The Dolphins don't have much time to talk about the beating they took from the Ravens on Sunday.
Week 18 will bring the Bills to Miami for a Sunday night game that will determine the winner of the AFC East and draw the curtain on the NFL regular season. The Dolphins will need to get past their 56-19 upset of the AFC's top seed quickly and get the right headspace to beat their division rivals.
In his postgame news conference on Sunday, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said he wasn't concerned about his club's ability to do that.
“I'm pretty confident the guys are going to handle it the way I hope,” McDaniel said via text from the team. “This has kind of become our standard of running from nothing. Own it. If you're trying to do anything worthwhile, you have to evaluate yourself, 'Okay, is this that hard?' It's hard. Maybe that means this is your opportunity to separate yourself.” As a team and dealing with this in ways that other teams can't. Not dividing, staying together, and I think with the leaders and the captains and the leadership council on this team, we don't have anything to worry about. We need to recalibrate, get back together and move forward together. This is the way “The only thing where there are no such results is when people really rely on each other and trust each other and put their focus and their minds in the right direction, which is what I see all of our guys doing over and over again. Don't expect anything else.”
While the team's mental state may not be a concern, their physical condition can be an issue. Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and running back Raheem Mostert did not play Sunday and the Dolphins saw quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, edge rusher Bradley Chubb and cornerback Xavien Howard leave with injuries during the game.
Chubb is believed to miss this season, but the Dolphins will benefit from good news about the rest of the group before their showdown with the Bills.
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