Miami Dolphins have Dolfans Believing Again; Bludgeon Buffalo Bills

The Miami Dolphins are finally clicking on all cylinders, but is it too late? True Dolphins fans certainly hope not.  Matt Moore looked supurb again, as the offense controlled the Buffalo Bills defense.  But the true story today was how the Dolphins defense played.  The defense bruised the Bills all game long, knocking several players out of the game (including NFL leading rusher Fred Jackson, Donald Jones, and Terrence McGee), and forcing two interceptions, four fumbles (none recovered), and several dislodged passes.  But the key stat today is that the Dolphins have now gone 12 straight quarters (3 games) without allowing a single touchdown.

Coincidently, the Dolphins have won all three of those games.

The closest Buffalo came to scoring a touchdown today was at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter when Miami held the Bills from getting into the endzone from inside the 1 yard line.  Despite the safety given up on the next play, that goal line stand sealed the game for Miami.  The stand was highlighted by a vicious hit on former Clemson Tigers standout C.J. Spiller delivered by Vontae Davis on the goal-line.

This is clearly a different team than the one who failed to hold on to leads agains the Cleveland Browns, Denver Tebows, and New York Giants.

Including the defense’s excellent play, Matt Moore completed 70% of his passes, threw 3 touchdowns to 3 different receivers, and continues to show how well he moves this Dolphins offense.  The Suck for Luck chants are slowly fading into the distance as the Dolphins continue to win, and Moore continues to prove himself as a viable starter in the NFL and for the Dolphins.

Although the offense didn’t do much after halftime, it didn’t need to.  Miami raced out to a commanding 28-6 lead while scoring touchdowns on each of its first three drives.  The final touchdown of the day came on Chris Clemons‘ blocked punt which was recovered in the endzone by Lex Hilliard.  The last time the Dolphins blocked a punt and scored was October 19, 1990 (over 21 years ago) when Mark Higgs‘ score helped the Dolphins beat the New England Patriots despite turning the ball over 5 times.

So where does this put the Dolphins, now 3-7, in the AFC playoff hunt?  Some say it’s too late for the Dolphins to make the playoffs, but there is still a chance they could grab that 6th spot if the miraculous happens and they reel off 6 more victories.  As I type this, the Atlanta Falcons are 2 touchdowns up on the Tennessee Titans, the Cincinnati Bengals lost, the New York Jets lost on Thursday night, the Cleveland Browns beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the San Diego Chargers are down a touchdown to the Chicago Bears.  If the Falcons hold on and win, and the Bears beat the Chargers, everything will have happened this weekend that I said needed to happen to keep the Dolphins playoff hopes alive.

What does that mean?  Really, at this point, it just means Dolphins fans have the opportunity to get excited for one more week.  And honestly, what more could you want?

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