If the Steelers beat the Dolphins on Sunday, the Chiefss will host the Steelers next week. If the Dolphins beat the Steelers, the Chiefs will host the Texans or Raiders. Therefore, a lot of Chiefs fans are Dolphins fans this weekend. Others will say it doesn’t matter, you gotta beat whoever they put in front of you. Sure, that’s true. I would also rather face Brock Osweiler or Connor Cook to get to New England than Ben Roethlisberger.
Since I’m a Dolphins fan, I talked to our Dolphins blog, The Phinsider, about Sunday’s Dolphins-Steelers game. The question was simple: Can the Dolphins beat the Steelers?
Here’s what they said...
“Everyone seems to have forgotten that the Dolphins are in the AFC Playoffs. ESPN, FS1, etc. all seem to think the AFC only brought five teams into the postseason, with the Dolphins as an afterthought. ESPN broke out this awesome image to show exactly how much they believe Miami can do in the postseason.
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“It is pretty ridiculous how much the Dolphins are just written off, especially when you consider that Miami actually already beat the Steelers this offseason. Everyone keeps saying the Dolphins beat Pittsburgh because Ben Roethlisberger was hurt - ignoring the fact that it was the Dolphins that hurt him. Jay Ajayi ran for 200 yards against the Steelers, but somehow Big Ben changes that success.
“This game is going to be tough, and if Pittsburgh wins it by enough to cover the 10 point spread, I probably would not be surprised, but that does not mean Miami does not have a chance in this game. Dolphins fans are not confident that the team can win this weekend, but they are not resigned to this being a one-and-out playoff experience either. Ryan Tannehill won’t be available, but Dolphins fans probably look toward Ajayi being the actual key to Miami having offensive success against the Steelers.
“Injuries to the Dolphins defense, which include both starting safeties and a starting linebacker on injured reserve, another starting linebacker playing with a cast, a third starting linebacker missing time recently due to injury, and a starting cornerback missing games due to injury with the rookie replacement having just returned from injury, could be the deciding factor in the game. Miami has played the "next man up" game all season, but coming into the postseason - where the team has 40 players on their roster who have never made it to the playoffs before - the next man up has to take a giant step up in an environment most of them have never seen before.
“The Dolphins first postseason appearance since 2008 is not going to be an easy one with having to go into Pittsburgh, but I think Miami has a better chance against the Steelers than most of the national media.”