DAVIE, Fla. --
Miami Dolphins right tackle
Ja'Wuan James was asked about the "P" word on Monday, which caused a blank stare."I don’t even know what you’re talking about," James said in all seriousness.
The word was “playoffs,” and it remains taboo in Miami’s locker room. Despite winning six straight games to improve to 7-4, James and several Dolphins players said uniformly on Monday that they aren’t thinking beyond this week’s game against the
Baltimore Ravens.
The Dolphins have won six in a row to put themselves firmly into wild-card contention. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Miami currently holds the final wild card spot in the AFC over the
Denver Broncos (7-4) via the conference record tiebreaker. That has caused a lot of playoff chatter in South Florida. But the discussion has come from fans and media.
“You can’t pay attention to that,” Dolphins veteran left tackle
Branden Albert said. “Just concentrate on individual days and individual games, because you never know how things are going to end up.”
The Dolphins will have one of their toughest road games of the year this upcoming Sunday against the Ravens (6-5). Baltimore is in a tie with the
Pittsburgh Steelers atop the AFC North but also, like the Dolphins, very much in the wild-card discussion.
This is the kind of game where Miami will need to be at its best and focused only on the task at hand.
“I love the fact that our guys are thinking that way,” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said. “A lot of times that's how coaches think. It’s hard to look down the road, because you have so much focus on that week. There’s so much work that goes on.”
