The Miami Dolphins’ fifth-year quarterback will no longer need to worry about his future with the club after he signed a four-year extension on Sunday. The deal will pay Tagovailoa an average of $53.1 million per year beginning next season. He also received a $42 million signing bonus.

“Now that all of this is done and this is behind us, we know that heavy is the crown,” Tagovailoa said. “Whoever is wearing that, right now, I’m the highest-paid employee in this office. I’ve to get my —whatever — together. I’ve got to get that right and moving the guys in the direction that we need to go.”

The deal ended months of negotiations and questions about whether the Dolphins would make a long-term investment in Tagovailoa.

After being the fifth overall selection in the 2020 draft, Tagovailoa has experienced peaks and valleys. As a result, Dolphins management took longer to entrust Tagovailoa with an extension than Cincinnati did with Joe Burrow or the Los Angeles Chargers with Justin Herbert. Those two QBs were picked along with Tagovailoa in the first round of the 2020 draft.

“There are just so many semantics and hoops that you have to go through to get something like that done, especially maneuvering other contracts around,” Tagovailoa said. “I’m happy that we got this thing done. It’s unbelievable.”

Dolphins fans were allowed to attend workouts for the first time in the 2024 training camp schedule on Sunday, and Tagovailoa greeted them with the catchphrase “Show me the money” from the 1996 movie “Jerry Maguire.”

“Somebody told me that I wouldn’t say it,” Tagovailoa said.

Tagovailoa overcame a difficult 2022 season, when a concussion sidelined him for four regular-season games and a playoff loss against Buffalo. He played in all 17 games last season and threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards.

“My perspective — happy but also expected it to get done,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “And now that it’s done it’s about moving forward because maybe it’s a handshake and a smile but not a celebration. It’s a cool point for the organization to move forward and moving forward we are.”

McDaniel has been arguably Tagovailoa’s biggest supporter since he took over in 2022. With McDaniel devising schemes to suit Tagovailoa’s skills, the Dolphins averaged a league-best 401 yards per game last season.

“Word gets around quick and I don’t think he knows that I know. I’ve been told from several birdies that are here in the facility that are upstairs as well that he went to bat for me,” Tagovailoa said of McDaniel’s role in the negotiations.

The Tagovailoa-McDaniel link will face added scrutiny, especially with the Dolphins’ lengthy drought of postseason success. Miami’s wild-card round loss at Kansas City last season extended to 24 years its gap between playoff wins.

“We haven’t won the games we wanted to win, deep into the playoffs and win the games that matter,” Tagovailoa said. “I could have had the worst passing rating and threw for a thousand yards but if we were in those games and winning those games, and we got to go and win the championship, I would trade all of that.”

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But the veteran receiver entered this offseason and began talks with coach Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins about a possible union, and it didn’t take much convincing this time.

“Off the first meeting, I was just very excited about the opportunity,” Beckham said Wednesday, speaking for the first time since joining the Dolphins. “I remember getting off the phone with my agent and being like, ‘Yeah, this sounds good. Let’s figure out a way to do it.’”

The Dolphins signed Beckham to a one-year deal earlier this month. McDaniel is the one who sold him, laying out the details of how he’ll be used in Miami’s high-flying offense.

“It kind of reminds me of a place where I had a lot of success at as far as the Giants,” Beckham said, “and timing and all of those things that (McDaniel) talks about and preaches. He was speaking football. We sat down for hours and just talked football.”

Beckham, who quickly rose to NFL stardom after being drafted by the New York Giants in 2014, understands that he’s joining a loaded receiving group where he’ll be quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s third option behind speedy wideouts Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.

He’s just fine with that.

“At this place in my life and my career, I haven’t been the No. 1 in a minute,” Beckham said. “You can go look at targets. You can go look at anything. That’s not really where I’ve been at.”

It’s a role that Beckham has learned to accept and appreciate during the twists and turns of his 10-year NFL career, one that began with one of the best rookie receiving seasons in NFL history but has waned in recent years because of major injuries.

“I feel like I used to carry a lot of anger or resentment,” Beckham said, “and now I just feel at peace. You’re able to train. You’re able to play the game that you love again.”

Beckham was a 1,000-yard receiver five times in his first six NFL seasons but has not reached that mark since 2019 with the Cleveland Browns. Since then, he’s had two ACL injuries, one of which sidelined him the entire 2022 season.

Beckham, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and 2014 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, said it’s hard for him to not internalize the effect injuries have had on his career. He added that he’s always out to prove something. Whatever that may be at this point in his career remains to be seen.

He’s coming off a 565-yard season with 35 catches with the Ravens, who had a dominant 2023 season but fell short of Super Bowl expectations when they lost to Kansas City in the AFC championship game.

“I’ve given my entire life to this game,” Beckham said, “and the way that it kind of went in the middle of the career, and even a little bit of last year, I can’t go out like that. There’s no way that I won’t finish on a high note.”

Beckham provides the Dolphins the solid third receiving option that they didn’t have last season. He said he sees himself contributing a lot on third downs when Hill and Waddle are facing double teams.

Hill and Waddle combined for more yards (2,813) than any other wide receiver duo in the NFL in 2023, but no other Dolphins receiver had more than 27 catches or 238 yards. Tight end Durham Smythe was Miami’s third-leading receiver last season with 366 yards on 35 catches.

Being able to end his career on his terms is one of Beckham’s goals for this next chapter.

He’s not sure if this will be his last NFL season — he’s more focused on winning another Super Bowl and staying healthy. But now more than ever, he said he’s at peace with however the rest of his story unfolds.

“Forget the middle part,” Beckham said. “When we read a book, the start’s going to capture us. We read the body of the story, and then, how is it going to end? That’s kind of where I’m at. Let’s have a great ending to the story.”

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The All-Pro wide receiver, who became a star for the Chiefs before he was traded to Miami, had a long touchdown catch for the Dolphins but was otherwise shut down Saturday night as Kansas City rolled to a 26-7 victory in their wild-card playoff game.

Hill finished with five catches for 62 yards — and nearly all of it came on that 53-yard pass, when he adjusted beautifully to a ball badly underthrown by Tua Tagovailoa. Hill fought through pass interference on All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, made the grab and ran to the end zone while no doubt generating flashbacks to the many times he did that wearing a red jersey.

Yet it was the guys currently wearing red Saturday night that made most of the plays.

Patrick Mahomes, who spent six seasons throwing passes to Hill, kept finding new favorite wide receiver Rashee Rice and his longtime security blanket, Travis Kelce. And what quietly became the league’s No. 2 defense this season shut down Hill, fellow wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and the rest of a Miami offense that led the NFL in yards during the regular season.

Tagovailoa had just 199 yards passing with an interception, and Miami had 264 yards as a team.

It was a difficult finish to a season in which Hill shattered the Dolphins record with an NFL-best 1,799 yards receiving.

Just over a week ago, Hill had to rush home from practice as firefighters doused the roof of his burning South Florida home. It turned out the fire, which was started by a child playing with a cigarette lighter in a bedroom, had caused so much damage to his $6.9 million home that Hill remains unsure whether he will be able to move back in.

Then the Dolphins proceeded to lose to Buffalo in their regular-season finale, costing them not only the AFC East but also the opportunity to host a home playoff game. Instead of playing in balmy Miami on Saturday, where the temperature was 69 degrees Fahrenheit at kickoff, they were stuck playing in Kansas City in the fourth-coldest game in NFL history.

That didn’t seem to bother Hill, who joked about how cold he was walking into Arrowhead Stadium but nonetheless walked onto the field about an hour later wearing a short-sleeve shirt for warmups.

It was minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit with a minus-27 wind chill at kickoff.

The Dolphins’ offense was equally frigid. It went 1 for 12 on third down, rarely put together a sustained drive and ultimately did nothing to support a defense that had been battered by injuries yet kept Miami in the game Saturday night.

In the end, the Dolphins were still left to chase their first playoff win since Dec. 30, 2000, when they beat Indianapolis.

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Allen made things difficult for the Bills with three turnovers in Miami territory, but he came through at the end to help Buffalo earn the No. 2 seed in the conference. The Bills, who didn’t clinch a playoff berth until Tennessee beat Jacksonville earlier Sunday, will host seventh-seeded Pittsburgh in the wild-card round on Sunday.

Buffalo was 5-5 in mid-November and faced long odds just to make the playoffs, but went 6-1 down the stretch, including five straight wins to finish the season, to get in with plenty of momentum.

Miami, which made the postseason with its Week 16 win over Dallas, fell to the sixth seed and will play at AFC West champion Kansas City on Saturday night.

The Bills dominated time of possession and outgained Miami by nearly 200 yards, but Buffalo trailed 14-7 before Deonte Harty returned a punt 96 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Buffalo forced a three-and-out, and Allen directed an eight-play, 74-yard drive, capped by his 5-yard toss to Knox with 7:16 left.

Miami had one last chance, but Taylor Rapp intercepted Tua Tagovailoa on a pass intended for Chase Claypool with 1:13 left.

Allen finished 30 of 38 for 359 yards and two TDs. He was intercepted on back-to-back drives to open the game, and he squandered another scoring chance when he completed a pass to Ty Johnson short of the goal line at the end of the first half, allowing time to expire.

A promising Buffalo drive in the third quarter ended when Allen was strip-sacked by Christian Wilkins.

Tagovailoa finished 17 of 27 for 173 yards with two interceptions. He had a 3-yard touchdown throw to Tyreek Hill in the second quarter. Rookie running back De’Von Achane’s shifty 25-yard score in the second quarter put Miami ahead 7-0.

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Isaiah Likely caught two TDs for the Ravens, who won their sixth straight game and also wrapped up their first AFC North title since 2019, Jackson’s first MVP season. Now Baltimore (13-3) can rest Jackson — and anyone else it chooses — in the regular-season finale against Pittsburgh.

Miami (11-5) is also postseason bound, but now the winner of next weekend’s Dolphins-Bills game will take the AFC East. Miami was without two offensive stars in receiver Jaylen Waddle (ankle) and running back Raheem Mostert (knee, ankle).

And now the Dolphins face another potentially significant injury. Linebacker Bradley Chubb — with his team down 30 points — had to be carted off with 3:05 remaining after hurting his knee.

Serenaded with periodic “MVP!” chants from the home crowd, Jackson went 18 of 21 passing, meaning he finished the game with more touchdown passes than incompletions. That’s a feat Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa also accomplished in a 70-20 win over Denver in Week 3.

Jackson also had a perfect passer rating of 158.3 against Miami in 2019. He joins Tom Brady (against Detroit) as the only quarterbacks with two perfect ratings against the same team, with a minimum of 20 attempts.

This matchup featured Miami’s top-ranked scoring offense and Baltimore’s top-ranked scoring defense. In the early going, the Dolphins had the upper hand. They scored on the game’s first drive when Tagovailoa threw an 8-yard pass to Cedrick Wilson Jr. Jackson answered with a 20-yard scoring strike to Justice Hill.

Miami would have had another touchdown on its second drive, but Tyreek Hill bobbled the ball in the end zone and the Dolphins kicked a field goal.

The Ravens took the lead for good in the second quarter when Gus Edwards capped an 89-yard drive with a 1-yard scoring run. After another Miami field goal, Jackson immediately found Zay Flowers open deep for a 75-yard touchdown that made it 21-13.

The Ravens struck again 94 seconds later thanks to a pair of one-handed catches. The first was an interception by Roquan Smith, the second a 35-yard catch-and-run TD by Likely on fourth-and-7.

Justice Hill returned the second-half kickoff 78 yards, setting up Jackson’s 7-yard TD toss to Likely that made it 35-13.

Miami trailed 35-14 with under 13 minutes remaining last season before rallying to a 42-38 win over the Ravens. The Dolphins started the fourth quarter with a touchdown this time, a 1-yard pass from Tagovailoa to De’Von Achane, but it was Baltimore that closed strong.

The Ravens marched right back down the field and scored on Jackson’s 4-yard pass to Patrick Ricard to go up 42-19. Melvin Gordon III added a 7-yard touchdown run, and a Miami fumble led to a another TD. Tyler Huntley threw a scoring pass to Charlie Kolar on third-and-goal from the 19.

INJURIES
The teams weren’t at full strength at the start, and the injuries continued throughout the game. Miami lost CB Xavien Howard (foot). Baltimore CB Marlon Humphrey (calf) went down as well. Ravens NT Michael Pierce and S Daryl Worley were each evaluated for a head injury.

UP NEXT
Dolphins: Host Buffalo next weekend.

Ravens: Host Pittsburgh next weekend.

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One streak ended and another was extended in the NFL’s biggest game Sunday.

It mattered more for Miami.

The Dolphins (11-4) have been haunted this season by their failures against playoff-caliber teams. They lost to Buffalo, Philadelphia and Kansas City before rallying for a 22-20 victory over Dallas on Jason Sanders’ fifth field goal of the game as time expired.

Tired of hearing about it, coach Mike McDaniel said he told players he gave them clearance to use an expletive to tell off reporters who mention that losing record leading into the game against Dallas.

The victory quieted the critics.

“I think it’s really hard to ignore the noise, so to speak, or not hear it,” McDaniel said. “I think you’re going to hear it. And so it’s impossible for people not to know all the things that we’re not capable of doing. But I’m proud for this team because regardless of what people say, you have to get to a mode where you’re solely worried about doing your job and being responsible for that with your teammates. And anything else, you get distracted and lose focus on what actually matters. So I thought this is a big win for this team because it’s always big when you do something that internally you know that you’re capable of.”

Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and the rest of these Dolphins can’t let up now that they’ve wrapped up a postseason berth for the second straight year.

Next week, they face Baltimore (11-3) for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. If the Ravens beat Miami, and Buffalo beats New England, the Bills-Dolphins matchup in Week 18 will decide the AFC East. So, the Dolphins can go from playing for a first-round bye and home-field advantage one week to fighting for the division.

“I’m so proud of this team for continuing to come in day in, day out and just work on their craft,” said Tagovailoa, who engineered the winning drive. “I don’t think anyone is necessarily worried about what anyone else is saying outside of the guys in the building. Everyone has confidence in each other and themselves. I don’t think winning these games does anything more or anything less. But it sort of reiterates the work that we put in and gives us the satisfaction that the work that we do put in pays off.”

The Cowboys fell to 0-4 on the road against winning teams after previously losing to San Francisco, Philadelphia and Buffalo.

Dak Prescott and the offense again cost themselves with mistakes. They drove to the Dolphins 1 on the opening drive but fullback Hunter Luepke fumbled the handoff. They didn’t get going until Prescott led a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter but the defense couldn’t make a play.

Dallas (10-5) remains in the race for the NFC East title. The Eagles (10-4) still must beat the Giants (5-9) on Monday or in Week 18 or the Cowboys would win the division by winning their final two games against Detroit and Washington.

If the Cowboys don’t surpass Philadelphia, they’ll have to get their first road win against a winning team this season in the playoffs to advance.

“To think you’re ever going to win a championship, you need these games, especially on the road,” Dallas coach Mike McCarthy said.

Seattle (8-7) and Green Bay (7-8) rallied for must-wins Sunday and the Lions (11-4) won their first division title in 30 years.

Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers (8-7) continued their impressive run with a convincing 30-12 win over reeling Jacksonville. Tampa Bay is one win away from securing its third straight NFC South.

The Jaguars (8-7) remain in control of the AFC South because both the Colts (8-7) and Texans (8-7) lost. The Browns (10-5) got another standout performance from Joe Flacco in their win at Houston.

Russell Wilson and the Broncos (7-8) suffered the worst loss of the week in a game Denver had to win to increase its playoff hopes. The lowly Patriots upset the Broncos 26-23 on Chad Ryland’s 56-yard field goal with two seconds remaining.

Week 16 wraps up with three games on Christmas Day featuring four first-place teams.

The Chiefs (9-5) can wrap up their eighth straight AFC West with a win over Las Vegas (6-8). The Eagles need to beat the Giants to maintain control of their division hopes. The nightcap is a potential Super Bowl preview with the Ravens taking on the 49ers.

A jumbled playoff puzzle is still two weeks away from being set.

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Last Monday’s collapse against the Tennessee Titans was a “punch to the gut,” McDaniel said Sunday. He expected the Dolphins to respond in a huge way — and they did, blowing out the New York Jets for the second time in just over three weeks.

Raheem Mostert scored two more touchdowns to set Miami’s single-season record with 20, Tua Tagovailoa threw for 224 yards and a score and the Dolphins shut out the Jets 30-0 on Sunday without star receiver Tyreek Hill.

“You can’t do anything about the past, and the future doesn’t exist,” McDaniel said. “They really leaned into the day each and every day this week, and I was very proud, as proud as I’ve been of any performance from this team since I’ve been here.”

Mostert walked into the end zone untouched on a 2-yard run that put AFC East-leading Miami (10-4) ahead 7-0 and gave the ninth-year running back his 17th rushing touchdown of the season — one more than Ricky Williams, who set the record in 2002. The score was also Mostert’s 19th overall, which broke the team record of 18 set by Mark Clayton in 1984.

Mostert said it felt great to break both records, but he wasn’t satisfied with his overall performance.

“I felt like I didn’t help my team enough in the run game,” said Mostert, who had 42 yards on 15 carries. “It’s just a standard that I set for myself.”

Tagovailoa was 21 of 24 with an 87.5% completion percentage and a 60-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle. He was replaced by Mike White with 8:32 remaining and the Dolphins up by 30.

A week after Zach Wilson threw for over 300 yards against Houston, the Jets’ third-year quarterback’s day was cut short when he left late in the second quarter with a concussion. New York (5-9) had just 103 total yards of offense and was shut out for the first time since losing 26-0 at Denver in Week 3 of the 2021 season.

The loss, combined with wins by Houston and Cleveland, eliminated the Jets from playoff contention for the 13th straight season — and severely lessened the chances of Aaron Rodgers returning this season from a torn Achilles tendon. Rodgers has said one of the conditions of his comeback would be New York remaining in contention.

“It’s disappointing,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “Starting from the first series of the year all the way to now, it’s just been a constant battle. I do appreciate the heck out of our guys. We still got three games left to finish strong.”

Hill, who entered Week 15 as the NFL’s leading receiver, missed the first game of his Dolphins tenure after injuring his left ankle against the Titans.

His absence made room for a standout game from Waddle, who had a season-high 142 yards on eight catches.

Waddle got behind Jets cornerback D.J. Reed for a 60-yard touchdown catch from Tagovailoa in the second quarter that put the Dolphins ahead 17-0. Mostert then gave the Dolphins a 24-point halftime lead with his second touchdown of the day, a 1-yard score in which he was again untouched.

“When a guy like Tyreek’s out, it’s not just one player that has to step up,” Waddle said. “It’s the whole unit when you have a Hall of Fame guy like Cheetah missing.”

Wilson spent much of his afternoon running from a domineering Miami defensive front that sacked him four times, one of which resulted in a fumble that gave the Dolphins the ball at the Jets 1 and led to Mostert’s first score.

Wilson was 4 of 11 with 26 yards before being replaced by Trevor Siemian, who was 14 of 26 with 110 yards and two interceptions to safety Brandon Jones.

Despite missing several defensive starters, the Dolphins limited the Jets to just 4 yards in the first half, the fewest yards allowed in the first half of a game since Dec. 13, 2015, when Denver limited the Raiders to minus-12 yards in the first half.

GAME-CHANGING CHUBB
Miami’s high-priced edge rusher Bradley Chubb had his best game since being traded to the Dolphins last November with seven combined tackles and two strip-sacks (three sacks total).

Chubb also had three quarterback hits, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery for Miami’s No. 9-ranked defense. He leads the NFL with six forced fumbles.

“I was thinking of how we were on the field last (game) and didn’t get the job done,” Chubb said. “My main thing is just trying to better this defense in whatever way I can.”

INJURIES
Jets: DL Quinton Jefferson left with a hip injury and didn’t return. … S Tony Adams left to be evaluated for a head injury, but was later cleared to return. … DL John Franklin Meyers injured his hip in the first half and did not return.

Dolphins: Waddle left briefly after hurting his chest on a catch on the first series, but returned shortly later. … RT Austin Jackson injured his oblique in the second quarter (oblique) in the second quarter and didn’t return. … LB Emmanuel Ogbah left with a hamstring injury.

UP NEXT
Jets: Host Washington next Sunday.

Dolphins: Host Dallas next Sunday.

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Just last year, the Dolphins lost five straight December games during a stretch that nearly knocked them out of the playoffs and was reminiscent of collapses of years past.

Despite Miami’s lackluster offensive performance and head-scratching fourth-quarter undoing, Tagovailoa doesn’t believe Monday’s 28-27 home loss to the Titans has any correlation to previous years.

“I don’t think this is the same Dolphins team that everyone thinks about,” Tagovailoa said. “We’ve got a lot of really good players. We’ve got really good coaches. It’s one home loss this year. It’s not like the world ends because we lost this game.”

Miami had a chance to become just the second AFC team (Baltimore) to reach 10 wins on the season and pad its lead atop the AFC East, but instead was knocked out of the top spot in the AFC after allowing Will Levis and the Titans to score twice in the final three minutes Monday to pull off the upset.

How the Dolphins (9-4) respond to their worst loss of their season will be crucial. After they host the New York Jets (5-8) Sunday, the Dolphins’ schedule toughens considerably with a home game against Dallas, a trip to Baltimore and a rematch against the Buffalo Bills — whom they lost to in Week 4 — in their regular-season finale.

“If this is what we needed to get into this playoff race and December football then that’s what we need,” said fullback Alec Ingold. “You take this one as a man and look in the mirror and go back and improve. You take this stinging feeling, this gut punch as a learning lesson that you can’t leave plays out there.”

The Dolphins still largely control their fate the rest of the season — they’ll clinch the AFC’s top seed and home-field advantage in the playoffs if they win the remaining four games on their schedule.

They’ll likely need to get more healthy to do that. Looming over Monday’s game was the health of star receiver Tyreek Hill, who played just 34 snaps because of an ankle injury suffered in the first quarter.

Hill said after the game that he was trying to manage the pain in his left ankle as he was in and out most of the second half, but he couldn’t cut and change directions as he normally would.

As for his status going forward, Hill said he always expects to be available to play.

“That’s never a question in my head,” Hill said. “That’s never something that I would be thinking about. But if the trainers come to me, if they see something in the scans whenever I get these scans, they say, ‘hey, Reek, you can sit out,’ I do it. But me being me, I don’t want to sit out. I want to be able to help this team any way I can, and that’s just who I am. I just don’t want to miss any games.”

WHAT’S WORKING
With its passing offense faltering, Miami rushed for 158 yards, led by Raheem Mostert, who had 96 yards on 21 carries. Mostert has an NFL-best 16 rushing touchdowns this season.

WHAT NEEDS HELP
The Dolphins were 2 of 5 in the red zone and lost a fumble at the Titans 2 on a bad quarterback-center exchange on their first possession. Connor Williams, Miami’s starting center, went down with a knee injury in the first quarter and did not return. His replacement, Liam Eichenberg, was in on the bad snap and also had two penalties accepted against him.

STOCK UP
The running backs. Mostert had rushing scores of 3 and 5 yards that put the Dolphins ahead by two touchdowns in the fourth. Rookie De’Von Achane averaged 6.7 yards on 7 carries for 47 yards.

STOCK DOWN
The defense. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio isn’t known to blitz a lot, but Titans rookie Will Levis was barely pressured as he led two touchdown drives in the final minutes. Miami also had only one sack in the game after getting at least two in each of their past 10 games.

The Dolphins were also playing with several backups in their secondary because of injuries to their starters. Safety Jevon Holland missed his second straight game with a knee injury. Miami’s other starting safety DeShon Elliott missed a big chunk of the second half because of an injury. Both backup safeties Brandon Jones and Elijah Campbell were in on the Titans’ two late scoring drives.

INJURIES
Coach Mike McDaniel said Tuesday that Williams sustained a season-ending ACL injury against the Titans. … Hill is day to day with his ankle injury. … Elliott is in the NFL’s concussion protocol after reporting symptoms.

KEY NUMBER
1,542 — Hill’s 61 yards receiving Monday gave him 1,542 for the season, which still puts him on pace for the first ever 2,000-yard receiving season.

NEXT STEPS
The Dolphins beat the New York Jets on the road in Week 12 and will face them again Sunday.

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Three of the conference’s four division leaders lost in Week 14, tightening the playoff picture and keeping the race for the No. 1 seed wide open.

Only the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens (10-3) earned a win and barely. They escaped with an overtime victory over the Rams on a walk-off punt return.

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens have the inside track to secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. But they have a difficult schedule down the stretch, starting with a trip to Jacksonville to face the AFC South-leading Jaguars (8-5) this Sunday night.

The Ravens then visit NFC-leading San Francisco (10-3) on Christmas night and host AFC East-leading Miami (9-4) and Pittsburgh (7-6) to close out the season.

If they falter, the Cleveland Browns (8-5) are closing in. With veteran Joe Flacco stepping up and providing stability at quarterback, the Browns still have a chance to win the division.

If they win out and the Ravens go 2-2 with one loss to the Steelers or both losses to the 49ers and Jaguars, the Browns will win their first division title since 1989.

Miami’s collapse on Monday night against the Titans opened the door for Buffalo to have a chance at winning its fourth straight AFC East title.

The division will come down to Week 18 when the Bills (7-6) visit the Dolphins if Buffalo closes the gap to one game over the next three weeks. The Bills host Dallas (10-3), visit the Chargers (5-8) and host the Patriots (3-10). The Dolphins host the Jets (5-8) and Cowboys before visiting Baltimore. The Bills won the first meeting so they’d have a chance to sweep the season series and take first place.

The Jaguars have dropped two in a row to allow Houston (7-6) and Indianapolis (7-6) to stay close, but they still have a strong chance to repeat in the South. Those odds will shrink if they don’t upset Baltimore this week.

Jacksonville’s final three games are a bit easier. The Jaguars visit Tampa Bay (6-7), host Carolina (1-12) and finish at Tennessee (5-8).

The biggest surprise in the AFC is Kansas City’s grip on the West is loosening. The Chiefs (8-5) have lost two in a row while the Broncos (7-6) have won six of seven to make things interesting.

If Denver wins out and the Chiefs lose to either the Raiders or Chargers, the Broncos would end Kansas City’s seven-year run of division dominance.

As for the wild-card race, six AFC teams are tied at 7-6 battling for the last two of three spots.

PHILLY BLUES

The road back to the Super Bowl for the Eagles has suddenly hit a detour. Consecutive lopsided losses to the 49ers and Cowboys have exposed Philadelphia’s flaws. A once-dynamic offense is struggling and the defense can’t stop anybody.

But help is on the way. The schedule gets easier.

The Eagles (10-3) face four losing teams to close out the season and would overtake Dallas to win the NFC East if they win out.

First up is a trip to Seattle (6-7) next Monday night. Then, it’s Tommy DeVito and the Giants (5-8) twice in three weeks sandwiched around a road game against the Cardinals (3-10).

Jalen Hurts is 26-5 since the start of the 2022 season, but fickle fans are back to questioning his ability to be a franchise QB. Critics have already turned on coach Nick Sirianni, who led the team to 10-1 starts two straight seasons.

Before losing 42-19 to San Francisco and 33-13 to Dallas, the Eagles rallied to beat the Chiefs on the road and the Bills in overtime in a six-day span.

Then they lost to the two best teams in the NFL right now. The Eagles must improve on both sides of the ball to compete for the Super Bowl, but they can’t be counted out after two terrible games.

BACKUP HEROES

DeVito has become an overnight sensation in New York after leading the Giants (5-8) to three straight wins and giving them an opportunity to stay in the playoff race at one game behind several 6-7 teams.

His agent, Sean Stellato, went viral Monday night for wearing a black pinstripe suit with a black hat on the sideline before DeVito led the Giants to a comeback win over Green Bay.

Flacco, a Super Bowl MVP a decade ago, came off his couch to help the Browns stay competitive and become Cleveland’s fourth starting QB this season.

Jake Browning has stepped in for Joe Burrow and lifted the Bengals back in to the playoff race with impressive performances in wins over Jacksonville and Indianapolis.

Even Zach Wilson returned from another benching to have perhaps the best game of his career in the Jets’ convincing win over Houston.

In a year where seven starting QBs have sustained significant season-ending injuries, several teams are counting on backups to keep them in playoff contention.

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Now that the duo has shared the field for four games, the Dolphins are yielding positive returns of two veteran cornerbacks who were good alone but are proving to be better together.

Entering Monday night’s matchup against the Tennessee Titans, the Dolphins have the ninth-best pass defense in the NFL — up from No. 25 through the first four weeks of the season.

The connection between Ramsey and Howard is a big reason for that.

“He’s a great teammate,” Ramsey said of Howard. “Obviously he’s been elite in this league for just as long as I have. It’s great to team up with him. He teaches me new techniques that I hadn’t tried yet or maybe that I’ve put in the back of my toolbox for a little bit and he brings them back up. That’s been good. We just challenge each other.”

Miami acquired Ramsey in a March trade with the Los Angeles Rams, and his impact was immediate, even after a torn meniscus sidelined him for the first seven games of the season. The All-Pro cornerback could be seen roaming the field during practices, hyping up his teammates on the sidelines during games, and being a vocal leader during team meetings.

“When I tell you, never in my career have I seen someone with a months-not-weeks injury, be as involved in a team,” said Miami coach Mike McDaniel. “Mind you, he had two practices under his belt with this team. To have two practices and have the wherewithal to understand your impact on people and how your injury — I mean our team was in the tank until he talked to the team. He explained, ‘hey, I’m going to do this.’ And then he did it each and every day.”

Ramsey has played in five games since returning from a July surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He has three interceptions and 10 solo tackles. He’s only been targeted 22 times and has allowed only eight receptions.

In Week 11 against the Raiders, Ramsey intercepted quarterback Aidan O’Connell twice, one of which sealed the win for Miami.

“A lot of interceptions are tips, an overthrow, a really bad throw by the quarterback or something along those lines,” said Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. “These were just two really, really great plays.”

Howard, an eight-year veteran and Miami’s longest-tenured player, is coming off a down 2022 season marred by injuries, but has returned to form in 2023. He has 32 solo tackles and an interception, and has allowed 36 receptions on 53 targets. In the four games that he and Ramsey have played together, Howard has only allowed 10 receptions.

Howard admitted during the offseason that he would need to adjust to a new defense under Fangio that would require him to play more off coverage instead of press-man coverage that he’d played for most of his career.

“I’ve got to get used to that,” Howard said in August. “It’s totally different because I’ve got to have that confidence like I’m playing man when we’re playing off also. It’s different.”

Both Howard and Ramsey’s comfort within Fangio’s defense has coincided with the increased play of the defense as a whole.

Through the first four weeks of the season, the Dolphins defense was ranked 26th overall, allowing 374.5 points per game. In Weeks 5-12, Miami had the No. 1 defense, allowing 263 yards per game and 4.4 yards per play.

The Dolphins have held their opponents to under 300 yards in five straight games, including just 245 given up in a win over Washington last week. Commanders quarterback Sam Howell entered that matchup as the NFL’s leader in passing yards (3,339), but was held to a career-low 127 yards passing and 5.5 yards per pass attempt.

Both Howard and Ramsey played 95% of defensive snaps in that game.

In one of their many conversations with each other, Ramsey recalled telling Howard that this team has the pieces and potential to be better than the Los Angeles Rams team that Ramsey helped win the Super Bowl in the 2021 season.

“Just look at it on paper and who we had on the roster in L.A. then,” Ramsey said, “and you put this Miami team on paper and look at our roster, and there’s a lot of similarities. So we have the capability of being that.”

Ramsey also stressed the importance of not jumping ahead, but focusing on one team at a time, starting with the Tennessee Titans.

“We cannot think about that all the time,” he said. “We have to go game by game, week by week, day by day really, because if you get caught up in all that, you’re going to get lost and there’s no need for that. You have to keep growing every day.”

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