The Miami Dolphins were defeated by the Buffalo Bills in Week 15, handing them their third straight loss to postseason contenders on the road. However, they did look better in this game than they had in the previous two.
Throughout the year, Touchdown Wire’s Mark Lane has been producing weekly NFL power rankings, and even though they lost another contest, Mike McDaniel’s team remained at No. 9.
Here’s what Lane wrote about Miami this week:
“The Dolphins have made impressive strides in their first year with Mike McDaniel. Miami will have to take the wild-card route if they want to go deep into the playoffs. The Dolphins took the Bills down to the wire and also showed they can bring their style of play on the road regardless of how frightful the weather is outside.”
Ahead of the Dolphins are the Philadelphia Eagles (13-1), San Francisco 49ers (10-4), Buffalo Bills (11-3), Minnesota Vikings (11-3), Kansas City Chiefs (11-3), Cincinnati Bengals (10-4), Los Angeles Chargers (8-6) and Detroit Lions (7-7).
The Lions are probably a bit high, but they’ve put together a solid stretch. If Miami can defeat the Green Bay Packers in Week 16, they should jump up again.