Wow, that was some crazy game, wasn’t it?
The good news is the Miami Dolphins were able to hang on against the New Orleans Saints thanks to two gigantic defensive plays in the final two minutes to make it four wins in their past five games and move to 5-7 on the season.
The bad news is it’s frankly difficult to take in what we saw at Hard Rock Stadium and realistically think the Dolphins will be able to continue winning games once the competition gets tougher.
Yes, every win is a good win and anybody can beat anybody on any given Sunday, but the Dolphins barely hanging on to defeat the 2-9 Saints missing their best offensive player (Alvin Kamara) after a similar win against the Washington Commanders in Week 11 doesn’t exactly inspire a whole lot of confidence.
The formula is pretty simple for the Dolphins these days: ride the legs of De’Von Achane and come up with enough big plays on defense to get the W.
That worked against both Washington and New Orleans in the past two games, but the Dolphins absolutely will need more down the stretch after winning those two games by three and four points.
And in each case it was a big interception that was the difference, Jack Jones’ pick in overtime against the Commanders in Spain and Minkah Fitzpatrick’s pick on the two-point conversion attempt inside 2 minutes where he not only prevented New Orleans from tying the score but returned it to the end zone to give the Dolphins an additional two points — and that proved gigantic after the Saints recovered an onside kick and drove into field goal range.
This game against New Orleans really shouldn’t have been this close given how well the running game again performed, but the passing game struggled yet again — even with the return of tight end Darren Waller.
So the Dolphins will leave Week 13 firmly “in the hunt” because they’re now only one game back of the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens in the loss column, but realistically nowhere near right now the same caliber of teams as all those in the playoff picture graphics.
THOUGHTS ON ACHANE, DOUGLAS, TUA
— We’ll see again with a controversial coaching decision, Mike McDaniel choosing to go for the first down on fourth-and-1 from the New Orleans 43-yard line with under 4 minutes left. This one was from this vantage point wasn’t as clear as the decision to go for the touchdown instead of taking the go-ahead field goal against Washington, which we though was a clear mistake. Still, the play here probably should have been to try to pin New Orleans deep inside of giving the Saints the ball at their 45-yard line.
— FOX analyst Mark Schlereth knocked Ollie Gordon II for cutting laterally at the line, but the truth is there absolutely was no opening up the middle and he would have gotten stuffed either way.
— Of course, we probably should wonder why De’Von Achane wasn’t in the game at the time considering just how effective he’s been.
— There’s no way to dance around it, but the Dolphins are close to having themselves a Tua problem, if they don’t already have it. And it’s not about his 55.9 passer rating — because you all know how I feel about passer rating.
— Tua’s game always has been about accuracy and he’s always needed that more than other quarterbacks because of his limitations in other parts of the game, including scrambling or taking on defenders, such as the play before the fourth-down failure because that should have been a first down. But there were misses on crossing routes where he threw behind Achane inside the 10-yard line and behind Julian Hill on a third-and-1 and also overshot Darren Waller wide open in the back of the end zone.
— It was great to see Waller back in the offense, but only one target in the second half?
— The offensive line did some very good work in run blocking, but the pass protection was a bit on the shaky side and among those who looked like they had a tough time was left tackle Patrick Paul, and that’s notable because it hasn’t happened very often this season.
— Hat tip to kicker Riley Patterson for his 4-for-4 performance. He continues to prove a very good replacement for Jason Sanders.
— After Jones played the starring role in Spain, fellow cornerback Rasul Douglas returned to the lineup and had himself a productive game, the highlight being his second-quarter interception that became a six-point swing because instead of the score being, say, 13-3 at halftime, it was 16-0. In a game won by four points, that’s obviously huge.
— And, of course, the biggest game ball has to go to Fitzpatrick for his two-point defensive conversion and the sack-strip in the first half.
— For those wondering about the ruling on the onside kick, it did look as though the ball grazed off the thumb of a Dolphins player (maybe Jaylen Waddle) before it was recovered by the Saints. That play made for a crazy, frantic and more nerve-racking than it should have been.
— The Dolphins face another opponent with a poor record next week when they travel to face the New York Jets, and at some point they’re going to have to raise the level of their overall game or this successful stretch will end sooner rather than later.
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