Wow, what a much needed win that was for the Miami Dolphins, who are now only 1 game behind of the AFC East leading Buffalo Bills. 15-10 was the final score, the defense stepped up in a major way for Miami the entire game. Below I will talk about how the game went and my thoughts.
The offense looked more disciplined and efficient today. The bar was at an all time low, but they still were getting out of the huddle with urgency. Miami settled for 3 on their first drive, and it would be their only points for a long time. It didn’t help that star Dolphins Devon Achane got hurt on the second drive of the game for Miami. He was diagnosed with a concussion, but should be back within the next two weeks.
New England answered back and got into the endzone using power back Rhammondre Stevenson, he had a 33 yard rush breaking multiple tackles. Safeties Marcus Maye and Jevon Holland were left behind Stevenson from broken tackles.
There wasn’t much excitement after the fact for either team. As both teams had kickers who missed field goals. Sanders had a good day regardless, making 3/4 of his field goals. Patriots kicker Joey Slye missed a near chip shot field goal wide right, it was 33 yards and down the middle.
The half ended 7-3, and New England opened up the second half with a 38 yard field goal. Miami answered back with two field goals of their own to make the score 10-9. Exciting football for sure… It was then that the Dolphins put together a 15 play, 80 yard touchdown drive taking off nearly 8 minutes of clock.
They did it through good operation, Huntley was sharp through the air, hitting Tyreek Hill for over 30 yards. However the majority of the drive was spent on the ground, where Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Wright were the stars of the show. Mostert had 80 yards on the ground for the day averaging 4.6 yards per carry, rookie Jaylen Wright had 86 yards on the ground averaging 6.6 yards per carry. They punched it in with fullback Alec Ingold from 3 yards out.
The game got really interesting on the next Patriots drive. The Patriots were moving the ball through both the ground game and passing game. Antonio Gibson was moving the chains on some long runs. The Patriots were in the red zone and gave Miami a scare when Ja’Lynn Polk almost made a touchdown grab in the back of the endzone. He got his left foot fully down and his right toe down, but in the back of the endzone both heels need to be fully down to score a touchdown. The New England crowd erupted in boo’s when this was announced, but I am certain if they knew the rule they would not be livid.
Brissett had to throw the ball away on 3rd down, and on 4th and 15 took a shot to the end zone but had no luck.
The Dolphins took over on downs with one mission, got a first down and ended the game. However, they were short of the line to gain on 4th and 1 and were forced to punt. Return man Marcus Jones had a nice return to get New England to the 45. They completed a pass to Keyshon Boutte for 21 yards but stayed in bounds. They needed to spike the ball and only had 12 seconds remaining.
The next play was another play where pressure got in. Jacoby Brissett hit Hunter Henry for a big gain, but time ran out and the game was over. Miami escaped with a 15-10 victory.
Some keys to the game I thought that led Miami to victory was the offensive lines push in the run game. They are still far away from being a good unit, they are very poor in pass protection. But they helped Miami reach 193 rushing yards. They knew without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa doing that and playing sound defense was the key to victory, the offensive line deserves their props.
Some other people I think deserve their props are the secondary, Jalen Ramsey looked like the alpha corner we have seen since he was drafted in Jacksonville. Ramsey was a force in the run and pass game. Kendall Fuller and Kader Kohou also played good games. Kohou had a hold in the 4th quarter but besides that was sticky in coverage and made multiple open field tackles.
All in all, it was definitely a positive game for the Dolphins. Their season is still alive and they are in striking distance of the top AFC East spot. They are starting to figure it out on defense, and the offense looked serviceable while Tua remained out.