During Saturday’s preseason game against the Commanders, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross visited the TV booth for an interview. Along the way, he wrote a check figuratively much larger than the checks he has literally issued to multiple key players this year.
“Right now, we have a great roster and I think everybody has great expectations,” Ross said of his team. “But hey, it’s the old injury bug. You got to make sure that that doesn’t happen like last year. I think without that and we stay healthy, I think we’re certainly a contender for the Super Bowl.”
Ross explained that he paid players like quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, receiver Jaylen Waddle, and receiver Tyreek Hill in order to help make that happen.
“I want to win this year and I want to win next year, as well,” Ross said. “But you’ve got to start early, and I think having those players and signing them to long-term contracts and knowing the nucleus of the team, I think that’s important. They are stars — Tyreek was just voted the No. 1 player in the league. With Waddle and Tua and some of the important young guys, retaining them — that’s what you want to do. You want to retain as many of your draft choices that really pan out. That’s a challenge though in these times.”
Yes, but “these times” are no different from any times the NFL has experienced since implementing a salary cap, more than 30 years ago. The bottom line is that, if a team has great players, it inevitably must pay them or lose them.
Regardless, the boss thinks his team, if healthy, will be a contender to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 40 years, when Dan Marino in only his second season lost to Joe Montana and the 49ers. Coach Mike McDaniel, whose primary focus is to end a 24-year run without a playoff win, has no problem with Ross aiming high.
“I think from a team perspective, a lot of times people hesitate to talk about goals in case you don’t achieve them,” McDaniel told reporters after the game. “I don’t really operate that way. There’s a lot of steps before that, so I don’t think necessarily it’s on our guys’ minds right now because our goals are creating our standard and then winning the next game, and then you try to do the vision, and then you try to win the conference, and you try to win the Super Bowl. But I like the building and including the owner, having the mindset of let’s be bold, don’t be afraid of anything. We’re going to compete. I think that brings out the best in people. I’m excited that he — I think that means he believes in the program, right? But we’ve got a preseason game that follows three practices, and then we’ve got to get ready for the Jacksonville Jaguars after that. So that’s what we’ll be concerned with, but we’re building to be our best selves and that will take tomorrow and then the next day to do.”
Tagovailoa was more reluctant to embrace the burgeoning Super Bowl hype. Here’s the exchange from his post-game press conference:
Q: During the game, the CBS broadcast, they interviewed the team owner Stephen Ross, and he said, if we stay healthy, we’re certainly a contender for the Super Bowl. I don’t know if you knew that he said that, but what are your thoughts on those remarks?
A: What are your thoughts? You think so?
Q: Contender? Yeah, I think there’s about 10 teams that have a chance. What do you think?
A: I mean, you just said contender. I think there’s 10 teams. Are the Dolphins one of the 10 teams?
Q: I think so.
A: You think so? Yeah, I would say that’s the reason we play this game. If none of us have the belief that we can do it, it won’t happen for us on our team. So of course we have that belief.
It’s fair to ask if the Dolphins really are one of 10 true Super Bowl contenders. To get there, they’ll need to finish the season strong and carry it into the postseason. And the biggest challenge could be winning that first playoff game.
Right now, the Chiefs, Bengals, Bills, Jets, Browns, Ravens, and Texans all have a chance to get to New Orleans, with the Jaguars and Steelers on the fringe of contention. In the NFC, it’s the 49ers, Lions, Eagles, and Packers, with the Bucs (who are woefully underrated), the Rams, and maybe the Cowboys in the group of teams that could have everything fall their way. Still, the rest of the league won’t concede anything.
That’s how it goes every year. Thirty-two teams. One ends up being the Super Bowl loser, and one ends up winning it all. The Dolphins need home playoff games to increase their chances. Even then, that first postseason win could be the hardest, because it will come with nearly a quarter century of pressure.
And, as Ross said, the injury bug must be avoided. Injuries change everything, every year. The best teams that can avoid them have the best shot. Then there are the teams that can overcome them and still thrive.
However it plays out, the internal expectations are high for the Dolphins. Just as they are for at least half the league that will enter the season with plausible hope to keep Kansas City from becoming the first team to ever win three Super Bowls in a row.
For Miami, the early-season schedule isn’t as difficult as the stretch run will be. That’s when they’ll either confirm the recent narrative or turn it on its head — starting on Thanksgiving night at Green Bay, the Jets the next weekend, at Houston, San Francisco, at Cleveland, and then at the Jets.
By the time they finish that six-game gauntlet, it will be obvious as to whether they can win the next four, or maybe three, to win it all for the first time in 51 years.