Injuries or Not, Phins MUST Win!

The 2023 Season and more hang in the balance Week 18!

The Miami Dolphins will enter their most critical moment of the season against the Buffalo Bills with the leadership of the AFC East hanging in the balance… and they will play far more injured than their opponent. Injuries or not, the Phins MUST beat the Bills this week just like a very injured Ravens team won last week at home against us. There are no excuses that will matter for playoff seeding and the Dolphins can’t open up the Wildcard round on the road at Kansas City, then likely go on the road to Buffalo with a last stop in Baltimore. Even the most positive Dolphins fan can see this would be a brutal almost impossible path to the Super Bowl.

This is why the Dolphins must win that 2nd seed and get home-field advantage for two games because there’s a lot more at stake than the 2023 Season.

The 2023 Season is the Phins high-point talent season

The Dolphins have no doubt been limited by injuries, but Omar Kelly did an examination and they were ranked 13th, so other teams have had it worse. But again, look at the Bills and Ravens for teams that overcome injuries to win big. The problem is next season the Phins will have a harder time finding success than this season, so their best chance to make good is NOW!

Brandon Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, and Connor Williams (who is a free agent) won’t be ready to play until at least mid-season next year. And if you look at Von Millar, it could not be until late in the season or the following season until they are 100%. Add in Robert Hunt, Andrew Van Ginkel, Brandon Jones, Raekwon Davis, and many others who are free agents with the Dolphins expected to be north of $40 million over the cap. Christian Wilkins is the most notable free agent, but he’ll get the franchise tag. The problem there is that the tag will cost about $21 million, putting the Dolphins $61 million over the cap with all these free agents.

Miami clearly can extend contracts and move money. But you can bet pay per heads that money will be tight over the next couple of years forcing hard cuts with Tua in the last year of his contract along with Waddle, Holland, and Phillips. So the talent pool will decline with these losses, players getting older, and players getting injured.

This is why the time is NOW!

The Ravens game was UGLY, but Miami can beat the Bills

Miami is home and while the Bills are tough and talented, they are also inconsistent. I know Allen has handed the Phins their hat over and over, but it’s time for this team to call up all the magic they have for one epic win to change to destiny of this franchise.

In 2021 the Dolphins decided to move from a slow build to win now and fired Brian Flores and hired Mike McDaniel and Vic Fangio this season. This started with Stephen Ross and Chris Grier and to their credit, the Dolphins have made the playoffs two seasons in a row. But, given all that’s been spent and how much of the future has been mortgaged for this moment, much more is expected to validate these decisions. The time is now to prove the wisdom of the Phins’ leadership and how well this team has been built. We can do it. The question is, will we?! Go Phins!!!