The Miami Dolphins were one of the teams that ended their season on an underwhelming note this year. Despite having one of the best offenses across the NFL, the team failed to perform against teams that were above .500.
So while their season got off to a hot start, towards the end, the Fins struggled but managed to make the playoffs. To their fate, they were pitted against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in the Wild Card Round. As if that weren’t bad enough, Mike McDaniel & Co had to play in unfamiliar conditions.
The temperatures were in the negatives, and players of the Kansas City Chiefs, who were accustomed to playing in cold temperatures at Arrowhead Stadium, were themselves freezing. Imagine the condition of the Miami Dolphins, a team that practices and plays in the warm and humid conditions of Florida. Terron Armstead, the offensive tackle of the team, revealed to TMZ Sports the nightmarish experience it was to play in sub-zero temperatures.
Cold is not the word I would use to describe it. It felt like negative 99. I'm from Illinois, so I've worked with snow, I've played in the snow. This was a historic day, in the wrong way. It was BAD. It was bad. Terron Armstead said
The official temperature was -4 degrees, making it the fourth coldest game in NFL history. It was scary to see the players warming up; the smoke coming out of their mouth due to condensation in the atmosphere showed just how cold the weather was.
The Miami Dolphins could not get their offense going because of the adverse weather conditions
The offensive tackle was not bluffing. Fans in attendance got frostbite, with many requiring amputations for them. It was not a fun day to play football.
Armstead managed to play the game without any sleeves despite the freezing weather. While that may not have made that big of a difference, he remains reluctant to wear them in his professional career, as he cites them as the reason for having given up a sack in his career.
For the Miami Dolphins, there was no worse way to go out than that. To be thrust into unfamiliar territory and have the offense play as cold as the weather it was a game the team would wish to forget. Terron Armstead regrets the final stretch of the season, and looking back wishes his team had won a couple of more games in the weeks leading up to the playoffs because if they had done that, they would not have had to play the Chiefs in those conditions.
But, alas, irrespective of what went down, he remains optimistic about the Dolphins’ upcoming season. Armstead is certain that Miami is on track to prove to its critics that the team is legit and will establish itself as Super Bowl contenders.
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