Mike McDaniel: No moral victories, but there was growth on Sunday

The final score was closer than some of the Dolphins’ past games with the Bills, but the result was still the same.

Bills kicker Tyler Bass’s 61-yard field goal at the buzzer gave Buffalo a 30-27 home win that moved them to 6-1 against their divisional foes since Mike McDaniel was hired as the head coach in Miami. The Dolphins had battled back to tie the game twice in the second half before Bass hit the game-winning kick and McDaniel tried to focus on the positives that can come out of the effort.

“There’s no moral victories,” McDaniel said, via a transcript from the team. “We lost as a team, and you want all three phases to look at it like they could have been the reason that we won. But there is growth and you do make sure you emphasize that, because you want that to continue. You don’t want it to take a step back. . . . This will hurt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing in the big picture. It just depends on what you do with it. I think the guys are motivated.”

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, that he thought the game showed “we are taking a step in the right direction,” but slow progress isn’t going to get it done at this point. The Dolphins are 2-6, which leaves them with a lot of ground to make up and no margin for error as they embark on the back half of their schedule.