Dolphins Keep Rolling with Seventh Straight Win
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The Miami Dolphins defense has been making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks for about two months now, and it didn't figure to be any better for New Orleans Saints rookie Ian Book on Monday night.
It wasn't. Actually, it was worse.
Cornerback Nik Needham returned an interception for a touchdown and the defense sacked Book eight times when the Dolphins handled the short-handed Saints, 20-3, at the Caesars Superdome.
The Dolphins' seventh consecutive victory moved their record to 8-7 and more importantly into seventh place in the AFC standings.
With the victory, the Dolphins became the first NFL team with a winning streak and a losing streak of seven games or more in the same season. It's the Dolphins' longest winning streak since 1985 when they won their final seven games of the regular season on their way to a 12-4 finish.
The 2021 Dolphins continue to be in position to secure a playoff berth without any outside help, as long as they can continue their winning streak in the final two against the Tennessee Titans and then the New England Patriots.
Book started for the Saints on Monday night because new starting quarterback Taysom Hill and his backup Trevor Siemian landed on the Reserve/COVID-19 — two of the 21 New Orleans players on the COVID-19 list.
Book also was without the Saints' two starting offensive tackles, along with their two backups.
The Saints did have running backs Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram available, but the Dolphins never let them going.
The Dolphins' eight sacks were split among seven players, with Emmanuel Ogbah leading the way with two and Jerome Baker right behind with 1.5.
To put the exclamation point on the victory, safety Brandon Jones picked off Book on a fourth-down play with less than 3 minutes remaining.
The Saints didn't reach 100 total yards of offense until the late stages of the fourth quarter on a 56-yard completion from Book to Lil' Jordan Humphrey.
The Dolphins offense didn't produce big numbers, but came up with a clutch 86-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter that was highlighted by a 40-yard completion from Tua Tagovailoa to Mack Hollins on third-and-9 from the 15.
The scoring play on the drive was a 1-yard shovel pass from Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle, who had yet another big game for the Dolphins.
Waddle finished with 10 catches for 92 yards, giving him 96 receptions on the season — five shy of the NFL rookie record of 101 set by Anquan Boldin in 2003.
Tagovailoa again completed a high percentage of his passes, going 19-for-26 (73.1 percent) for 198 yards.
Jason Sanders kicked two field goals, a 48-yarder in the first half and a 34-yarder early in the fourth quarter that pretty much sealed the outcome because it certainly didn't figure the Saints would be able to come up with three more scores.
All the Saints could muster on the scoreboard was a field goal by Brett Maher to cap their one impressive drive of the game.
But New Orleans was 0-for-12 in third-down conversions, an indication of how much the Dolphins defense dominated this game.
The Dolphins got all the points they would need from their defense on New Orleans' first possession when linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel tipped Book's third-down pass at the line of scrimmage right into the hands of Needham, who returned it 28 yards for a quick 7-0 lead.
It was the Dolphins' second pick-six of the season after linebacker Elandon Roberts' touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3.
The Dolphins made it 10-0 in the second quarter on Sanders' field goal, which capped a drive highlighted by an 18-yard hook-up between Tua and Waddle.
The Dolphins led 10-3 in the third quarter when Marshon Lattimore picked off Tagovailoa at the Saints 36-yard line, but New Orleans went three-and-out and Miami came back with its one touchdown drive to take a 14-point lead.
The truth is the Saints never really threatened the Dolphins in this game, one week after they shocked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night.
For yet another week, the Dolphins simply took care of business as they continued making their way toward a possible playoff berth.
