Cold, harsh reality ready to greet Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa if they fall flat vs. the Chiefs

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins take the field on Saturday night against the Kansas City Chiefs, it will be impossible not to feel the stakes and the weight of what they must accomplish. This is, for all intents and purposes, a blueprint game that will shape what the future holds for this franchise.

The Dolphins (11-6) stumbled toward the playoffs, going 2-3 in their past five games and ended up losing the AFC East title to the Buffalo Bills in the final week of the regular season. The defeat set up the Dolphins to play in one of the coldest games in NFL history at Arrowhead Stadium against the reigning Super Bowl champions.

One of the biggest themes of this season’s Dolphins was their inability to beat the better teams in the league. They ended up beating one team with a winning record this season, which was the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16. That’s a problem they’re going to have face head-on in the postseason.

Despite the NFC South’s best efforts, every team in the playoffs has a winning record. The real gauntlet is just now starting and a win against the Chiefs would go far toward alleviating concerns about how this team needs to be shaped.

The Dolphins have largely been labeled a finesse team due to how explosive their offense is and how much space they’re able to create on a play-by-play basis. If there’s ever a week to shed that label and establish a perceived sense of physicality (every NFL team is physical, the sport demands it), this is it.

“You can’t prepare for a game like that with that kind of weather, so it’ll be new,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa told reporters this week about his first playoff start.

So, yeah, about that weather. The temperature will range anywhere from -10 degrees to -30 degrees with wind chill throughout the course of the game (retractable roof please!). The Dolphins have lost 10 straight games in temperatures below 40 degrees and they’re about to play in a game that may reach 70 degrees colder…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-01-12 05:03:37

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