The Miami Dolphins won a 32-26 overtime football game to beat the New York Jets earlier today in Hard Rock Stadium. With this win, Miami moves to 6-7 and is 2 games out of the wildcard, while the New York Jets move to 3-10 on the year and are officially out of playoff contention. The game was a back and forth battle between both AFC East squads, below I will break down how the Miami Dolphins were able to do just enough to squeak past their scrappy division rivals.
The game started with a touchdown drive for the Dolphins, multiple passes by Tua Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill helped put them in a first and goal situation. Dolphins lead back Devon Achane was stopped multiple times at the 1 yard line, but on 3rd and goal a pass interference penalty on DJ Reed helped the Dolphins get a fresh set of downs. The Dolphins took advantage and cashed in, however the extra point attempt was no good. 6-0 Miami to this point.
The Jets answered back with a long sustained drive, Braelon Allen on the ground and Garrett Wilson through the air were the names of the game for the Jets the whole day. They were stopped on 3rd down in field goal range and settled for 3 points.
The Dolphins quickly responded with a field goal of their own, from this point on Jason Sanders was lights out. But from this point forward the New York Jets put together some impressive drives.
The Jets touchdown drive to put them up 10-9 was thanks to a couple impressive throws and receptions from Aaron Rodgers to Garrett Wilson. They punched in from 17 yards out via the rookie running back out of South Dakota State Isaiah Davis.
Miami’s offense bounced back with a 7 minute, rookie Jaylen Wright got involved on this drive with a few rushing attempts in the Dolphins infamous wide zone run scheme. Mike McDaniel had a choice to make on 4th and 1 on the New York Jet 6 yard line. Mike McDaniel opted to take the field goal, Sanders made the 24 yarder.
Both teams exchanged field goals, Jets kicker Anders Carlson made it from 30 yards while Jason Sanders made his from 57 yards out. The Dolphins did a good job getting Sanders an opportunity to make a kick at the end of the half with no timeouts.
The Jets got on the board in the second half with a touchdown of their own, the highlight play of the drive was a Garrett Wilson go ball where Jalen Ramsey stumbled. Wilson brought it in with a toe tap catch on the sideline. Davante Adams brought in the touchdown pass from Rodgers to make the New York lead 20-15. The play was a rollout pass where Adams ran a quick out. This would be the last touchdown of the day for the Jets.
The Dolphins punted after this, and the Jets had yet again another long sustained impressive drive leading to a field goal. It was looking like at this time Miami could not stop New York and keep up on defense. But Miami put together their most impressive drive of the day.
Miami was driving, via the passing game. Jeff Wilson, Devon Achane, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle were all getting involved. Once at the end zone, they were faced with a 4th and goal from the 1 yard line. Tyreek Hill was lined up in the slot, Tua Tagovailoa found him on the out route and Miami scored a touchdown. The 2 point conversion was just as important, Miami ran a similar concept and found Jaylen Waddle this time. DJ Reed played tight coverage on this one, but the pass and catch were perfect execution. The stage was set at 23-23.
New York let Aaron Rodgers get to work this drive to kick a go ahead field goal. Davante Adams was his favorite target on this drive, as he found him for two of the drives biggest plays. His back shoulder catch from Rodgers helped Anders Carlson take the 26-23 lead with 52 seconds remaining.
The following kickoff was one of the most game changing plays a Dolphins special teamer has made in a long time. Malik Washington took a bouncing ball for a 45 yard return. Miami was set up on their 46. Quick passes to Jaylen Waddle helped set up a 52 yard field goal for Jason Sanders. Sanders nailed it, and this game was headed for overtime.
The Dolphins won the toss and elected to receive, it was clear they were on a mission this drive. The drive started with an incompletion. The Dolphins however did not fear. Jonnu Smith caught his first ball the entire game this overtime period, and oh boy was it a big one. Smith took the designed screen pass 20 yards up field. One time wasn’t enough, Miami ran the same screen a second time and Smith took it for another 14. The two following plays were passes to Achane and Hill, a combined 13 yards. They then ran another two screen passes to Devon Achane for a combined 14 yards.
At this point Miami was knocking on the door to end the game. A few plays later they did just that. On 2nd and goal Tua dropped back and had a clean pocket, Jonnu Smith was running open towards the back of the endzone, and Tua hit him in the hands and Smith made a clean catch. Miami won the cinematic football game, while New York did not get a chance to pull off the upset in the overtime period.
There were a few things viewers could take away from this game, one being that Miami’s offense remains the same it has been this season. Their run game lacks physicality, which has shown to be detrimental to them so far this year. Where they make up for it is in their drop back passing game and impressive run after catch ability in the screen game. Achane was the Dolphins leading rusher and only had 24 yards on the ground.
Miami now gets a chance to knock off AFC Souths division leading Houston Texans next week on the road, they are currently 2.5 point underdogs to Demeco Ryans’ squad. A win would keep their playoff hopes alive while a loss would likely end those hopes, we will see if Miami steps up to the challenge.