One of the grandest days on the NFL calendar is headed our way, on Thanksgiving. This year, it will end with a nightcap game between the surging Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers. Though they are in different conferences, this is an important match for both teams to gain ground in their respective playoff races. And for the Dolphins – healthy now and winning again – it is a unique opportunity on a national stage to highlight what they have been working on these past few weeks.
This match features two of the NFL’s brightest young quarterbacks, who have returned from early-season injuries, in Green Bay’s Jordan Love and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa.
The Dolphins are riding a three-game winning streak, chasing some lost ground in the AFC race, and doing so on the strength of Tagovailoa’s arm. They are a confident bunch regarding this upcoming game, and appear more motivated than any previous point this season.
“It feels good to win any way. But yes, getting into a rhythm of stacking wins up in the win column. I definitely think that’s a big morale booster for the guys in the locker room,” Tagovailoa said Sunday, after a victory over the New England Patriots. “And this is something that they can take into account this upcoming week. Guys are feeling good. Everything feels better when you win.”
The Dolphins know it won’t be easy this week. After all, they will have a challenge in the cold Wisconsin nighttime weather. But the team attitude is to win no matter what adversities are on the way.
“It’s a long way to where we want to get to. We’ll enjoy this win,” Tagovailoa said. “But this next one is going to be big for us, and we’re excited to go down to Green Bay and show everybody on primetime what we can do.”
Coach Mike McDaniel is focused on this challenge, as well, and getting his team attitude up to finally change the narrative about a team that seemed lost without Tagovailoa.
“If you believe that you’re not just a front-running team, you have to win when there’s some adversity going on. And so instead of just complaining and wallowing in the fact that people say those things, we’ve been able to win some games with our backs against the wall, so to speak,” he said. “The same thing applies with — I’ve already told the team — there are two things that will be said until we do something about it: And that is win games against good teams, and (in) cold weather. It doesn’t bother me in any way, shape or form. We have some plans on how to attack this week.”
The Packers have won two straight, and six of the past seven. On Sunday, in Green Bay, they blew out the 49ers, 38-10. But for the Dolphins coach, that only illustrates how big Miami’s opportunity on Thursday is.
“Our record now is 5-6, and the Packers aren’t going to care about our three-game win streak,” McDaniel said. “The Packers are going to want to make us the team that can’t win in the cold or beat good teams. We’ll have an opportunity on Thursday to either prove them right or wrong, as well as everybody else in front of a bunch of families that are digesting and judgmental.”
Tagovailoa backed up that mentality by wanting to change expectations. And he firmly believes his team can win, adding that “I mean I’m excited to kill narratives, so let’s go. Bring it on.”
De’Von Achane, Miami’s emerging running back who scored twice on Sunday, is excited to play in the cold, and is hoping for some precipitation to fuel the team’s performance. Expectations in Green Bay for Thursday night is light snow and a low of 23 degrees.
“I mean, it’s football. It should be fun. I’m hoping it’ll snow, because I ain’t ever played in the snow, so that’d be fun,” he said. “(But) I’m very comfortable. We go over so much. I feel like our coach puts us in a position to win. They make our jobs easy, so we just go out there and play fast.”
The Dolphins have topped 22 points in each of the last three games. In Sunday’s win over the Patriots, they landed at 34 with a total of 373 yards. Tagovailoa again was a key figure in the game, completing 29 of 40 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns.
Kickoff on Thursday night is 8:20 p.m. ET at Lambeau Field on NBC. The NFL’s two holiday games preceding Miami’s contest will be the Chicago Bears at the Detroit Lions at 12:30 p.m., and the New York Giants at the Dallas Cowboys at 4:30 p.m.
