Miami Dolphins Need Same Effort From Skylar Thompson Today In Buffalo As Heat Get With Their Developmental Players

The Miami Dolphins start a seventh-round draft pick at quarterback in today's AFC Wild Card game against the Buffalo Bills.

While the odds are against Dolphins and quarterback Skylar Thompson, they can always look at how the Miami Heat have thrived in these situations. Plenty of the Heat's unproven, developmental players, including Duncan Robinson, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent have found postseason success, and the Dolphins need similar play from Thompson against the Buffalo Bills.

The Bills are Super Bowl contenders and playing in honor of safety Damar Hamlin, who went into cardiac arrest on the field nearly two weeks ago.

“I feel like I got a pretty good feel for what a playoff game would look like just last week,” Thompson said about playing the Jets in Week 18. “It was a win or go home type of situation for us, so getting to experience kind of what that felt like last week I think was helpful. This week is just going to be like any other week for me this entire season.”

Thompson is in the position because starter Tua Tagovailoa and backup Teddy Bridgewater are sidelined due to injury. Thompson, the third-stringer drafted with the No. 247th pick last year, makes just his second start.

The Heat received meaningful contributions from Strus, Robinson and Vincent, who were all undrafted, in their last three playoff appearances. Robinson played a huge role in the Heat making the 2020 NBA Finals while Strus and Vincent were unexpected starters in last year's run to the Eastern Conference finals.

If Thompsons need more inspiration, he can look at San Francisco 49ers Brock Purdy's performance Saturday against the Seattle Seahawks. Purdy led the Seahawks to victory, throwing for 332 yards and accounting for four total touchdowns.

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Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant