The Miami Dolphins continued their hot play of late by defeating the New York Giants 20-9 on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium for their 5th win in a row. The win improves the Dolphins record to 6-7, which puts them in the playoff hunt. Of course, you can say that about most of the teams in AFC as 13 of the 16 teams have at least 6 wins.
Once again it was the defense that led the way, as they held the Giants to 250 total yards and 3 field goals. Miami sacked New York quarterback Mike Glennon 3 times (2 by rookie Jaelan Phillips) and intercepted him once (Xavien Howard’s 4th pick of the season).
During the 5-game winning streak, the Fins defense has only given up 55 points. Once again, their blitz happy pass rush put consistent pressure on the quarterback while they again held their opponent to less than 100 yards rushing.
The Dolphins offensive approach was a tad conservative, but that was all that was needed against the offensively challenged Giants. Although the game statistics were relatively even, the game never really seemed to be in doubt due to the dominating Miami defense.
QB Tua Tagovailoa once again had a very efficient game completing 30 of 41 passes for 244 yards with 2 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Although many of Tua’s passes were of the shorter variety, the Dolphins depended on his uber accurate left arm as Miami’s run game once gain left a lot to be desired.
The Dolphins only ran for 68 yards on 25 carries for 2.7 yards per carry average. Myles Gaskin gained 44 yards on 15 carries.
After swapping field goals earlier in the 1st half, Miami took a 10-3 lead right before halftime on a 5-yard touchdown pass to wideout Mack Hollins to cap a 14 play 89-yard drive.
The Giants cut the lead to 10-6 on their 1st drive of the 2nd half via a Graham Gano 34-yard field goal.
The score remained that way until early in the 4th quarter when Miami went on a 7 play 61-yard drive capped off by a 2-yard strike from Tua to WR Isaiah Ford to put the Fins up 17-6.
After Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders missed a 52-yard field goal, Gano kicked a 51-yard field goal to bring the Giants to within 8 points.
But Miami got the 3 points right back on a 10 play 45 play drive that Sanders finished off with a 48-yard field goal with less than 2 minutes to go in the game. The drive was highlighted by a spectacular spinning jump ball 16-yard catch on the sideline by DeVante Parker to give Miami a 1st down on a 3rd & 6 play.
After a missed 56-yard field goal attempt by Gano, Miami knelt down to finish off the 20-9 victory.
Despite their 5th victory in a row, if Miami wants to beat the better teams in the league, they are going to need to significantly improve their run game while also taking more shots down field in the passing game. A short passing game combined with averaging around 3 yards per carry on the ground just won’t get it done against the elite teams in NFL.
But let’s not rain too much on the Fins 5-game winning streak parade, as Miami has turned their season around via a dominating defense and an efficient passing game.
Other key takeaways from the game were:
- Time of possession was nearly even with Miami having the ball for 30:40 vs. 29:20 for the Giants. 1st downs were also close with the Dolphins having a 19-16 edge.
- Glennon finished 23-44 for 187 yards with 1 interception. After going 13-18 in the 1st half, he was only 10-26 after halftime.
- Both teams only committed 3 penalties each.
- Miami didn’t commit any turnovers, but Tua was sacked twice. Overall, the offensive line did a respectable job of protecting Tagovailoa.
- Jaylen Waddle had another strong game with 9 catches for 90 yards. He didn’t play much of the 4th quarter due to leg spasms.
- Waddle now has 86 catches on the year, which sets a new Dolphins record for a rookie breaking the previous total of 84 by Jarvis Landry.
- Hollins’ TD catch was his 4th of the season coming on only 13 total receptions.
- Punter Michael Palardy had another strong game averaging 48.3 yards per punt on 6 punts including pinning the Giants inside their 20-yard line several times.
- Giants coach Joe Judge likely frustrated many a New York fan when he decided to punt on 4th & 2 from Miami’s 46-yard line in the 3rd quarter with Miami up 10-6. What does a team with 4 wins have to lose by going for it, especially when the offense needed to do whatever was possible to score some points?
- Phillips’ 2 sacks were on back-to-back plays on the Giants 4th drive of the 2nd half which resulted in a 3rd & 30 for New York.
- Despite completing 73% of his passes, Tua did throw several balls that were too high for his receivers.
- Rookie tight-end Hunter Long had the 1st reception of his career in the 1st quarter; an 8-yard catch.
- The oft injured Parker showed what Miami has been missing as he caught 5 passes for 62 yards. Parker, Waddle & tight-end Mike Gesicki combined for 21 of the Fins 30 receptions.
- In addition to Parker returning from the injured reserve list, center Michael Dieter played for the 1st time since week 3.
The Dolphins are on bye next week. Miami’s next game is December 19th vs. the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium. The Fins certainly have a legitimate shot at their 6th straight win, which would even their record at 7-7. Who would have thunk that after week 8?
