McDaniel, Tagovailoa react. A conclusion about future after loss. And 12 Dolphins thoughts

A dozen notes, quotes and thoughts after the Dolphins’ crushing 30-27 loss to the Bills on Tyler Bass’ 61-yard field goal in the final seconds:

▪ Nobody wants to hear about silver linings after a 12th loss in 14 games against Buffalo, not after a defeat that likely ensures a 24th consecutive season without a playoff win.

But we will give you six anyway:

1). Tua Tagovailoa’s excellent game (25 for 28 for 231 yards, two touchdowns, no picks and a 125 passer rating) offers evidence to refute the notion that he cannot play well against very good teams, including Buffalo.

2). The offensive line is good enough to win with, contrary to public perception. Miami ran for 149 yards on 4.8 per carry and permitted only one sack against a very good Bills pass rush. This was the third game in a row that the Dolphins offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage.

3). The offense is more diversified with Jonnu Smith, who had five catches for 46 yards.

4). The run game should be a strength of this team for the foreseeable future, with cheap backs in De’Von Achane and Jaylen Wright and (for now), Raheem Mostert, who had a costly fumble but also 56 yards on 10 carries and two catches for 32 yards.

5). Perhaps the Dolphins might have produced the one stop they needed if two or three among Jevon Holland, Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips and Zach Sieler weren’t injured. All are capable of game-altering plays. Winning in Buffalo is difficult enough, more so without four of your five or six best defenders.

6). This reinforced our belief that a total rebuild or blow-up of the roster isn’t necessary, though a change in general manager could be justified.

What is necessary is better luck with health, better drafting and better personnel decisions at several positions: backup quarterback, nose tackle (Benito Jones shouldn’t have been the free agent target), outside linebacker (never making an offer to Andrew Van Ginkel was unforgivable) and a few other spots.

This team also must become more disciplined, less error-prone (Miami leads the league in fumbles and ranks among the top in presnap penalties) and generally tougher physically, especially defensively with the game on the line.

▪ So that’s the good news. The bad news? The season is essentially dead, based on historical precedent.

Only three teams have come back from a 2-6 record to make the playoffs. Only two have done it since 1990, and both of those teams won divisions with bad records — the 2020 Commanders (who won the NFC East at 7-9) and the 2022 Jaguars (who won the AFC South at 9-8).

The Dolphins winning the division seems unfathomable with Buffalo (7-2) owning a 4 1/2 game lead over Miami (2-6) and owning the tiebreaker.

And there’s no precedent, since 1990, to come back from 2-6 to earn a wild card berth.

▪ Tagovailoa, afterward: “Wherever we play them, we’ve got to find a way to beat them. It was a great game. We are taking a step in the right direction.

“There weren’t as many mishaps but still things we have to clean up with presnap operation. It was a really good step in the right direction.”

Tagovailoa, who has played well in two games back from a concussion, said: “It’s God grace on my life that I’m still able to play the sport I love.”

▪ Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, afterward: “This will hurt. Tough division loss. Valiant effort. There are no moral victories. Great job by the Bills. You have to be error free, and we had some errors. It’s tough, especially when you’re playing a good opponent.

“The team recognized they played a better brand of football. There is growth and you have to make sure you emphasize that and you want that to continue.”

On the improvement offensively, McDaniel said they have been “finding conviction in things guys do well. You’re looking at an opponent that loves to double [Tyreek Hill] and [Jaylen Waddle]. They were doubling them a good amount of the game.

“I’ve used a basketball analogy: You can either try to split the double or get the assist. Tua played one of his best games since we’ve been working together finding those eligibles and taking what the defense was giving him. I was very happy with Tua’s ball placement.”

He noted that “we would have had the ball on the 49-yard line if” Bass had missed the game-winner.

▪ Missed assignments, communication breakdowns, untimely penalties and poor tackling keep killing this season.

Linebacker Jordyn Brooks seemed to miss an assignment and Marcus Maye missed a tackle on Ray Davis’ 63-yard pass and run that put Buffalo up 20-13.

Jones missed a tackle on a key Khalil Shakur reception.

Jordan Poyer committed an unnecessary helmet-to-helmet personal foul penalty on Keon Coleman, on a third down, to prolong the Bills’ game-winning drive.

“It takes it out of everyone’s hands when you go helmet-to-helmet,” McDaniel said. “When there’s helmet-to-helmet contact, it is what it is. They will call that every time if that’s the case. You have to go below the neck.”

Poyer said: “I thought I hit him in the chest. I felt I made a great break on the ball.”

▪ Edge rusher Chop Robinson had three pressures in his first four pass rushing chances, giving him 14 in 107 pass rushing snaps to that point, which is well above average. Then he delivered his first NFL sack. He often got the better of his matchup with Dion Dawkins.

But Miami nearly went a third game in a row without a sack until Robinson had one late.

That makes the decision to invest in past-his-prime Shaq Barrett (who retired) and bypass an offer to Van Ginkel (who has five sacks for the Vikings) all the more exasperating.

▪ Mostert’s fumble was his sixth in his past 16 games, but McDaniel stuck with him. The Dolphins generally don’t believe in in-game benching of players who make mistakes.

“Got to fix that,” McDaniel said “He’s ran as hard as he’s ran all season, but we can’t turn the ball over especially to that team and expect to win the game. We talk about it all the time; defenders in pursuit, the guys you can’t see are who you are most vulnerable to.”

That happened on the Mostert fumble, with Taron Johnson chopping the ball out.

“I’ve got to stop doing these damn turnovers; it’s embarrassing,” Mostert said. “Johnson is known for doing that type of stuff. I’ve got to correct those things.”

▪ The decision to replace David Long Jr. with Anthony Walker was justified for two reasons:

1). Long hasn’t played nearly as well this season; Pro Football Focus rates him 81st of 81 NFL inside linebackers.

2). Not only has Long struggled against the pass as a Dolphin, but Josh Allen was 13 for 13 for 176 yards and two touchdowns when targeting Long in their previous three meetings.

“This gave us the best chance to win against this particular opponent,” McDaniel said of that lineup change, noting Walker deserved to play more. “He added some value to the whole defense. But I’ll check out his play when I watch the defense on the flight.”

▪ McDaniel, on the decision to kick a game-tying extra point instead of going for two after the Dolphins closed to within 27-26 with 1:38 left:

“We were prepared to go for two in certain time situations. Just felt like there was too much time left.”

▪ McDaniel, on Waddle leaving with a bleeding shin moments before catching the 7-yard TD pass with 1:38 to go:

“They had to bandage stuff on his shin. When you’re down, you have to come out for one play. He was ready to go back in. Based on the rules you have to come out for a play before going back in.”

▪ The Dolphins used both Cam Smith and Siran Neal as their third cornerback in the absence of Kader Kohou (and to an extent, Storm Duck).

Smith struggled early, committing a pass interference that seemed to mistakenly be called on Maye, then committed a holding penalty. Smith played better late.

▪ Players took a glass-half-full perspective afterward:

Poyer: “There are some good things we can take out of that game. We went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the league and it came down to a 61-yard field goal.”

Walker: “They just made one more play than we did. A lot of ball left. We’re hitting our stride right now.”

Waddle: “We were running the ball at will.”

Tyreek Hill said: “I feel we got better. I’m proud of this team. We played some good ball.” He said of Bass’ 61-yard game winner: “I thought he was going to miss that.”

But... “We’ve got to win out from here on out,” Hill said.

And Calais Campbell conceded “the margin for error is zero.”