Some sportsbooks had the Miami Dolphins listed as 11.5-point underdogs heading into Thursday night’s game at the unbeaten Buffalo Bills.
Thus, some predictably said that Miami earned a “moral victory” by being competitive as the club fell to 0-3 on the season via a 31-21 defeat at Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium.
While speaking with reporters after the loss, multiple individuals associated with the Dolphins brushed aside such takes.
No moral victories for Tua Tagovailoa
“No moral victories, that’s for sure,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa directly said, per Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. “There’s definitely some things that we can take away that are good and up to par with our standard of how we operate within our offense. … Never good to lose, regardless of how a certain individual may have felt they performed. This is a team sport. We win together, we lose together.”
A Thursday report indicated that the Dolphins needed to improve their culture this past offseason after head coach Mike McDaniel failed to guide the club to a single playoff win across his first three campaigns in charge. Whether or not that happened may not mean much regarding McDaniel’s future with the franchise if his team doesn’t start winning games beginning with the Week 4 clash against the New York Jets on Sept. 29.
Was Mike McDaniel proud after loss to Bills?
“I’m never proud of a loss,” McDaniel admitted during his postgame media availability. “We came here to win. I refuse to take moral victories as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.”
Before Thursday’s game got underway, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross “does not want to fire” McDaniel and instead “wants this to work.” That said, Miami’s next game is in a “Monday Night Football” time slot versus a Jets team that will be 0-3 if it loses to the 2-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium this coming Sunday afternoon.
While Thursday’s defeat seemed to show that McDaniel’s players haven’t yet quit on him, the Week 4 matchup at Hard Rock Stadium could tell a different story. One can’t help but wonder if Ross would consider making a change if the Dolphins get blown out by the Jets in front of a prime-time television audience.