MIAMI GARDENS — It was a possible Super Bowl preview, this huge matchup between Miami and Dallas at Hard Rock Stadium, as well as a meeting between two teams that have struggled against high-quality opponents.
Miami came out ahead on all counts with a riveting 22-20 victory on a 29-yard field goal by kicker Jason Sanders with no time remaining. It was his fivth field goal of the game, his first from less than 50 yards.
The Dolphins and Cowboys both had lots of storylines to diffuse in Sunday’s matchup.
But the enduring narrative is Miami can beat good teams. This was the Dolphins’ first victory of the season against a team with a winning record. It carries lots of significance.
Here are some more takeaways from Sunday’s game:
Running back Raheem Mostert (46 yards on 11 carries) went over the 1,000 yard rushing mark in the third quarter on his first carry of the second half, which was a 14-yard gain. Mostert, 31, rushed for a then-career-best 891 yards last year.
Mostert became the Dolphins’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Jay Ajayi in 2016. — Chris Perkins
Veteran Kendall Lamm, who had made seven starts at left tackle, started at right tackle Sunday in place of Austin Jackson (oblique). That meant Lamm faced Dallas pass-rushing linebacker Micah Parsons on many occasions. Parsons didn’t do anything in the first half except draw a roughing the passer penalty late in the second quarter. Parsons (seven tackles, 0.5 sack) ended with a decent showing but nothing special.
Sanders, whose previous struggles from 50 or more yards has been well-documented, hit the game-winning 27-yard field goal with no time remaining. But he also had a career-best 57-yard field goal in the first quarter. And he hit a 52-yarder in the second quarter, making it the first game since 2020 that he’s hit two field goals of 50 yards or more. And for good measure he added a 54-yarder in the third quarter.
Sanders hit a 50-yarder last year to deliver an 11-6 victory over the New York Jets and get the Dolphins their first playoff berth since the 2016 season.
Give a nod to punter Jake Bailey, too. On the 57-yarder he noticed Miami only had 10 players on the field when it originally lined up for that field goal. The Dolphins took a timeout to get tight end Durham Smythe on the field for the successful kick.
Miami went for it on fourth-and-goal from the Dallas 5-yard line early in the second quarter and didn’t get it. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw an incomplete back shoulder pass for wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr.
But going for it was a good decision.
Dallas ended up gaining just 14 yards on five plays, including a questionable roughing the passer call against defensive lineman Christian Wilkins.
Interestingly, coach Mike McDaniel called a fade pass, the same thing he called unsuccessfully against Tennessee and, in so many words, called it a bad play-call.
Neither Dallas cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, one of the Dolphins’ three first-round picks in 2021, nor former Dolphins cornerback Kelvin Joseph, who was traded to Miami from Dallas in exchange for Igbinoghene during training camp were involved in the game.
Igbinoghene, who has no stats from scrimmage, was inactive for Sunday’s game.
Joseph was eventually cut by the Dolphins and is now with Seattle on its practice squad.
Dallas moved wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (six receptions, 118 yards) and Parsons all over the field, as expected. Parsons had a key fourth-quarter half-sack.
Lamb had his best early successes lined up in the slot, where he faced cornerback Kader Kohou when Miami wasn’t in zone coverage. But Lamb was positioned against cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard throughout the game with limited success. Miami didn’t frequently double team Lamb or have Ramsey shadow him the way they had Ramsey shadow New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson.
Parsons lined up over left tackle Terron Armstead, Lamm and center Liam Eichenberg without much success at any position. The Dolphins didn’t double team Parsons often and one reason is because Tagovailoa gets rid of the ball so quickly.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who is battling a left ankle injury while trying to attain his goal of 2,000 yards receiving, entered the game with 1,542 yards receiving.
Hill ended with nine receptions for 99 yards. He now has 1,641 yards receiving and needs 359 yards in his final two games to reach 2,000 yards.
Hill sustained his ankle injury in the first quarter against Tennessee and missed last week’s New York Jets game, meaning he’d reach the 2,000-yard mark in 16 games, not 17.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who has absorbed big hits all season, sustained an eye injury in the second quarter and a left shin injury in the third quarter. He left the game both times and went to the locker room.
Waddle, who ended with one reception for 50 yards, has only missed one game this season and that was due to a concussion. But he’s left the field several times this season due to various ailments. Waddle has proven his toughness this season.
The big quarterback showdown between Miami’s Tagovailoa and Dallas’ Dak Prescott didn’t materialize. Tagovailoa ended 24 of 37 passing for 293 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 98.1 passer rating. Prescott ended 20 of 32 for 253 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 107.9 passer rating. He was sacked four times.
Neither quarterback was able to consistently establish the passing game but both quarterbacks were able to negotiate situations well enough to keep their offenses moving.
By the way, both quarterbacks drew questionable roughing the passer calls. Tagovailoa got one from Parsons and Prescott got one from Wilkins.
Safety DeShon Elliott stopped running back Tony Pollard short of the goal line on Dallas’ first possession and it was a big play because Dallas lost a fumble on its next snap. But Elliott (along with Howard) was called for pass interference on wide receiver KaVontae Turpin at the 1-yard line. Dallas scored three plays later to take a 20-19 lead in the fourth quarter.
It unequivocally should have been a touchdown for the Cowboys. On second-and-inches from the Miami 1 ½-yard line, Tony Pollard took a shovel lateral going left. He looked like he could have sprinted to the pylon, but halfway there, he cut upfield. Somehow, defensive back DeShon Elliott, with Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson trying to screen him from the ball carrier, latched onto Pollard and forcefully swung him away from the end-zone line. The ball was marked inside the 1 and gained a first down, but the Cowboys botched a handoff on the next play and the Dolphins took over, and on that drive, grabbed a 3-0 lead on a 57-yard Jason Sanders field goal.
However, late in the game, on a second-and-goal pass into the end zone, Elliott clearly held CeeDee Lamb but got away with it. Then, two plays later, he was called for pass interference at the half-yard line. It looked like he would escape paying for the transgression when Dak Prescott was sacked at the Miami 8 and then threw incomplete on second down. However, he then threw the go-ahead touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks to give Dallas the 20-19 lead. Luckily, his team got the win. — Steve Svekis
On fourth-and-goal from the 5, down 7-3 with the skies having just opened with a downpour, coach Mike McDaniel eschewed a chip-shot field goal that would have gotten the Dolphins to within 7-6 of the Cowboys. Scoring on fourth down from the 5 is a difficult ask in the best of circumstances, with all 11 defenders within a dozen yards of the line of scrimmage. Miami was a hair away from those three points being pretty massive.
One was hot garbage, with Prescott hooking his hand around the back of Christian Wilkins’ helmet to force the defensive tackle’s full weight to come down onto the passer. I guess credit to him, as he totally fooled the referee. The other, on Micah Parsons, was fully justified, despite the All-Pro’s angry histrionics afterward. After Tua Tagovailoa’s release of the pass, Parsons laid a forearm into his back.
Again, it is a wild stat. In Dolphins’ McDaniel has won 19 of his 22 pregame coin tosses before December. However, on Sunday, he lost his eighth toss in 11 games played in December or January. Dallas, however, did Miami a favor, it seemed, when they decided to receive after winning the toss. The Dolphins, as usual, received the second-half kickoff. When the Cowboys fumbled away their first possession at the Miami 1, McDaniel had to feel fantastic.
Jaylen Waddle had injured his leg after a third-quarter catch. He pogo-sticked himself the 50ish yards all the way the field to the Miami sideline. However, the offense then needed to call a timeout because the play clock had started as Waddle was about halfway through his deliberate journey. Greg Olsen said that Waddle needed to be instructed to sit down and stop the clock without the Dolphins having to spend an ultra-valuable second-half timeout.
In the second half, Elijah Campbell first downed a Jake Bailey at the Dallas 2 to give his punter a net 58 yards. Then, on a punt that looked like it might have given Cowboys returner KaVontae Turpin a lot of return space, but Campbell tracked him down across the field, forcing him out of bounds after only 2 yards gained, a 51-yard net for Bailey.
The Dolphins have played in five Super Bowls against four franchises (the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl 6, Washington in 7 and 17, the Minnesota Vikings in 8 and the San Francisco 49ers in 19). Sunday’s result, the Dolphins first win over Dallas at Hard Rock Stadium in four tries, made Miami 8-7 since the 24-3 loss to the Cowboys in New Orleans in 1972.
Against Washington in regular-season games since the 14-7 win in Los Angeles in 1973 that finished The Perfect Season, Miami has gone 9-5. The Dolphins are 6-6 against the Vikings since Miami pulled the Lombardi repeat by hammering Minnesota 24-7 in Houston in 1974. Miami has had the roughest time in the Super Bowl rematches against the San Francisco 49ers, who rallied to rout the Dolphins 38-16 in Palo Alto, California, in 1985. The Niners have gone 6-4 against Miami since then.
The Ravens will be coming off a short week and a cross-country flight from San Francisco following their Monday night game, but they also have had this Miami matchup circled since the schedule came out, with revenge in mind after they blew a 35-14 lead with 12:13 left last September, losing 42-38 to the Dolphins.
