On Thursday night, the Miami Dolphins will play one of the most, if not the most important, games on their schedule. While their 2024 slate started just a few days ago, it’s hard to understate how crucial a win against the Buffalo Bills, winners of four straight AFC East titles, would be for the Dolphins.
Yet almost all the conversation this week surrounding the Dolphins have centered around Tyreek Hill’s run-in with police Sunday.
So how will the Dolphins refocus for a pivotal Thursday matchup against the reigning division champs? According to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the answer isn’t to simply move past the incident.
“The thing is we don’t avoid the obvious,” Tagovailoa said. “Let it be what it is, let it take its course. I think when we start to brush that away and think that this football thing is the most important thing to us when – this isn’t just something that Tyreek had gone through — this is something that people in general go through. That’s a life thing.”
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Monday that it’s football, not the incident with police, that can serve as a distraction for the team — in a good way.
“I think that a lot of times it’s therapeutic to be in the process of NFL game week and a Thursday night division opponent,” McDaniel said. “There’s just been innumerable times of things happening in all ways, shapes or forms to players, and they find the comfort in the process and the commitment to each other and the team. … I have a pretty sound expectation of guys being very, very focused on our next opponent which happens to be in the division.”
On Sunday, the Dolphins managed to hone in on the opponent in front of them and erase a 14-0 deficit to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars. Hill finished with 130 receiving yards, including an 80-yard touchdown pass.
“It’s really just being a professional,” Dolphins safety Jevon Holland said Tuesday. “At the end of the day, this is our career. This is what puts food on our table, so to be able to move on to – crazy situations happen and then you keep on moving with life. They’re on the backburner and once you walk out of the facility you have to deal with them.”
Miami has lost four consecutive matchups against the Bills, including a playoff loss in January 2023. Both the Dolphins and Bills are 1-0 after come-from-behind wins Sunday.
