Well, this is it. The end. The last game of a good
Miami Dolphins run. Everyone says so. And they've said it loudly and expertly from the moment Sunday's playoff game in Pittsburgh was set, too.
"If I was picking one team this opening round, it's Pittsburgh," NBC analyst and former Super Bowl winning coach
Tony Dungy said last Sunday night.
How can you refute him? The
Steelers are home. They're a veteran team. They're healthy. They've won seven in a row. They're even rested after many stars sat out last Sunday's game. They are …
(… hey, just between us, ignore all this. I'm doing a Dolphin official a favor by repeating the national narrative about this game. Seriously. "Do us a favor," he said, "and pick them just like everyone else. We feed off that. It's gone on all year and look at the year we've had." OK, well, keep reading …)
… certain this is matchup hell for the Dolphins, too. Pick the poison. Quarterback Big
Ben Roethlisberger and receiver
Antonio Brown against a beat-up Dolphins secondary? Running back Le'Veon Bell against the league's 30th rush defense?
If Cleveland can do that, is there no hope for a Dolphins offense that saw Jay Ajayi run for 204 yards against the Steelers earlier in the season? Or does that Dolphins' win over Pittsburgh keep getting tossed aside like an empty milk carton as it has in national discussions?)
So the Dolphins surprised Pittsburgh in October? So what? Pittsburgh was 4-1, and the Dolphins were 1-4. They were overconfident on that day and overheated in that weather. Does Sunday's expected 12-degree weather sound balmy?
This might be the most faithful fan base in football, and Heinz Field will be whipped into a frenzy the way all Pittsburgh has been this week.
Here's an example: The popular Primanti Brothers restaurant isn't serving fish this week at its 20 Pittsburgh-area locations as a civic slap at the Dolphins. "Is the fish sandwich your favorite? Tough!" says a sign on the restaurant's door.
(Ha-ha! Fish? What's with the Pittsburgh schools? The dolphin is a mammal. Maybe they should watch more Animal Planet. Or maybe they should quit serving all mammals on the menu.)
Nobody started the season saying the Dolphins were supposed to beat the Steelers in the playoffs. They were supposed to beat the
New York Jets and
Buffalo Bills. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is supposed to push aside the Dolphins and get on with the serious business of New England.
(And that's just what the Dolphins are quietly fuming about.)
