Dolphins' Mike McDaniel offers silver lining despite heartbreaking loss vs. Bills

It was a heartbreaking loss by the Miami Dolphins Sunday afternoon against the Buffalo Bills, 30-27, as they are now down to 2-6 on the season. The final moments came down to Bills kicker Tyler Bass kicking a 61-yard field goal to diminish the Dolphins' chances of winning the game on the road as head coach Mike McDaniel looked at the positives from the contest.

Dolphins' Mike McDaniel sees “growth” in Tua Tagovailoa, team

Looking at the team's performance, the Dolphins would end up having an efficient game on the offensive side of the ball led by star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa who was in his second game returning from a concussion. Throwing for 231 yards and two touchdowns while completing 25 of 28 passes, McDaniel would say while their isn't any “moral victories,” he saw major “growth” from the team according to NBC Sports.

“Well, I think you’re absolutely right. There’s no moral victories. We lost as a team, and you want all three phases to look at it like they could have been the reason that we won. But there is growth and you do make sure you emphasize that, because you want that to continue. You don’t want it to take a step back. I was very happy with the challenge presented, that Buffalo presents defensively.”

“I was very happy with Tua’s decision making, his ball placement and his overall conviction,” McDaniel said. “And I thought nobody on the sidelines throughout the entire game really wavered and that was important, too, considering that we really had a lot to play for and guys wanted this one bad. So this will hurt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing in the big picture. It just depends on what you do with it. I think the guys are motivated. Didn’t see it coming down like this, but at the same time, you have to hunker down as a unit and come together and continue to progress, because we did show some progress, albeit not enough.”

Dolphins' Mike McDaniel on 61-yard field goal to lose

It was a close one through and through as it was a 27-20 ball game in the fourth until Tagovailoa threw to Jaylen Waddle for the tying score, even when the receiver had a bloody leg a few plays before. However, the game came down to several defensive mishaps on Buffalo's final drive including Jordan Poyer's crucial Dolphins penalty that was just enough for Bass to make the kick, which McDaniel was candid in his disappointment.

“It’s tough. Football is full of stuff like that, especially when you’re playing a good opponent,” McDaniel said via the team's transcripts. “I think the team recognizes that they played a better brand of football, so the challenge is whether or not that helps or hurts you, and I really believe in all the guys in the locker room to make sure that although it’s difficult, you have to take it for what it is, apply the growth toward the next opponent. I think that’s the expectation and that’s what we’ll be talking about here soon. Yeah, it’s a tough division loss, one that guys strained to try to get, but in this place, if you turn the ball over, which we had one, they have a very high percentage of winning and it was tough to overcome that.”

Miami is now 2-6 and on a three-game skid as they next face the Los Angeles Rams next Monday night.