On the last Sunday of 2023, the Miami Dolphins have perhaps their biggest game of not just the season or even a decade. Without going to extreme hyperbole, it’s probably the biggest game of the millennium for the franchise.
OK, let’s bring it down a notch. Not since last century, the 1990s, have the Dolphins had a viable opportunity to win a late-December ball game in hopes of situating themselves as the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens is for all the marbles, and that can include the coveted awards of home-field advantage through the playoffs, as well as that opening-round bye.
The game also comes with a chance for Tua Tagovailoa to capture the reins and take a lead in the MVP race, or at least make it helmet-and-helmet heading down the stretch run of Week 18 with a few other thoroughbreds.
The winner in Baltimore will end the 2023 year as kings of the AFC, and the quarterback to lead their team to victory just may be crowned as well.
Getting back to the level of importance of this game for Dolphins fans, you can go back to other big games, such as a 2016 road game in Buffalo. Sitting at 9-5, backup extraordinaire Matt Moore quarterbacked the Dolphins into overtime in Western New York and marched them into the playoffs following a 34-31 win. However, it was the last victory of the season, as Miami lost the following week, and then lost in the opening round of the playoffs to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Let’s go back to another decade. 2008 was the last time the Dolphins won the AFC East, and they have an opportunity to lock it up on Sunday. 2008, to put things into perspective universally, was the year “Iron Man” hit theaters, creating a world of Marvel movies.
The 2008 season finale in New Jersey against the Chad Pennington-led Dolphins against his former New York Jets team was nothing less than a cinematic script of a situation.
The last week of the season, for the division, against the quarterback who replaced him, and with the game in his old home.
Miami won 24-17, and that, too, was their final victory of the season, losing to the Ravens at home in the wild-card round.
Going further down the timeline, we can hit the opening scene of the 2000s, back in the year 2000, when the mighty Dolphins defense led the franchise to their last playoff victory. Finishing that season at 11-5 and hosting the Indianapolis Colts in a wild-card matchup, running back Lamar Smith walked them off with a game-winning touchdown in overtime. The Dolphins would take to the road for the divisional round yet lose to the Oakland Raiders. Miami earned the third seed that season.
Back to present day, Miami hasn’t had a chance to play for the top seed this late in a season since the days of “Uncle” Dan Marino.
The game against the Ravens this Sunday is one that easily could be tagged as the Dolphins “Game of the Century.” A win would give them the potential ability to rest key players during a week off in January, as well as hosting a playoff game, where that potential win would lead to a home game for a shot at a Super Bowl appearance.
In the Dolphins’ infinite search for their sixth Super Bowl appearance in franchise history now is the time to avenge all the negative reviews and snap away the stigma of not beating the big-bads of the game when all the lights are shined on them.
