Saints vs. Dolphins: Score, live updates as the two teams face off in Miami

The New Orleans Saints travel to take on the Miami Dolphins at noon on Sunday in a game featuring two teams badly in need of a victory. You can follow here for the score and live updates.

The Dolphins roll in with a record of 4-7 while the Saints are 2-9. Tyler Shough will make his fourth NFL start at quarterback for the Saints. 

Running back Alvin Kamara is unavailable for the Saints because of an injury he suffered last week against the Atlanta Falcons.

 

Follow below for the latest from Miami.

Live game updates

TD OLAVE 🫡

What a route by 12

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/BabNUyv5lu

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 30, 2025

UPDATED, 1:51 p.m.: Touchdown, Saints. Man, an offense that looked downright awful throughout the entire first half hummed like a well-oiled machine on that drive, which ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Shough to Chris Olave.

Devaughn Vele had a couple of catches on the drive, including a diving effort inside the 10 to set up goal-to-go. That one frankly looked like he might have been out of bounds, but it was upheld after replay review. Helped that he had the call on the field on his side. The Saints also caught a break when Radunz false-started just before a snap that went over Shough’s head on first-and-goal.

Either way, the Saints will take it. They decide to go for 2, and Shough keeps around end with nobody there to stop him. Easy play, and the Dolphins lead is down to 16-8 here in the third quarter.

UPDATED, 1:45 p.m.: The Saints come out of halftime in dire need of a good drive, and thus far, they’re delivering with a few nice Devin Neal runs and a Shough completion to Devaughn Vele mixed in.

The interesting thing is that New Orleans is going no-huddle. They needed to try something different, and so far so good here.

The latest Neal run goes around left tackle, and he dives at the sideline for a first down at the Dolphins’ 28-yard line.

Meanwhile, an injury update out of halftime: Saints safety Justin Reid, who was injured on the first series of the game, will not return.

UPDATED, 1:31 p.m.: Halftime stats paint an ugly picture for the Saints:

TOTAL YARDS: Saints 63 (29 passing, 34 rushing), Dolphins 193 (112 rushing, 81 passing)

PASSING: Tyler Shough 7/12, 43 yards, INT, 2 sacks; Tua Tagovailoa 7/14, 93 yards, INT, 2 sacks

RUSHING: Devin Neal 6-17, Shough 3-10, Evan Hull 3-8; De’Von Achane 13-88, TD; Jaylen Wright 2-13, Ollie Gordon 2-11

RECEIVING: Foster Moreau 2-13, Juwan Johnson 1-11, Mason Tipton 2-10, Taysom Hill 1-5, Chris Olave 1-4; Darren Waller 2-47, Malik Washington 3-26, Cedrick Wilson 1-16, Jaylen Waddle 1-4.

UPDATED, 1:26 p.m.: The Dolphins play it conservatively after the turnover, running the ball a couple of times and then letting the clock run down to 2 seconds before spiking it instead of pushing to the end zone.

In the end, it’s a 48-yard field goal for Patterson, who is 3 for 3 in the half.

At halftime: It’s Dolphins 16, Saints 0.

UPDATED, 1:22 p.m.: Dolphins help the Saints out, with Chop Robinson jumping offside to give New Orleans a first down. Then Shough scrambles for 8, Neal picks his way for 8 more, and the Saints are down to the 24.

They call their first timeout at the 1:26 mark. Saints get the ball first in the second half, so a touchdown here would be huge going into the locker room.

And then, DISASTER. Shough misses an open Olave on first down as he’s hit, so then he tries to force a ball to Olave on second down, and Rasual Douglas picks it off for Miami. Credit some hustle from Dillon Radunz for tracking him down and preventing a possible pick six.

Instead, the Dolphins have it all the way up at the Saints’ 42 with 1:08 still to play.

UPDATED, 1:15 p.m.: A couple of quality runs from Devin Neal is a good thing to see for the Saints offense. Nothing explosive, but back-to-back run net 8 yards and get a first down near midfield.

There are about three minutes left in the half. Saints have all three timeouts as they look to get on the board here — if not to the end zone than at least in range for Charlie Smyth’s first career field goal attempt.

In fact, the Saints are going to let the clock run to the 2-minute warning before a third-and-4 from the Miami 45.

The Dolphins are now winning 13-0, which feels like more than enough considering how poorly the Saints offense has performed today.

— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) November 30, 2025

UPDATED, 1:08 p.m.: A red-zone stop for the Saints, barely, with Achane unable to corral a hard pass from Tua inside the 5 on third-and-goal.

Instead, it’s another Patterson field goal, a chip shot, and the Dolphins lead 13-0.

Miami has a 106-6 edge in rushing yardage and a 180-25 edge in total yardage. New Orleans is lucky the score isn’t worse.

UPDATED, 1:02 p.m.: The Saints offense continually has put its defense in bad position in this game, and the defense is only going to hold up so long.

Dolphins start this drive at midfield and are just busting sizable gains on the ground. Achane has had a string of big games in a row, and he’s on pace for another one today.

The Saints do force a third-and-3 here, but Tua converts it with his first completion of the day to top receiver Jaylen Waddle, who had a nice effort there to reach the ball past the chains. Now another big play from Achane, picking his way through the right side of the Saints defense with blockers in front. Miami in the red zone.

UPDATED, 12:56 p.m.: The beat goes on. A three-and-out for the Saints, who can’t get anything going on offense. Then, to make matters worse, a flag for kick-catch interference against Michael Davis on the punt will give the Dolphins better field position.

This is a pretty poor effort through the first third of this game.

KOOL-AID INT 👋

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/NOLdOQvLpI

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 30, 2025

UPDATED, 12:51 p.m.: Hold the phone. The Saints defense isn’t ready to get blown out, as Kool-Aid McKinstry plays left field and picks off a Tagovailoa deep ball in the end zone.

Touchback, and just like that the Saints have it back at their 20. Still 10-0 Miami with 12:24 left in the half.

UPDATED, 12:50 p.m.: They’re showing Super Bowl XLIV highlights on the Fox broadcast; that was actually the last time the Saints played a game in this stadium. Their previously scheduled trip to Miami, in 2017, was moved to London.

Maybe those good vibes have extended to the Saints offense, which certainly could use them. And it does, at least in the short term, with a first down. Shough a 6-yard completion to Moreau and then a 5-yard run from Evan Hull.

But it doesn’t last. Two plays later, Shough is sacked from the blind side on a blitz from Minkah Fitzpatrick and fumbles. Miami recovers, and this is turning into a(nother) very long day for the Saints.

UPDATED, 12:45 p.m.: The Saints defense does a good job in the first series out of the quarter, nearly getting an interception and then pressuring Tua into a throwaway on third down.

Riley Patterson is on for a 39-yard field goal. He hits it, and the Dolphins’ lead is 10-0. Saints still looking for a first down.

UPDATED, 12:41 p.m.: We’ve reached the end of a dreary first quarter for the Saints. Dolphins lead 7-0 and are driving with a first down at the New Orleans 25-yard line, thanks to a couple of big pass plays: A 16-yarder to former Saint Cedrick Wilson and a 34-yarder to a wide-open Waller.

The Saints are digging themselves a big hole yet again.

UPDATED, 12:35 p.m.: Boy, this offense is going nowhere today. Three drives, and all have been three-and-outs. The biggest problem this time was a second-down sack where Shough probably needed to throw the ball away but couldn’t find a gap to do it.

He did find Johnson on third down for about 10 yards, but with the sack that’s not close to a first down.

At midfield, the Saints could be aggressive here, but instead Kellen Moore will ask Kroger to pin the Dolphins. He does a decent job, forcing a fair catch at the 11.

Still 7-0 Miami, 2:01 left in the first quarter.

Danny Stutsman says HELLO 😤

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/B70XSMu7V0

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 30, 2025

2 SACKS FOR CAM TODAY

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/7rmuyTXyYa

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 30, 2025

UPDATED, 12:31 p.m.: Danny Stutsman hit stick! The rookie linebacker just stuck Achane at the line of scrimmage with a takedown the wrestling world would be proud of.

Two plays later, it’s Cam Jordan again. He sacks Tua, whose pocket collapsed on him. What a story Jordan has been this season.

Dolphins punt, Saints take over with good field position at their 44.

UPDATED, 12:27 p.m.: Another three-and-out for the Saints, even after a miraculous 7-yard completion from Shough to tight end Foster Moreau on a play where Shough was being drilled by Matthew Judon and just kind of flipped it to Moreau.

After that, Neal was stuffed on his first carry, and Shough’s third-and-4 pass to Juwan Johnson was broken up. Shough hasn’t been particularly accurate thus far.

At least the Saints got a good punt from Kai Kroeger, who boomed it 60 yards for a touchback — it nearly died inside the 10.

UPDATED, 12:22 p.m.: Saints force a three-and-out on defense, and they needed that. It was aided a bit by a couple of Tagovailoa misfires, but New Orleans will take it. They’ll get the ball back hoping to get a foothold in this game.

UPDATED, 12:17 p.m.: The Saints have only scored first once this entire season, a field goal that gave them a 3-0 lead on the Patriots back in Week 6.

It’s the same old song here, as the New Orleans offense will take the field trailing 7-0 already.

A short completion to Chris Olave gets the day going for Tyler Shough, but Mason Tipton gets nothing on an end-around, and then Shough’s third-down pass to Tipton is short and low, and he winds up a couple of yards shy of the first down. Saints go three-and-out and will punt.

That third-down pass might have been slightly tipped at the defensive line. Either way, certainly not what Shough wanted there.

UPDATED, 12:09 p.m.: Smyth hits the landing zone with his opening kickoff at the 6, but a good return will allow the Dolphins to start at their 31.

A couple of 8-yard runs, the first from budding star running back De’Von Achane and the second from backup Jaylen Wright, give Miami a first down near midfield.

But then it’s a sack for Cam Jordan, who continues his renaissance season. Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa held onto that one for too long. But a 13-yard pass to tight end Darren Waller, who’s returning from injury, and a dumpoff to Malik Washington after Tua dropped the snap allow the Dolphins to get a first down anyway. They’re already in long field goal range.

Uh, oh. Now they’re in real trouble. Achane bursts through the right side and has nothing but gree in front of him, and he’s too fast for anyone to cut off at an angle. It’s a 29-yard touchdown run. PAT good, and the Dolphins lead 7-0 less than four minutes in.

Pregame updates

UPDATED, 12:02 p.m.: Still raining for the coin toss, which the Saints win and defer. That means Charlie Smyth will kick off. We’re ready for Week 13.

UPDATED, 11:53 a.m.: The other new area to keep an eye on today — and perhaps the one I’m personally most excited about — is at kicker, where Charlie Smyth, an Irishman who had never played American football until early last year, is set to make his regular-season debut.

Smyth has made 60-plus yard field goals, maybe even a 70, in practice. But he’s also been inconsistent, missing extra points and short field goals too often. It’ll be interesting to see when and where the Saints give him opportunities today.

We’re about 10 minutes from kickoff in south Florida.

UPDATED, 10:54 a.m.: It’s Sunday in late fall in south Louisiana, and that means a Saints game day, even if much of the football world is consumed with LSU and the Lane Kiffin Watch, or Tulane and Jon Sumrall being poached by Florida.

But that’s OK: We’re still tracking the Saints for their road game at the Miami Dolphins, a winnable tilt for a 2-9 team that is another step in the audition for Tyler Shough and the starting debut of rookie running back Devin Neal.

Neal is filling in for Alvin Kamara, who was injured in last week’s loss to the Falcons. The Saints offense did get some good news this morning: Top receiver Chris Olave, who missed some practice this week with back spasms, is active. Kamara is indeed inactive with his knee and ankle injuries.

Just like here in parts of south Louisiana, it’s a rainy morning in Miami, although that’s expected to let up by kickoff in a little over an hour.