Dolphins beat Cowboys on Christmas Eve, clinch playoff spot
The Miami Dolphins won their 11th game of the season on Sunday, and finally beat a winning team, as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 22-20 at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami’s offense appeared to be just a tick off through the entirety of the contest. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was missing some open targets and the offensive line had a hard time providing holes for the running backs to hit.
Tagovailoa completed just 64.9% of his passes for 293 yards and a touchdown. His lone touchdown pass set a new single-season career-high for the quarterback. It went to running back Raheem Mostert, who extended his franchise single-season total touchdown record.
The trio of running backs rushed for just a hair under four yards per carry.
Mostert suffered an injury early in the game when left tackle Terron Armstead fell on him. He re-entered to score the touchdown, but he wasn’t seen much after that.
Of course, that wasn’t the only injury that the Dolphins suffered, as their string of bad luck continued. Jaylen Waddle suffered a shin injury in the third quarter that kept him out for the remainder of the game.
Tyreek Hill, in his return from injury, recorded a team-high nine receptions for 99 yards. Durham Smythe also had a strong day, bringing in five receptions for 56 yards.
However, when they needed it most, the offense set up kicker Jason Sanders for a game-winning field goal. Sanders may have been the best player wearing aqua and orange in the game, as he nailed his five field-goal attempts including three over 50 yards.
Defensively, Miami had strong stretches, holding the Cowboys to just a touchdown and a field goal through the first three quarters. That also included their first drive when Brandon Jones jumped on a fumble on the hand-off between Dak Prescott and fullback Hunter Luepke.
The Dolphins gave up chunk plays to CeeDee Lamb early, including a 49-yard touchdown, but they shored things up for a while. However, he made an impact late in the game.
Vic Fangio’s unit held Dallas to just 20 points, had a takeaway and sacked Prescott four times (1.5 for Bradley Chubb, 1.5 for Andrew Van Ginkel and one for Zach Sieler), but they had some key penalties that kept Cowboy drives alive, giving them chances to score. Those will be the small things they have to fix to reach their potential.
As Miami wins, they’ve clinched a playoff spot. Their lead in the division remains at two games with two to go, and if the Baltimore Ravens lose on Monday night, they could take over the top seed.
