The Miami Dolphins ran their record to 6-3 on the season on Sunday evening with a 29-21 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in a clash of rookie quarterbacks — helping to further their cause as they look to climb the ranks of the AFC and secure themselves their first postseason berth since 2016. Wins against AFC opposition will go a long way in sorting out the chaos and providing a clear opportunity to make the noise necessary to make the playoffs; and Miami has nothing but AFC opponents left ahead of them.
If you were ever looking for evidence that this year is different than the past as a Miami Dolphins fan, check out the results from Week 10 and the impact it has had on the Miami Dolphins in the standings. The Miami Dolphins of old, at 5-3 entering Week 10, would have absolutely lost to a 2-6 west coast team that had to travel across the country to play the Dolphins in Miami Gardens.
The rest of the AFC scores went about as well as they could have, especially when you consider that the Dolphins win every time the Houston Texans lose. Houston lost in Cleveland by a score of 10-7 in Week 10, pushing the Browns to 6-3 alongside Miami and dropping Houston to 2-7. The Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans both fell to 6-3 on the season as well — and the Dolphins have climbed over both in the AFC conference standings.
As a matter of fact, just five teams sit ahead of the Dolphins in the conference period at this point in time — Miami is 6-3 and currently ranks as the AFC’s 6th-seed. Only two teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers & the Kansas City Chiefs, have less losses than Miami in the AFC. And as the buzz around Miami’s eight point win over the Chargers was finally settling, the football gods answered a Miami prayer courtesy of a familiar face: Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray, one week after proving to be quite the thorn for Miami to dispose of in Week 9, unleashed a prayer into the air with seconds left against the Buffalo Bills, trailing 30-26. Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins skied over three Bills defenders to secure the pass, dropping Buffalo to 7-3 on the season and pulling Miami with a game of the lead in the AFC East.
The Bills still own the head to head tiebreaker against the Dolphins courtesy of Buffalo’s Week 2 victory in Miami. But the Dolphins are a half-game behind in the standings and have a chance to pull even at 7-3 next weekend while the Bills serve their bye week and must stew over the miracle the Cardinals enjoyed on their behalf in Week 10.
Miami’s conference positioning enjoyed a big boost in Week 10 — and if the playoffs started today, they’d be due for a trip to Kansas City to play the Chiefs in the Wild Card round. Miami fortunately has plenty of time to try to improve upon that standing and potentially even catch the Bills to make a bid for a division championship and a home playoff game. Imagine saying that six weeks ago…