Everything to Know from Dolphins Sloppy Overtime Win vs. Commanders

It didn’t seem like either team wanted to win, but the Miami Dolphins won their fourth game of the season. The Dolphins beat the Commanders 16-13 in overtime in the NFL’s first-ever game in Madrid, Spain. The Dolphins are now 4-7 heading into their bye.

It was an incredibly sloppy game, as both offenses made key mistakes in big moments. Neither defense played well, but each team took turns shooting themselves in the foot — Miami just happened not to make the final mistake.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Drive-By-Drive Recap

The Dolphins got off to a solid start, driving right down the field on the opening possession. De’Von Achane and the running game were in a groove, but a delay of game penalty on fourth and short forced Miami to kick a field goal to go up 3-0.

Washington answered with a long drive of its own, but just like Miami, a pre-snap penalty on fourth down near the goal line forced them to kick a field goal to tie the game at 3-3.

The field-goal party continued as Miami got down to Washington’s 10 this time — again courtesy of a dominant running game performance. However, Tua Tagovailoa was sacked on third and short by Jacob Martin, forcing Riley Patterson to hit his second field goal. Miami led 6-3 despite having a seven-play and an 11-play drive to open the game.

The Commanders started driving right back down the field on their second drive, but continued the trend of shooting themselves in the foot. A penalty and a sack pushed kicker Matt Gay to a 51-yard attempt, which he missed, keeping Miami ahead 6-3.

The Dolphins went three and out on their ensuing possession after Tua was sacked on a third-down play when Alec Ingold missed an assignment. Washington proceeded to drive 82 yards on 13 plays to kick another field goal before the half ended, making the score 6-6.

Washington was bailed out early in the drive by a bad pass interference call on Jack Jones. It would’ve been third and 11 from their own 5-yard line, but it was instead first down from the 20.

The Commanders got the ball out of the half and went right down the field for a six-play, 59-yard touchdown drive. Deebo Samuel caught a well-designed screen pass for a 20-yard touchdown to put Washington up 13-6.

The Dolphins’ next drive looked incredibly promising, as they got down to Washington’s 2-yard line, but a fourth-and-goal PBU from Bobby Wagner turned the Dolphins away. Miami tried to run the ball on the first three downs but couldn’t punch it in.

However, that pinned the Commanders deep in their own territory. After giving up one first down, the Dolphins forced a punt, giving the offense the ball near midfield.

Miami finally punched one into the end zone with a 10-play, 53-yard drive. Ollie Gordon capped off the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run on third and goal, an area Miami really struggled in on Sunday. That tied the game 13-13 with roughly 12 minutes left.

The Commanders answered with a long drive of their own, getting down to Miami’s one-yard line. A 42-yard run by Mariota on third down set them up deep in Dolphins’ territory, but three straight run stops and an incompletion kept the game tied with six minutes left.

Miami got stopped after one first down on the next drive, setting the Commanders up for a game-winning drive. However, Mike Sainristil muffed the ensuing punt, and Etahn Bonner recovered it at the Commanders’ 42.

However, the Dolphins weren’t done shooting themselves in the foot. They got the ball all the way down to the Commanders’ one, and instead of kicking a field goal to go ahead 16-13 with 1:44 left, they got stuffed on fourth down.

Luckily for the Dolphins, the Commanders missed a 56-yard field goal to win the game after driving down the field courtesy of a few big completions. That sent this slogfest to overtime.

On the first play of overtime, Jack Jones intercepted Mariota, who threw behind TE Zach Ertz, which set up Miami deep in Commanders’ territory. After a few runs from Achane, Patterson hit the winning kick.

Offensive Recap

It was an odd day for the Dolphins’ offense. It moved the ball pretty much at will throughout the contest, but couldn’t execute in a few key spots early in the game.

Tua Tagovailoa finished completing 14 of 20 passes for 171 yards, zero touchdowns, and zero interceptions. It was a pretty normal day for Tua. He had some nice timing throws and took easy completions when open.

The passing offense is still pretty limited with him at the helm, but it’s at least a mostly efficient unit at this stage.

Miami’s running game had a lot of great moments in this game. Achane finished with 21 carries for 120 yards, and Gordon had nine carries for 45 yards. The Dolphins used a lot of six offensive linemen looks with Daniel Brunskill, and it led to a lot of opening running lanes.

The Dolphins’ overall rushing numbers were great as they finished with 169 total yards, while averaging 5.5 yards per carry.

In the receiving game, Jaylen Waddle had three catches for 52 yards, and Malik Washington added three catches for 42 yards. Miami doesn’t have much punch in the passing game right now, so these low numbers aren’t overly shocking.

The offensive line had a mostly solid day. Tua was sacked three times, but two of them were at the fault of others and not the line.

It’s pretty clear that Miami’s offensive identity should be centered around running the ball. It has the personnel to do it and the creativity to keep defenses guessing.

Defensive Recap

Miami’s defense didn’t give up too many points in this game, but it didn’t exactly play well. Commanders QB Marcus Mariota had an efficient day, completing 20 of 30 passes for 213 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

He got a lot of easy completions in the short area of the field and hit a few play-action concepts down the middle. Miami’s secondary didn’t provide much resistance, and the unit’s overall tackling wasn’t great.

In the running game, Chris Rodriguez Jr. finished with 79 yards on 15 carries, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. The Dolphins have shown some improvement against the run in recent weeks, but this game felt much closer to the team’s early-season performance.

There were a lot of defensive linemen getting blown off the ball, and the Commanders got a lot of yards after contact.

To be fair to the Dolphins’ defense, it did mostly keep Washington off the board. The Commanders had a bunch of penalties in key spots and missed a field goal, but stops are stops at the end of the day.

Also, Jones’ interception was just the team’s third of the season and obviously played a huge part in Miami pulling this one out.

Miami got some key contributions from the defensive tackle spot. Jordan Phillips had a TFL, and Kenneth Grant made a couple of nice plays, even if he didn’t stuff the stat sheet.

More Miami Dolphins Coverage