins the oldest team on average in the NFL Playoffs when they were among the youngest with their roster fully healthy.
Even if the Dolphins win against the Chiefs, this is a vastly different team than the one fans saw earlier in the season. The one hope they can have is that Waddle and Mostert can come back and give the Miami offense some juice for a hopeful post-season run.
Still, this all lies on the backs of head coach Mike McDaniel, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, receiver Tyreek Hill, and others. On the other hand, there are immediate concerns with the Chiefs game and long-term questions with the playoff run in general. The wild-card game between Miami and Kansas City will be Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the streaming service Peacock.
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