MIAMI -- There was no dry humor from Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel following his team's 56-19 drubbing Sunday at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.
There's a time and place for that.
Instead, the second-year coach expressed somber regret for linebacker Bradley Chubb's late-game injury, while admitting the day's result fell astronomically short of his team's expectations.
Now the Dolphins could be fielding a skeleton crew against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday (8:20 p.m., ET, NBC) in a game that will decide the winner of the AFC East.
"We know what [Week 18] could be, but you definitely embrace that," defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. "It'll be fun and exciting in a lot of ways ... we wouldn't have it any other way.
"It will be a great test for us and a great opportunity for us, and you know, we'll be excited and ready for this next one."
Chubb tore the ACL in his right knee against the Ravens, McDaniel confirmed Monday, leaving Miami without its top two pass-rushers (including Jaelan Phillips, who tore an Achilles in Week 12).
The Dolphins are also bracing for the possibility of playing without wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and cornerback Xavien Howard, who are working through ankle and foot injuries, respectively. Running back Raheem Mostert missed their Week 17 game with an ankle injury, but McDaniel is optimistic the veteran will be back Sunday night.
Coming off their worst loss since 2019 and facing a Bills team that has beaten them in 10 of their past 12 meetings, the Dolphins could salvage a division title and clinch up to two home playoff games with a win Sunday.
Doing so would epitomize a collective buy-in on one of McDaniel's core philosophies: "Adversity is opportunity."
"Situations like this, where you go into a game with full belief in each other and the eventual outcome, but then it ends up monumentally in another direction -- it's a gut check for a football team," McDaniel said. "I feel very fortunate that I'm not nervous about it.
"Typically, you get nervous about guys just throwing in the towel because it's hard to invest. It's hard to believe and then have things fall short. Human nature is to care less, to maybe point a finger, or be in your little cocoon of security that it's not your fault. I feel very blessed that we don't have the people for that formula."
The road to the Dolphins' first Super Bowl win since 1972, or even their first playoff win since 2000, gets progressively more difficult from here.
There's a potential scenario in which Miami, if it beats the Bills in Week 18, will host those same Bills in the AFC wild-card round the following week. If the Dolphins lose to Buffalo in Week 18, they will likely travel to Kansas City for a rematch against Patrick Mahomes and the defending champion Chiefs.
And of course, the AFC will run through Baltimore, which clinched the conference's top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. It's difficult to beat the same team twice in the NFL, but the Dolphins engendered little confidence in their ability to beat the Ravens and would have to do so with an even more injury-depleted team than the one that was shellacked in Week 17.
Linebacker Duke Riley, who has started Miami's past four games in place of the injured Jerome Baker, said the team's first step toward getting past this loss is to "be a man" and face its mistakes in the film room.
Then, correct the mistakes. A simple formula.
But the Dolphins won't overreact to a loss, regardless of the margin.
"I believe in everybody on this team, including myself. It just wasn't our day and that's how the league is," Riley said. "The good thing about it is, you can get back to the drawing board, and we [have] an opportunity against a great team in Buffalo. And who knows, you know? If we keep going, we may see this team again. This is just how the game goes."