Dolphins Still Need to Change the Narrative

Skepticism remains about the Miami Dolphins despite their recent success

Dolphins vs. Bills / Jim Rassol/THE PALM BEACH POST / USA

That phrase is back in regards to the Miami Dolphins: changing the narrative.

Head coach Mike McDaniel brought it up again Tuesday when he addressed the media before the team's first open OTA of the offseason.

McDaniel referenced the "changing the narrative" when asked for his thoughts on the Dolphins' 2024 schedule, which includes a tough closing stretch with the final six games against four playoff teams from last season along with the home-and-home set against the Aaron Rodgers-led New York Jets.

“I think, well, if you’re wanting to change a narrative, you’re going to have an opportunity," McDaniel said. "I don’t really worry too much about things, pretending like I have any idea of what’s good or bad. I know if you’re playing the right competitive football, you’ll always have unique challenges to your schedule. If you’re playing the right type of football, you’ll have prime-time games. You can have short or long weeks. All those things. I think we’ve found a way to develop our team both years. I’m firmly expecting that same thing again this year.

"I think that the opportunities down the stretch of the season are ones that this team at that point in time will be thirsting for. That’s something that when I saw the schedule, I was pretty excited.”

Indeed, the Dolphins will get the chance to change the narrative of not being a good closing teams after they lost their last three in 2023, including the playoff game at Kansas City, after losing six of their final seven the previous season.

But it certainly won't be easy with a schedule that ends with games at Green Bay, home against the Jets, at Houston, home against San Francisco, at Cleveland, and at the Jets.

And the reality is that national skepticism about the Dolphins and their standing as as a true AFC contender will persist regardless of what they do in their first 11 games because of those recent late-season struggles.

And maybe it was why the Dolphins weren't included in a couple of NFL.com stories assessing the top teams, one about the seven teams best positioned to dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs as Super Bowl champions and the other about the 10 teams with the most complete roster in the NFL.

There's some love for the Dolphins in another spots or other outlets, but they won't get universal high marks until they care of that narrative.

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