MIAMI _ Sunday was a horrible day for the Tank Brigade.
The Houston Texans kicked off the day's NFL action with an early morning game (played in the afternoon in London) and beat the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Pittsburgh Steelers withstood a rally that included a failed game-winning field goal attempt to beat the Indianapolis Colts.
And the Dolphins won their first game of the season, defeating the New York Jets 26-18, at Hard Rock Stadium.
Those disparate brushstrokes on this NFL season came together this day to effectively drop the Dolphins from second on the projected selection order for the 2020 draft down to fourth.
And the Steelers' first-round draft pick, which Miami owns, dropped to 16th because the more the Steelers win, the lower Miami's pick from the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade will be.
And the Texans first-round draft pick, which Miami owns, dropped to 25th because the more the Texans win, the lower Miami's picks from the Laremy Tunsil trade will be.
All this according to the folks at Tankathon.com _ a website many Dolphins fans have been monitoring the past couple of months since the NFL season began.
These events suggest the grand plan to tank in 2019, hatched somewhere within the Dolphins organization last December and January, had a bad day.
I'm here to tell you quite the opposite.
The Miami Dolphins had an awesome day on Sunday.
Dolphins 26.
New York Jets 18.
The proof of the awesomeness was everywhere.
It was all over head coach Brian Flores, who got a celebratory Gatorade shower from his players as the final seconds of the win ticked off. This was the first win for Flores as Miami's head coach and it had to deliver equal parts jubilation and relief because most coaches winning their first game in November are usually under siege.
But Flores isn't under siege. He's overjoyed and probably all hugged out. Because after this win he got a hug from Walt Aikens and Mark Walton, and J'Marcus Webb, and Chris Reed, and soon, owner Stephen Ross. All that love before Flores even got off the field.
Once the team got in the locker room _ the same one that has been morgue silent after seven previous losses _ the party was fully on.
Ross stood in the middle of the room and said, "I'm hoping there's a lot more to come."
Then the owner awarded Flores the game ball.
"It feels good to win, don't it?" Flores asked his players rhetorically. "Hey look, this didn't just happen. We all know that. You guys been working your (butts) off and we talked about it. We're getting closer and closer and closer. And people try to tear us apart. And we didn't let it happen. We stuck together and that's why we got the win today."
Veteran Davon Godchaux, standing next to Flores, interjected, "And more to come."
Flores gave his players Monday off as reward for the victory. Then he implored them to come ready to work on Wednesday when they begin preparation for the next game.
"Let's not make this a one-time thing," Flores said. "Let's come back ready to practice, ready to play."
And then Flores asked, "So how's it feel fellas?"
And that's when players armed with water bottles drenched their coach again.
Now, tell me winning is bad for the Dolphins. Tell those guys, winning is bad.
The Dolphins have gone with Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback the past three weeks despite outrage at worst and disappointment at the very least from the Tank Brigade.
The folks loyal to General Patton wanted Josh Rosen as the quarterback because they're mostly looking at the future and understand Fitzpatrick is not the future, while Rosen might be, in their opinion.
Except Fitzpatrick is better than Rosen right now. And Miami coaches, recognizing this, have played the quarterback who gives them the best chance to win. Which is admirable.
And Fitzpatrick paid dividends on Sunday.
He threw three touchdown passes. He avoided turnovers in that he was responsible for none. His quarterback rating was a whopping 118.8.
And afterward, the soon-to-be 37-year-old, was able to invite his two oldest sons into the Dolphins locker room to enjoy the celebration. Those same kids get questions at school about their dad's struggles and how his fantasy numbers are low.
But Sunday they saw their dad enjoying this high. This wonderful high.
"To do it with these guys, the things that we've had to fight through and all the negativity that is surrounding from the outside looking in, the way that guys have decided to be positive, decided to practice well, decided to come to work every single day and work hard, that's what makes this one so special," Fitzpatrick said.
"And it's nice when something like that pays off and you could see the fruits of your labor."
So go ahead, tell Fitzpatrick the winning is bad for the Miami Dolphins.
Jerome Baker predicted a victory on Twitter Sunday morning. It was vague but it was there.
"Today's the day," he wrote.
He had a feeling. He had a conviction. And he was right.
So go ahead, tell Baker it would have been better if he'd been wrong.
Down the hall in an interview room adjacent to the Jets' locker room, coach Adam Gase was getting roasted. The former Dolphins coach has the same 1-7 record with the Jets as Flores does with Miami _ except the Dolphins supplied Flores with a roster deconstructed with losing in mind.
The Jets are supposed to be solid. And, yet, there was Gase answering questions like this: "Does this win validate Stephen Ross' decision to fire you?"
"I don't know," Gase said. "I'm not going to answer that. That's ridiculous."
So go ahead, say that it would have been better if the Dolphins had lost this one. Because that will never be true.
