Dolphins Now Need Help to Make Playoffs
The Miami Dolphins' slide continued against the New England Patriots on Sunday, and no they longer control their fate when it comes to making the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
The Dolphins' path to the playoffs is very simple after their 23-21 loss at Gillette Stadium on New Year's Day: Miami MUST defeat the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium in Week 18 and the New England Patriots MUST lose against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium.
The Jets were eliminated from playoff contention with their 23-6 loss at Seattle later Sunday, so they'll have nothing at stake in the Week 18 game. The Dolphins opened as 4-point favorites, according to BetOnline (www.betonline.ag).
The loss against the Patriots also means that if the Dolphins do make the playoffs, they will be the seventh seed in the AFC regardless of any other result before the end of the regular season.
DOLPHINS POTENTIAL PLAYOFF OPPONENT
As the seventh seed, the Dolphins will face the second seed, which will be either Buffalo, Kansas City or Cincinnati.
The Bills entered Week 17 as the top seed with a 12-3 record, followed by Kansas City also at 12-3 and Cincinnati at 11-4.
The Monday night game with Buffalo at Cincinnati will go a long way toward determining the playoff seeding.
Buffalo will earn the top seed with victories at Cincinnati and against New England, in which case the No. 2 seed likely would be Kansas City, which defeated Denver on Sunday and will face the Las Vegas Raiders in the season finale.
If Cincinnati defeats Buffalo on Monday night, it would pave the way — barring a Raiders upset in Week 18 — for Kansas City to earn the top seed and the Bengals would get the second seed by defeating the Baltimore Ravens at home in Week 18 or with Buffalo losing at home against New England.
At this point, though, the Dolphins aren't going to be picky about who they face if they can get themselves into the playoffs.
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