That’ s the Miami Dolphins’ continued climb out of a 1-7 hole with a 20-9 win Sunday against the struggling New York Giants. It wasn’ t just Sunday’ s game where the Dolphins defense held down a troubled Giants offense with backup quarterback Mike Glennon. Look at what the Dolphins defense has given up during the five wins: 9 points to Houston; 10 to Baltimore; 17 to the New...
That’s five straight wins.
That’s a 6-7 record now.
That’s the Miami Dolphins’ continued climb out of a 1-7 hole with a 20-9 win Sunday against the struggling New York Giants.
Here are 10 thoughts on the game:
1. Stat of the game: Nine Giants points. Three field goals. It’s easy to see what’s fueled this run of wins. It wasn’t just Sunday’s game where the Dolphins defense held down a troubled Giants offense with backup quarterback Mike Glennon. Look at what the Dolphins defense has given up during the five wins: 9 points to Houston; 10 to Baltimore; 17 to the New York Jets; and 10 to Carolina.
2. Tua Tagovailoa is like a good point guard, making the smart pass to the open guy. He completed 30-of-41 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. He hit two big, third-down completions on a game-sealing drive in the final minutes, one to DeVante Parker (see below) and the other a 17-yarder to Mike Gesicki. Mostly, he did what was asked by scoring enough but not making any mistake that could cost the day.
3. Xavien Howard recorded his second interception in two games and third takeaway in four games when you throw in a forced fumble and recovery against Baltimore. His 26 interceptions since 2017 are the most in the NFL. It was a stretch to think he could have another league-leading and franchise-record-tying 10 of last year. But he’s still got four games left and has those four interceptions and two force fumbles and recoveries (the other won the New England game. In other words, Howard keeps showing why he’s the top talent on the team.
4. Receiver Watch:
* Jaylen Waddle broke the Dolphins rookie receiving record with his 85th catch in the third quarter. He had nine catches for 90 yards Sunday and remains on pace to set the NFL receiving record for a rookie. Anquan Boldin set the record in 2003 with 101 catches for Arizona. Through 13 games, Waddle has 86 catches. He left the game after a third-quarter catch with a cramp, according to the game broadcast of WQAM but was standing on the sideline and appeared fine.
* Another trending rookie, defensive end Jaelan Phillips, sacked Glennon on back-to-back plays late in the third quarter to break the Dolphins rookie record held by Bill Stanfill in 1969. The first came when he chased down Glennon into a 13-yard loss. The second came after Glennon waited and waited to find an open receiver and couldn’t. Phillips has 8 1/2 — and seven in the past five games.
5. You saw what the Dolphins missed without Parker in a fourth-quarter catch for a first down. It was third-and-6 from the Dolphins 29-yard line with 4:16 left. Parker went down the left sideline and Tua threw a jump-ball to him. Parker went up and got it for a 16-yard gain and the kind of first down that sets up wins. Parker isn’t a polished route runner. But he can make big plays like that. He had five catches for 62 yards in his sixth game this year. He hadn’t played since Oct. 31st.
6. Jason Sanders now has missed a field goal or extra point in six of the past eight games, as the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s David Furones researched. He made a 42-yarder to seal the game with less than two minutes left. But a 52-yard attempt in the fourth quarter that could have given the Dolphins a 20-6 lead missed. Instead, the Giants responded with a field goal to make it, 17-9, and there was drama left. Sanders was 36 of 39 last year on field goals. He’s 16 of 22 on them this year.
7. Improving the running game remains high on the shopping list for this offseason. That means the offensive line and the running back. With Phillip Lindsay’s trial run limited to last week to injury, the Dolphins running game went about where you’d expect the 31st run game to on Sunday. They had 25 carries for 68 yards. Myles Gaskin also seemed to miss a blitz pick-up in the third quarter that led to a sack of Tagovailoa. Patrick Laird went out of the game with a knee injury, meaning the Dolphins were down to running backs Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed. That said …
8. Saquon Barkley is just one exhibit on why you don’t pick a running back high in the draft. He had 11 carries for 55 yards. Last week against the Dolphins, Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey, the eighth pick overall in 2017, had another injury-troubled season end with an ankle injury. The week before in the Dolphins-Jets game, Jets rookie Michael Carter left with an injury. Go through the list of high-paid running backs and you see the problem with paying them big money.
9. Quick hits:
* Mack Hollins caught his fourth touchdown to put the Dolphins up, 7-3. He’s tied for the team high in touchdowns.
* Tua’s 21 first-half completions were the most by a Dolphins quarterback since 2000.
* The Giants had fourth-and-2 at the Dolphins 46-yard line in the third quarter and punted. That’s tough to watch if you’re a Giants fan. The Dolphins got the ball at the 20, punted from the 39 and the Giants got the ball back at their 18. Regardless, a losing team should go for that.
* Elandon Roberts dropped an interception in the third quarter. In a game of little offense, such plays are big.
10. Next week: Bye. Then it’s the New York Jets at Dolphins. The second half of “New York, New York,” for the Dolphins involving two of the more dismal teams in the league. The Dolphins beat the Jets in the Meadowlands a couple of weeks ago. Now comes the rematch in Hard Rock Stadium that should be different only in that rookie Jets quarterback Zach Wilson is in and veteran Joe Flacco is out.
