The Miami Dolphins had a bit of a breakthrough with their win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon, and edge rusher Bradley Chubb was happy about it afterward.
Going into Week 16, the Dolphins had gone 0-3 against teams with losing records this season, falling to the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
As a result, Miami heard a lot of talk about not being able to beat good teams, a narrative that head coach Mike McDaniel pushed against heading into the Cowboys matchup.
Well, no one can say that about the Dolphins anymore, as they came through with a thrilling 22-20 victory over Dallas to improve to 11-4 on the year.
But Chubb says this is just the beginning for his club.
“It’s cool, man, it’s cool, but we’re not done,” Chubb said, via Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “We’re not even close to being where we want to be. There’s a lot of plays we left out there and championship teams don’t leave those plays out there and it’s just finally good to get over that hump of the narrative and changing the narrative to be what we want it to be and how we want to approach everything and it’s just been dope to see this team come together, not worry about the outsiders, the naysayers and just do what we do and prepare like we’re a championship team each and every week.” I got emotional with the ‘who can’t’ because at the end of the day we put our heart and put our soul into this and for somebody to tell us we can’t do it, we’re going to want to go out there and prove them wrong every time.”
Chubb logged four tackles and 1.5 sacks during the victory and has racked up 68 tackles, 11 sacks, six forced fumbles and a couple of fumble recoveries in what has been a tremendous campaign for the 27-year-old.
The Dolphins not only clinched a playoff berth with their win over the Cowboys, but they also moved to within a half-game of the Baltimore Ravens for the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC. The Ravens are facing the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas Day. Then, next week, Miami will face Baltimore on the road in a clash that could ultimately determine who gets home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
This marks the first time the Dolphins will be in the postseason in back-to-back years since the 2001-02 campaign. They have not won a playoff game since January 2001.
After taking on the Ravens next weekend, Miami will host the Bills in South Beach to wrap up the regular season.
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