MIAMI GARDENS — In the “prove you can beat a contender” bowl, the Miami Dolphins finally got one of those wins.
Behind a late game-winning drive and five field goals from kicker Jason Sanders — three from long range — the Dolphins took down the Cowboys, who came in with a similar narrative of coming up short against winning teams, 22-20, on a Christmas Eve Sunday evening at Hard Rock Stadium.
Sanders’ final boot from 29 yards with no time remaining was the difference.
“These kind of games, in December, that’s how they go,” said quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was 24 of 37 for 293 yards and a touchdown and orchestrated the final drive. “Whoever has the ball last.”
Miami (11-4) clinched a playoff berth with the victory. It’s the first time since the 2001 season the team has qualified for consecutive playoffs.
The hard-fought victory helps negate the narrative that these Dolphins can’t beat winning teams — in a week that started with coach Mike McDaniel telling anyone bringing up that talk to “F off.”
“I think it’s really hard to ignore the noise, so to speak, or not hear it,” McDaniel said after Sunday’s win. “I think you’re going to hear it. And so it’s impossible for people not to know all the things that we’re not capable of doing. But I’m proud for this team because, regardless of what people say, you have to get to a mode where you’re solely worried about doing your job and being responsible for that with your teammates. And anything else, you get distracted and lose focus on what actually matters.”
The Dolphins are now one win away from clinching the AFC East, and they would take over No. 1 in the AFC with a Baltimore Ravens loss on Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers — a playoff position that will be decided in next week’s showdown in Baltimore anyway. Miami can also clinch the division over the Buffalo Bills before their meeting in Miami Gardens in the finale with a win over the Ravens Dec. 31.
Sunday’s win can catapult the Dolphins into the final two regular-season games and the postseason with confidence, but Tagovailoa refutes that idea, as the confidence is already within the team.
“I don’t think anyone is necessarily worried about what anyone else is saying outside of the guys in the building,” Tagovailoa said. “The confidence, I mean, everyone has confidence in each other and themselves. I don’t think winning these games do anything more or anything less.
The Cowboys (10-5) fall in back-to-back weeks to the top teams in the AFC East after losing to Buffalo last week.
Tagovailoa and Dak Prescott battled against the tough opposing defenses. Prescott went 20 of 32 for 253 yards and two scores.
The two teams’ top receivers also dueled. The Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill went for 99 yards on nine receptions, and Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb amassed 118 yards and a touchdown on six catches — but 93 of them were in the first quarter.
The final drive went 12 plays for 64 yards before Sanders’ short field goal, which was a chip shot compared to the 50-yarders he made earlier.
Facing third-and-3 from the Dallas 33-yard line, a quick screen from Tagovailoa to Hill after the two-minute warning kept the Dolphins going deeper into Dallas territory. Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. then took the next three carries, the third being a powerful 6-yard plunge that picked up a first down on third-and-2 and allowed Miami to run out the clock for Sanders’ game-winner. A facemask penalty on Cowboys linebacker Damone Clark was instrumental in getting the Dolphins up the field quickly.
Trailing throughout much of the second half, the Cowboys took a 20-19 lead when Prescott threw a touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks in the corner of the end zone that Cooks came down with against cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Kader Kohou.
The score came after Miami nearly had a fourth-down stop, but safety DeShon Elliott was called for pass interference that set Dallas up inside Miami’s 1-yard line. The Cowboys immediately made the touchdown more difficult with Prescott taking a sack on first down as Dallas opted against pounding it in.
The Dolphins went into halftime with a 13-7 lead thanks to running back Raheem Mostert’s one-handed touchdown catch by the goal line with no one around him. Mostert missed significant time in the first half with an undisclosed injury, but was always seen on the sideline near the line of scrimmage and re-entered late in the second quarter with Miami 4 yards away from scoring.
Early in the second half, Sanders expanded the lead with his third field goal make from 50-plus. His 54-yarder gave Miami a 16-7 lead. By the middle of the third period, Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey made a 43-yard field goal to get Dallas back within one possession, 16-10. That drive could’ve gone for more had it not been for an illegal shift penalty that negated a big Prescott scramble in the red zone.
Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio opted not to have elite cornerback Jalen Ramsey shadow star Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, and Lamb made Miami pay early.
He had four receptions for 93 yards and a 49-yard touchdown in which he ran free on a slant across the middle of the Miami defense. Lamb, though, did not have his next catch until the fourth quarter.
The Cowboys’ opening drive went 15 plays and 73 yards, and consumed 7:43, getting down to the Miami 1-yard line, but Dallas came up empty. Prescott and Hunter Luepke had a fumbled exchange on a goal-line carry, and safety Brandon Jones recovered the football.
Taking over deep in their own territory, the Dolphins missed an opportunity to score a long touchdown as a deep pass from Tagovailoa to Hill, open beyond Dallas cornerback DaRon Bland along the left sideline, was dropped.
Tagovailoa, however, followed with a deep pass to Waddle down the opposite sideline that went for 50 yards. It set up Sanders’ first field goal, a career-long 57-yard make.
In the second quarter, after Lamb’s long touchdown, the Dolphins drove down as deep as the Dallas 3-yard line before ending up in a fourth-and-goal at the 5-yard line. McDaniel opted to go for it instead of taking the 3 points, and Tagovailoa’s fade route to Cedrick Wilson Jr. in the end zone was not caught inbounds.
Later in the second period, Sanders connected on his second 50-yarder, from 52 yards out.
The Miami defense sacked Prescott four times. Outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel and Bradley Chubb each had 1 1/2, and defensive tackle Zach Sieler had another. The Dolphins hit Prescott 12 times, although he was able to escape pressure often and convert tough completions under duress.
The Dolphins next travel to Baltimore for a New Year’s Eve showdown with the Ravens before a home regular-season finale against the Buffalo Bills.
This story will be updated.
