Everything to Know from Dolphins' Week 14 Win vs. Jets

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Miami Dolphins defeated the New York Jets, 34-10, at MetLife Stadium Sunday. It was Miami’s fourth straight win, putting them at 6-7 and still in the hunt for a playoff berth.

This also means the Dolphins will sweep the Jets this season, after splitting last year's series. New York never really felt competitive in this game, but a win is a win.

Here’s everything to know from a sloppy contest.

Drive-By-Drive Recap

The Dolphins won the toss and elected to receive, allowing them to go right down the field and score a touchdown on the opening drive, taking a 7-0 lead. It was a four-play, 69-yard drive capped off by Tua Tagovailoa making a perfect throw to Jaylen Waddle while taking a big hit.

Miami’s defense forced a three-and-out after Rasul Douglas had a nice PBU on third down, and the offense went right down the field again. Fueled by play-action completions to Jaylen Waddle, Greg Dulcich, and Darren Waller, Miami drove five plays and 80 yards for the score.

Achane capped off the drive with a touchdown run, and Riley Patterson made it 14-0 with 8 minutes left in the first quarter.

Miami got the ball right back after Tyrel Dodson made a juggling INT on the Jets’ next drive. The Dolphins’ offense took advantage, scoring its third straight touchdown to start the game six plays later.

Jaylen Wright got the carry this time, scoring his first touchdown of the season from two yards out. Miami was up 21-0 with 3:39 left in the first quarter.

The Jets went three-and-out again after Brady Cook was forced to replace Tyrod Taylor, who suffered a groin injury, at quarterback. New York got its first stop on the next series, and then Isaiah Williams ran back Miami’s punt for a touchdown to make it 21-7.

After four straight punts (two from each team), the Dolphins got a drive into Jets territory, and Patterson hit a field goal to make it 24-7. During the drive, Achane left the game with a rib injury after he was tackled near the sideline following an explosive run.

It looked like the Jets would tack on some points before the half after Minkah Fitzpatrick was called for a 39-yard pass interference penalty, setting New York up in the red zone. However, Cook made a horrible throw right to Douglas, who made his second INT in as many weeks.

We’ll skip the third quarter because it was filled with nothing but punts. The Jets finally got things going a bit after a fake punt netted them a first down right before the start of the fourth quarter.

Miami allowed New York to drive into the red zone, but Jets WR John Metchie dropped a walk-in touchdown, and then their offense imploded. Nick Folk kicked a field goal to make it 24-10.

The Dolphins answered with a nine-play, 67-yard touchdown drive to make the score 31-10. Miami ran the ball eight times, with Ollie Gordon punching in the score from seven yards out after Patrick Paul and others pushed him into the end zone.

Patterson added another field goal in garbage time, leading to the final score of 34-10.

Offensive Recap

There are a lot of questions about the team’s offense coming out of this game, but the biggest one is Achane’s health. He left in the second quarter with a rib injury and didn’t return to the game. He was seen on the sidelines in the second half, though.

Achane had 105 yards on eight touches before his injury, including a few explosive runs and a touchdown. He’s been the team’s best player this season and the engine of the team’s pivot to becoming a good running team.

Jaylen Wright filled in for Achane, and he produced quite well. He finished with 24 carries for 107 yards and one touchdown. Gordon added five carries, 17 yards, and one touchdown.

While the offensive line and running game are doing well, the Dolphins’ passing game has fallen off a cliff.

Tagovailoa hasn’t really played well since the team beat Buffalo, and that continued on Sunday. After starting eight for eight, he finished the game completing 13 of 21 passes for 127 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions.

Tua missed a couple of open throws in the middle of the field in the second quarter and then had several terrible decisions that were almost intercepted.

Miami’s passing game is a shell of itself. It’s completely reliant on play action throws to the tight end, RPOs to Jaylen Waddle, and perimeter screens to anyone who can break a tackle.

Tua shares a big portion of the blame, but it’s also clear that Miami’s lack of receiving depth is having a significant impact.

On the bright side, Dulcich is making the most of his opportunities. He finished with three catches for 41 yards in this game and had a 25-yard gain wiped out by a penalty.

Waddle finished the game with five catches for 50 yards, and the rest of Miami’s receivers had three total catches. Between Tua and the team’s lack of depth, it’s hard to feel great about where the Dolphins are.

Defensive Recap

The Dolphins' defense played incredibly well in this game. It continued its linear progression of playing better each for about the last two months.

The Jets only had 207 total yards, including 163 yards passing and 65 yards rushing. Of course, the team was given a gift of playing against Brady Cook for pretty much the entire game.

It was pretty clear from the onset that Cook didn’t belong on the field, and he finished the game completing 16 of 30 passes for 163 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions.

Miami’s pass rush got after him all game and benefited from strong coverage on the back end, allowing them to get some sacks late in the clock. Zach Sieler led the way with 2.5 sacks, while Chop Robinson, Willie Gay Jr., and Ifeatu Melifonwu had one.

Douglas had five PBUs in the game and had his second straight week with an interception. Without Garrett Wilson, the Jets didn’t really have the players to challenge Miami’s secondary a ton.

By far the more impressive mark in this game was keeping the Jets’ running game from ripping off explosives. Breece Hall finished with 14 carries and 43 yards in this game.

New York’s offensive line got some push throughout the game, but it was more of an even battle than one that ever favored the Jets in a big way. Not getting bullied up front has been by far the biggest point of improvement this season.