And then Tua Tagovailoa was sacked.
That ended the Dolphins’ 33-27 loss to New England after a wild fourth quarter on comebacks and givebacks where the conclusion was the Dolphins lost too many good opportunities.
Weird stuff happens in this series. Remember The Miracle of Miami? Doug Flutie drop-kicking an extra point? The biblical flood in the AFC Championship game?
Add this to the list.
1. Play of the Game: Tua Tagovailoa was sacked at the Patriots 37-yard line on fourth-and-12 with 53 seconds left. That completed a day where, again, the theme was lost opportunity. On the previous possession, Tua threw a fourth-down interception over the middle that was returned 20 yards to the Dolphins 38 with 2:12 left. Bottom-line: The Dolphins needed winning plays from their quarterback.
2. Play of Game II: After the Dolphins’ Malik Washington bounced out of a blob of players and returned a New England punt 74 yards to give the Dolphins a 27-23 lead with 7:18 left, New England answered. The Patriots’ Antonio Gibson cut down the sideline for a 90-yards return. So, 12 seconds after the Dolphins took the lead on a dramatic return, the Patriots took it right back.
3. Stat of the game: The Dolphins averaged 6.9 yards a play – and lost. For context, they averaged 5.1 yards last season and 6.5 in 2023 when they led the league in offense. So, this offense put up a lot of yards and scored just 20 points. Tyreek Hill had six catches for 109 yards. After a bad day in Indy – and a bad interception negated by double penalties on the third play – Tua had a good numbers day: 26 for 32, 315 yards. It helped to go against this secondary that Geno Smith had nine passes for over 20 yards against the previous week. Without injured cornerback Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots secondary is right there with the Dolphins’ troubled secondary . But the added point is the Dolphins didn’t mix in their running game. FIfteen carries, 61 yards. Ollie Gordon had one carry for 8 yards.
5. Well, New England ended a drive doing something on its opening second-half possession no opposing team had to this year: Punt. The Colt and Patriots’ streak of 10 straight, scoring possessions against the Dolphins officially ended just before half when the Patriots ran out the final 33 seconds from their 4-yard line. But that punt represented the first real win for this defense. Until then, they were pulled up and down the field for five touchdowns and five field goals in the first six quarters of the season. Seven of the 10 scoring possessions went for over 60 yards. Only one drive was less than 42 yards – the 21-yard one at the end of the Colts game. Here’s the drives with number of plays, length of drive (and result):
* vs. Indianapolis: 9 plays, 62 yards (FG); 14-84 (TD); 5-42 (TD); 17-72 (FG); 7-48 (FG); 15-69 (TD); 7-21 (FG);
* vs. New England: 10 plays, 68 yards (TD); 11-70 (TD); 15-71 (FG).
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6. The long, national nightmare is over. Tyreek Hill caught a pass for longer than 30 yards for the first time since the Jacksonville opener last season. It wasn’t easy. He was 5 yards behind the Patriots secondary on the opening drive of the third quarter, but had to come back and fine an underthrown, blooper ball from Tua. In doing so, Hill also had to elude two Patriots defenders. It was a great job of concentration that put the ball at the New England 27 and set up a go-ahead field goal.
7. Not all has gone perfectly this Dolphins start, but De’Von Achane is doing his part. He had eight catches for 92 yards Sunday and 11 carries for 30 yards. He took a simple pass over the middle late in the first half where he left Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane behind, sprinted downfield and muscled the final yards of the 29-yard touchdown over linebacker Christian Elliss. A week earlier in Indy, he was a lone, bright note in scoring a simlarly tough touchdown run – the lone score of the game.
8. Do you need a running quarterback? No, but it’s mighty nice to have a quarterback who can run. A week after Daniel Jones ran 26 yards on seven carries for two TDs and a first down, it was Drake Maye’s turn. He ran for seven times for 33 yards through three quarters with a long of 13 for a first down, a tush-push first down and a 6-yard TD run. The contrast was Tua at the start of the fourth quarter when, on third down, he moved left and had an open field but didn’t run (smartly for him). He went out of bounds and the Dolphins punted.
9. Quick Hits:
* Let’s not lose the Dolphins operational problems on ending drives. An illegal procedure penalty and delay of game put them on first-and-20 on their last series.
* The Dolphins smartly kicked away from Patriots rookie TreVeyon Henderson every time. It had a double bonus – he was called for two holding penalties on kickoffs.
* Left tackle Patrick Paul had a false start to change 2-point conversion attempt into an extra point conversion just before half. That meant instead of possibly tying, the Dolphins trailed 15-14, at half.
* The mystery of Darren Waller continued through the second week as he was again inactive. He barely practiced this summer in his return from retirement, but was gifted a roster spot even though he can’t play.
* Patriots kicker Andy Borregales, who kicked at Hard Rock Stadium with the Miami Hurricanes, missed his opening two extra points (or Dolphins extra-point defense was on its game). He then made a 22-yard field go to end the run.
10: Next game: Thursday in Buffalo. The dreaded quick week followed by the dreaded annual game in Buffalo. The Bills have won the last eight games in Orchard Park, N.Y., dating to the last Dolphins win there in 2016. Buffalo has won 13 of the past 14 games anywhere. The last Dolphin win, 21-19, was at Hard Rock Stadium in September of 2022 where nine Bills players couldn’t finish the game due to the heat. The Bills are the newest New England of the AFC East with Josh Allen in the Tom Brady role.
