For Dolphins, meltdown vs. Titans can’t turn into a season’s collapse

MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins really screwed up by losing last Monday night’s game against the Tennessee Titans.

Instead of having division-clinching scenarios four weeks out of the end of the regular season and keeping pace for the AFC’s top overall seed, suddenly it’s of concern as to whether they can even win the AFC East. That once appeared to be a lock before the stunning defeat.

But that meltdown, blowing a two-touchdown lead with three minutes remaining, has already happened.

What the Dolphins can control from here is determining whether Monday’s events were an aberration or if that in-game collapse turns into a season’s collapse.

Their first opportunity to move on from it is Sunday, when the beaten-and-bruised Dolphins (9-4) host the New York Jets (5-8) in a 1 p.m. kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium.

“I see a team that is eager to play football again,” coach Mike McDaniel said Friday. “I sensed the first time I talked to them this week, they wished the game was that day. I know their bodies didn’t, but you want to wash that out. What I’ve seen thus far is guys focus that frustration into the game plan and preparation for this opponent.”

And the Dolphins really can’t afford to drop a second game in a row. If they lose consecutive games to the Titans and Jets, how are they, as a team already 0-3 against opponents with a winning record at the time they play, going to handle the final three-game gauntlet of the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills?

If the Dolphins win and Bills lose to the Cowboys on Sunday, Miami is back at a three-game lead in the division with three games remaining. Its magic number would be one, meaning the next win clinches the AFC East. A loss and a Buffalo win virtually guarantees that the division comes down to the regular-season finale between the two teams. According to ESPN Analytics, the first scenario gives the Dolphins a 91 percent chance to win the division, the second drops that percentage to 54. A major swing.

“I think that the thing for us as a team to regroup from something like this is not to be emotional about it,” said quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is trying to bounce back from his first game without a touchdown pass all season. “We don’t want to come into the game thinking we need to do this, we need to do that. We just need to play within the rules and principles of what that play entails for us to do. And we have to go out there and execute. That’s all we should be worried about.”

Tagovailoa already knows he’ll be without center Connor Williams for the rest of the season. He may be without wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who has an ankle injury that will take his status up to game time, and Williams’ backup, Liam Eichenberg, is questionable with a calf injury.

The quarterback wants No. 2 target Jaylen Waddle to rise to the occasion if he’ll be without Hill, who didn’t practice all week after aggravating an already-ailing ankle Monday night.

“If ‘Reek isn’t available, I think Jaylen understands his role with stepping up,” said Taovailoa, also noting that a strong Jets pass defense could focus more on one of his top two receivers when the other isn’t there.

Said Waddle: “We got a lot of playmakers on the team that can do a lot. Not extra attention. Everybody just has to step up in a major way.”

If Eichenberg can’t play, the Dolphins could be starting center Jonotthan Harrison, whom the team just signed this past week out of free agency and hasn’t played an NFL regular season game since 2019.

“I would not be surprised if I was out there playing,” Eichenberg said. “I’m getting better every single day.”

On top of Hill and Eichenberg, right guard Robert Hunt is already out Sunday with his hamstring ordeal, running back De’Von Achane is questionable with a toe injury and the two starting tackles, Terron Armstead and Austin Jackson, are also questionable. On defense, DeShon Elliott is out with a concussion, fellow safety Jevon Holland is questionable after missing the past two games with injuries to both knees and outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel is questionable with an oblique ailment.

Unlike the previous meeting against the Jets, the Dolphins and their pass defense are looking to recover from the two late touchdown drives surrendered against Tennessee will see Zach Wilson start at quarterback after he regained his starting job. Wilson is coming off earning AFC Offensive Player of the Week in a 30-6 win against the Houston Texans.

“To be offensive player of the week for your whole conference in the same season of getting benched,” McDaniel said, amazed by the turnaround. “What I saw was internal fortitude. There’s some conviction and confidence. I saw when the pocket was clean, he was seeing it and then when it wasn’t, he was able to find ways to get on the edge of the defense and do some of the stuff that is the reason he was the second pick in the draft because he has some arm talent that’s unbelievable.”

While No. 2 in pass defense, the Jets rank 28th against the run, a possible area for Miami to attack if it’s passing game and pass protection, after allowing five sacks against the Titans, is limited Sunday.

A win against New York would mark the Dolphins’ third season sweep against the division rival in the past four seasons.