Dolphins dominate Jets in first Black Friday game
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Miami Dolphins experienced the highs of highs and lows of lows of football in Friday’s win over the New York Jets.
There was the exhilaration of safety Jevon Holland’s rare feat, a 99-yard interception return touchdown on a Hail Mary attempt. And then there was the devastation of losing a valued player to serious injury when edge defender Jaelan Phillips was carted off after injuring his Achilles.
Ultimately, the Dolphins came away with a dominant road victory in the AFC East, 34-13, over the rival Jets in the NFL’s first Black Friday game at MetLife Stadium.
For the moment, Miami (8-3) is No. 1 in the AFC, but that will likely change once the rest of the league’s Week 12 action is complete.
The Dolphins have two consecutive 8-3 starts for the first time since 2000-2001. They have also won five of six and 12 of their past 15 against the Jets.
“The sky’s the limit for us,” said quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, whose team overcame his two interceptions. “Whatever we want to accomplish, everything’s right there in front of us and we basically turn it on fate here in this league. So, we just have to continue stacking those wins.”
The Miami defense surrendered a miniscule 159 yards of total offense against a Jets offense that might have been in a food coma the day after Thanksgiving — or is just bad in general. New York quarterback Tim Boyle, replacing Zach Wilson as starter this week, went 21 of 30 for 135 yards, a late touchdown and two interceptions.
Tagovailoa didn’t have his best game as two interceptions late in the first half kept the Jets (4-7) close before Holland’s heroics to send the teams into the locker room.
Both of Tagovailoa’s top targets surpassed 100 receiving yards. Tyreek Hill had nine receptions for 102 yards and the touchdown. Jaylen Waddle went for eight catches and 114 yards.
“We try to go out there and perform every week,” Waddle said. “(Jets cornerbacks) Sauce (Gardner) and D.J. (Reed) are two of the top corners in this league, so going into the week, got to prepare. Luckily for us, we have two of the best corners that we face on a weekly, with (Jalen) Ramsey and (Xavien Howard), so really get us prepared throughout the week.”
Running back Raheem Mostert ran for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to put New York away and tallied 94 rushing yards, while Jeff Wilson Jr. spelled him for 56 yards on 11 attempts in a balanced attack for Miami.
Holland’s 99-yard pick-six came at a moment in Friday’s action where it seemed the Dolphins were keeping the Jets alive with the back-to-back Tagovailoa interceptions. He fielded Boyle’s Hail Mary attempt like a punt and, with the Jets’ fastest athletes behind him in the end zone, Holland had lineman in front of him after bursting through open field. Boyle was the last man to beat as Holland put an inside-out move on him before trotting into the end zone.
“It was absolutely a huge momentum swing,” said coach Mike McDaniel, who noted Holland had been watching film of Ed Reed that showed up on the return. “There are very few players who could pull off what Jevon did.”
Holland recalled the play postgame.
“All the skill positions were all down by me,” Holland said, “so when I caught it, it was basically like a drop on a long field goal. So, I kept it straight and then I ended up bending it to the right. … I needed to find my little crease. Boom, then I seen Christian (Wilkins) handle the running back. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m good.’ Then it was just me and the quarterback. Unfortunately, I had to take his ankles.”
With a seemingly insurmountable 10-0 lead, given the way the Dolphins were defending the Jets in the first half, Tagovailoa made an inexcusable mistake.
In Miami territory, he threw a short out to wide receiver Braxton Berrios, which was intercepted by cornerback Brandin Echols and returned 30 yards for the touchdown. If it seemed familiar, Echols also had a pick-six against Tagovailoa in 2021. Jets cornerback DJ Reed picked off Tagovailoa just more than a minute later, giving the Jets their shot at the Hail Mary that went awry.
After the game, McDaniel said he didn’t put Tagovailoa in a good position with his play calls, but the quarterback took the blame for the ill-advised throws.
“Mike calls the plays, we’ve got to go out there and execute them,” Tagovailoa said. “I didn’t execute them. That’s what that was. Very, very disappointing in how I did that drive, those two drives, at the end of the half. Just can’t do that.”
Tagovailoa played most of the game with a nasty gash on his right arm. He said he didn’t even notice it until someone pointed it out because of his running adrenaline.
Phillips was having a strong game before he went down with the Achilles injury in the fourth quarter. He had four tackles, a sack, three tackles for loss and a pass deflection.
“It doesn’t look great,” McDaniel said of the injury. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but not fired up about it.”
Phillips was seen in the locker room after the game on two crutches with a boot on the right foot. He appeared to be in good spirits interacting with teammates.
Mostert had one of his touchdown runs come from 13 yards out. There was a scuffle to follow on the point-after, which resulted in ejections to Dolphins right tackle Austin Jackson and Jets edge rusher Michael Clemons.
New York tried to sneak back in, with Boyle throwing a touchdown pass on a long drive to wide receiver Garrett Wilson, but a 34-yard scamper for a score from Mostert put the Jets away for good.
Getting to 8-3 with the Washington Commanders, Tennessee Titans and a rematch with the Jets at home the upcoming three-game slate, there is a path to 11-3 going into Miami’s Christmas Eve game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Leading, 3-0, in the second quarter, Hill scored a 7-yard touchdown out of the right flat with Jets safety Jordan Whitehead whiffing on an open-field tackle. It extended Miami’s lead to 10. Hill found his newlywed wife, Keeta Vaccaro Hill, in the first row at MetLife Stadium on the Miami side to toss her the touchdown ball.
The Dolphins drove 81 yards on their opening offensive series but came up empty on points. Tagovailoa threw a fourth-and-2 pass from the Jets’ 4-yard line over cornerback Sauce Gardner to Hill, but it went through Hill’s hands.
Earlier in the drive, Hill made a big third-down reception deep for 35 yards, but it came at a cost as he hurt his left ankle/foot while tackled from behind. Miami training staff quickly examined him and taped outside his shoe. He re-entered later in the possession.
The next time McDaniel had a fourth-and-short on Miami’s second series, he took the 3 points and early lead as Jason Sanders made a 38-yard field goal on fourth-and-1.
McDaniel said the key in going for one and not the other is how close his team was to the end zone. There’s essentially a greater reward for the first down in the first instance, approaching a touchdown, while he’s still 20 yards or so away from the end zone in the other.
Sanders later made a 54-yard field goal. After long attempts have haunted him, he has made his last two going back to Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker had an interception Friday off a pass deflection from cornerback Xavien Howard. Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins had two sacks and defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah had 1 1/2 Friday.
The Dolphins get the remainder of the weekend off before hitting the road again for a Dec. 3 game against the Commanders (4-8).
