Dolphins still lead AFC East but with lots to prove after being manhandled 31-17 in Philly | Opinion

The Miami Dolphins left the low-50s temps of Philadelphia after Sunday night’s game and flew home still atop the AFC East despite their loss to the Eagles because the Buffalo Bills lost earlier Sunday.

That was the good news for the Fins.

There wasn’t a lot else of that in the 31-17 loss.

Might have been worse, but the Eagles took sportsmanlike knees deep in Fins territory to run out the clock as the game ebbed.

Miami at 5-2 next hosts the resurgent New England Patriots team that just beat Buffalo, and then must travel to meet the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Germany — two more major tests for a Dolphins franchise that hasn’t done enough the past 20-plus years to have earned full faith that what they’ve done so far will continue.

This was “Sunday Night Football.” Prime-time. America watching. More to the point, the NFL watching. An Eagles team that reached last season’s Super Bowl. A Dolphins team trying to get there. Two former Alabama teammates battling again with Tua Tagovailoa vs. Jalen Hurts.

It felt big, the biggest game of Week 7. It felt like a playoff ambiance.

“You can learn everything [from that]. It was a very important thing,” said coach Mike McDaniel. “.I kind of knew that going in that it was going to be that type of atmosphere and that’s very important for our team being on the younger side to experience. Those are critical. You have to feel what it’s like to play such a good team on the road. Your margin for error is so small. If you’re going to lose games, you want it to be against a really good team, and you want it to hurt. The collection of coaches and players in the locker room right now are hurting because they feel like they left some plays on the field for sure. You know, losses, if approached the right way, if you’re not pointing fingers and you’re looking internally, can be a good thing too. So that’s what we’ll be determined to make this moving forward.”

The Super Bowl betting race and the leadership for league MVP would be in play.

The game gave the Dolphins a chance to showcase themselves against the best opponent they have yet faced — with the winner enabled to think itself a legit title contender.

Tagovailoa had called this game and this stage “a good opportunity to see where our team stands and where we’re at.”

Where Miami stands: A good, improved, exciting team, but not one that can yet lay claim to the top tier, after losses in telling tests vs. the Bills and now Eagles. Win the next two including the Chiefs game in Frankfurt, Germany, and we will revisit that.

Miami did not climb to that top tier Sunday because Philly offset the Dolphins’ vaunted team speed by being stronger where big and physical still matters, on the offensive and defensive lines.

“It’s tough when you come on the road against a really good team and you’re not able to execute the way you expected to execute,” said Tagovailoa afterward. “You have to give props to those guys and their coaching staff. They did a real good job preparing for us. We didn’t do enough to win the game and it is what it is. Overall we just have to get better.”

The Dolphins also hurt themselves with penalties, including one that negated a Tyreek Hill touchdown catch.

Injuries also hurt Miami. Offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn went out. And with cornerback Jalen Ramsey not yet back, notably the new absence of corner Xavien Howard with a groin injury was costly. There were no answers especially in stopping or even limiting Eagles receiver A.J. Brown.

“With that position, with that injury, it didn’t seem prudent to kind of press the envelope at this stage,” said McDaniel of the Howard decision.

And, yes, some dubious officiating calls hurt Miami, including but not limited to a roughing the passer penalty that was not, and a facemask/pass interference penalty that replays showed clearly should have been called but was not.

But the striped shirts did not cost Miami this game.

(And, no, the Eagles’ Brotherly Shove play, a.ka. the Tush Push used on short-yardage runs, is not illegal. Should be. Might be by next season. But isn’t now.)

The Dolphins trailed 17-3 in a bad first half and showed fight to tie it 17-17 before the better team stood up.

Without modesty but with accuracy during pregame introductions, the Eagles cornerback included his nickname in announcing himself to the national prime time audience: “Darius “Big Play” Slay.”

He wasn’t lyin’.

Slay’s fourth-quarter goal line interception of Tagovailoa denied the Dolphins’ bid for a tying touchdown when down 24-17 in chilly Philly. Tagovailoa from the Eagles’ 24 underthrew target Raheem Mostert and unwisely put the ball into double coverage that unfortunately included Slay.

Soon after that Birds physicality showed as Philly carved a 13-play, 83-yard drive that made it 31-17.

Ominously Miami’s first offensive play of the game was a delay-of-game penalty, and the offense that leads the NFL in scoring and yards never quite found its rhythm.

The Eagles were coming off a stunning upset loss to the New York Jets and would not be denied at home.

Tua could not click with Hill on deep routes per usual, his 11 catches totaled only 88 yards. The NFL’s leading ground game managed only 45 yards total. Miami could not control the clock.

“We were behind the chains more than we were used to,” McDaniel said afterward. “We rely on the running game to have successful offense. We got going a little late.”

An early field goal, Hill’s 27-yard scoring catch and a 22-yard interception return TD by Jerome Baker off a Jaelan Phillips deflection of a Hurts pass went for naught.

Miami’s opponents thus far have including four struggling offenses (Pats, Broncos, Giants, Panthers). They have faced three good offenses, beating the Chargers by two points, losing to the Bills with less than a close game and now losing handily in Philly.

The Dolphins return from this loss as a first-place team, still, but with more to prove than it had going in.