Sunday’s Dolphins-Bills showdown could be the biggest regular-season game at Hard Rock Stadium in more than 20 years. And rowdy Dolphins fans could play a role in the outcome by making the place a frothing madhouse.
Soldout Hard Rock approached genuine craziness in the opener against New England as the Dolphins ran their home win streak to seven games.
“That was probably the most people I’ve seen in our stadium,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said.
Perhaps Hard Rock goes to the next level Sunday.
“When you bring the juice — football players are normal human beings as well where they can feel that — it energizes them to push them possibly beyond where they’d otherwise go,” coach Mike McDaniel said.
You can’t jam many more people into the stadium than that packed Hard Rock (capacity 65,326) for the Patriots game.
But perhaps it could get louder and more uncomfortable for the visiting team.
Perhaps, for one day, and maybe longer, Hard Rock becomes the most difficult place to win in the NFL because of its fans.
“Definitely anywhere you get a homefield advantage,” center Connor Williams said, “but especially here with the heat and the fans.”
Hard Rock isn’t known for anything unique or intimidating such as the “Dawg Pound” in Cleveland or the old “Black Hole” in Oakland.
It’s not known for being especially loud such as Kansas City or Seattle, home of the NFL’s “12th Man.”
It’s not known for having especially hostile fans such as, say, Philadelphia.
Actually, the September heat and humidity might be the thing opponents fear most when visiting Hard Rock.
Sunday’s game could take a step toward shifting that fear factor on and off the field.
“Every city and every team has its own aura, has its own energy to it,” Williams said. “And you can feel it within the team and you can definitely feel it here in Miami, just a different atmosphere and you saw with our fans backing us.”
The renewed optimism around the Dolphins, evidenced by the fervor of the fans, both in person and on social media, has attracted the attention of McDaniel and his players.
They know the potential of a homefield advantage. Players can feed off the crowd, and the crowd can feed off the players.
“For sure there’s something to be said about the team that’s playing in front of their fans,” McDaniel said. “It takes the human beings to appreciate what the home crowd is doing, and then it takes a home crowd that’s vested and committed. And I think both of those things are occurring.”
Hard Rock, because of the passion and noise from Dolphins fans — and the heat and humidity —, should be a torture chamber for the Bills on Sunday. It should be a daytime nightmare. It should be such a hostile environment for the Bills that they stop just short of a call to human resources.
On a more grand scale, you want Hard Rock to be absolutely nuts all the time, a place no team wants to visit.
Green Bay, for example, is an NFL-best 23-2 (.920) at home since 2019.
You don’t want to play the Packers at Lambeau Field.
Kansas City is second-best with a 19-7 (.731) home record since 2019. You don’t want to play the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Dolphins have the 16th-best home record since 2019 at 15-11.
But the Dolphins are riding that seven-game home winning streak at Hard Rock.
Players have momentum from last Sundays epic 42-38 victory at Baltimore.
Fans have momentum from the season-opening rowdiness at the Patriots game (not counting the cars torched by that careless BBQ grill).
Both will try to focus that on the Bills Sunday.
“I obviously wasn’t here last year,” said McDaniel, the first-year head coach, “but the feedback that I got from the first game from all the players was they could tell the difference, that there was an added excitement and energy.
“That helps players more than fans can realize.”
