Dolphins Week 11 Instant Takeaways: What to Make of Bizarre Win

The Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Commanders in overtime

The interior of the stadium is see prior to the 2025 NFL Madrid Game between the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Commanders at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Well, the good news is the Miami Dolphins took care of business against a slumping and injury-riddled Washington Commanders in the first-ever regular season game in Spain.

The reality, though, is there was little in that game to provide a whole lot of optimism once the Dolphins come out of their bye.

Yes, the Dolphins should be able to take care of also-rans like the New Orleans Saints and the New York Jets in their next two games, but it's not because they've uncovered some secret formula or anything like that.

This remains a pretty mediocre team with a couple of good players, starting with De'Von Achane, who continues to make the offense go.

The Dolphins won this game because Washington kicker Matt Gay couldn't do what most NFL kickers do routinely these days, which is hit a long field goal.

But we saw some of the issues we've seen all season with penalties and problems in run defense, and the Dolphins ended up being outgained by a team that had lost its previous games by 20 points each time.

Maybe most problematic on this day was some highly questionable — actually, no, we'll call it brutal instead — game management by head coach Mike McDaniel down the stretch. Fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 1:44 left and Washington out of timeouts in a 13-13 game calls — no, screams — for a field goal and forcing the Commanders to match it.

And then after Ollie Gordon II was stuffed for a 2-yard loss and Washington quickly gained 28 yards, now it was McDaniel calling timeouts in the hopes of the Dolphins getting the ball back, at the same time giving the Commanders more time to set up for a potential game-winning field goal themselves.

Absolutely brutal.

Again, the Dolphins were bailed out by Gay missing a 56-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds after Washington went for a deep pass on third down instead of simply trying to gain a few more yards.

McDaniel got bailed out because Gay missed and then because Jack Jones picked off Marcus Mariota on the very first offensive play of overtime.

So, yeah, sure, it was good that the Dolphins got the win in Madrid against an opponent they should have beaten, but it's really difficult to feel great about the team heading down the stretch.

THOUGHTS ON ACHANE, BRENTS, GRANT, TUA

-- What else can we say about Achane, other than he keeps making his contract situation more touchy once the offseason arrives? Forget about the numbers, just watch his work in the open field and how many extra yards he picks up with his sheer open-field ability.

-- Maybe it was fitting that it was Jack Jones who would get the big INT in overtime after he was on the wrong end of a brutal DPI call that became a key play in a drive that produced a Washington field goal. There's a lot of hit-and-miss to Jones' game, but he's clearly the biggest playmaker in the secondary and needs to be on the field.

-- We hate to say this, but what happened to JuJu Brents when he had to leave his second NFL start early because of an ankle injury almost should have been predicted. Injuries have been an issue for him since the Colts made him a second-round pick and it's why they waived him this summer. While he's very talented, he's also a very difficult player to rely on.

-- Maybe the most positive aspect of the game, outside of Achane obviously, is the continued development of the three rookie defensive tackles, Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips and Zeek Biggers. All of them made splash plays during this game.

-- We got more evidence in this game that, until something changes, Chop Robinson needs to be used as a pass-rushing specialist on obvious passing downs as opposed to a full-time player. There's no two ways around it, he's just not sound enough against the run to be an every-down player.

-- It was an overall solid performance by QB Tua Tagovailoa, who was accurate pretty much all day, got a break when Mike Sainristil — who later would muff a punt — dropped an interception in double coverage deep on a pass intended for Jaylen Waddle, but also was victimized by a couple of Waddle drops. And then his lack of escapibility in the pocket showed up on the two sacks in the first half.

-- This was not Waddle's best performance, though he did again flash that speed when he turned a mid-range slant into a 31-yard gain.

-- There's good news on the way with Austin Jackson having returned to the practice this week and a good outlook for the next game, but the Dolphins really could use right guard James Daniels. This was a rough outing in short yardage for Cole Strange.

-- The funny thing is the Dolphins had been really good in short-yardage situations this season, but it certainly wasn't the case on this day.

-- And that was one more reason the Dolphins needed to kick the field goal late in regulation instead of going for the touchdown.

-- Oh well, at least the Dolphins got away with it and ended up with the win.