Dolphins Riding Defense into Playoff Contention After Big Victory over Bills

If defense wins championships, it's getting harder and harder to count out the Miami Dolphins. 

With a 22-9 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football, the national TV audience was reminded how nasty some of the pieces of the Dolphins defense can be. It isn't just that they held the Bills to nine points, but it was also the relentless pass rush that reduced the Bills offense to a quivering heap. 

Understand that this was a must-win game for the Dolphins. According to Mike Beuoy and Reuben Fischer-Baum of FiveThirtyEight.com, "A win by Miami would boost its playoff chances to 50 percent, and Buffalo’s would drop to just 4 percent. But a Bills upset would give them a slight advantage over the Dolphins and keep the AFC playoff race more interesting."

Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin said after the game, per The Associated Press (via Oregon Live), "You have to start playing good football this time of the year." 

A lot can happen between now and the end of the regular season, but very little of it would've mattered if the Dolphins lost to the Bills, and the defense showed up in response to the need. 

Heading into Week 11, the Dolphins had the one of the best defenses in terms of yards allowed per game (fourth), points allowed per game (fifth), rushing yards given up per game (10th) and passing yards allowed per game (second). Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle has put together a stellar unit built around one of the better front sevens in the league with enough talent in the back end to put the Dolphins over the top. 

The linchpin of the entire unit is defensive end Cameron Wake. Though he's been overshadowed by players like Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller and Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, Wake has been one of the best players in the league for some time. 

Over at Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Wake is the top 4-3 defensive end in the NFL by a wide margin, even though he's not the league's sack leader. Much of what Wake does—the double-teams he draws, the way offensive coordinators have to account for him, the opponent's inability to run plays completely away from him—shows up on the field far more than on the stat sheet. 

Perhaps just as impressively, Wake's hits may not always count on the stat sheet as a sack, but he lays the wood as well as anyone in the NFL. And the physical toll that backs and quarterbacks feel after he's introduced himself a few times on the field have a cumulative effect over the course of games. 

Wake isn't the only Dolphins defender proving his worth this season. 

Multiple players on the defensive line or in the linebacking corps are having fantastic years. It might start with Wake, but the Dolphins would not be where they are without the efforts of linebacker Jelani Jenkins, defensive tackle Jared Odrick, defensive end Olivier Vernon and rotational or complementary players like linebacker Koa Misi and defensive tackle Earl Mitchell. 

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Due to last week's ankle injury to cornerback Cortland Finnegan, cornerback Brent Grimes shadowed Bills rookie wide receiving phenom Sammy Watkins. Watkins only had three catches for 32 yards in what can be seen as a clear win for Grimes after an up-and-down performance against Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson a week ago.

Coming up, the Dolphins have a relatively tough schedule, having to play in Denver next week and traveling for a matchup with the New England Patriots in Week 15. Yet they've already handed a loss to the Patriots this season, and with the defense playing as well as it is, it's possible to argue they have a chance in any game for the rest of the year. 

There will be much talk about quarterback Ryan Tannehill because that's the glamor position and he's the former first-round pick. People will talk about how the Dolphins running game has been rejuvenated and the offensive line has atoned for its Richie Incognito-led sins of yesteryear. 

In the end, though, there's only one reason the Dolphins are exiting Week 11 with any playoff hopes, and that is a top-notch defense that no team in the league should be looking forward to facing. 

Michael Schottey is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff on his archive page and follow him on Twitter.