Dolphins Week 5 Loss: The Five Biggest Plays

The Miami Dolphins suffered their second consecutive loss of the season when they dropped a 40-17 decision against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday in a game marred by the quick exit for veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

We rank the five biggest, most important, plays of the game:

1. The safety

While we're not about to put the entire loss on Skylar Thompson having to play quarterback for pretty much the entire game for the Dolphins — particularly when the Dolphins had a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter — there's zero debating that going from a veteran quarterback who had practiced with the first team all week to a rookie seventh-round pick who didn't get starter reps just made a huge difference. And we won't even talk about the questionable decision of the officials to rule intentional grounding when Bridgewater was hit by rookie cornerback Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner as he was attempting his pass.

2. Tanner Conner's dropped pass

It's really easy to look at the missed 54-yard field goal attempt as the turning point of the game, but Sanders never would have had to attempt that long a kick if not for rookie free agent Tanner Conner's bad drop on that drive. In fact, who's to say the Dolphins couldn't have marched for a touchdown when they trailed 19-17 without that play. Remember that it was second-and-10 from the Jets 41 when Thompson threw a strike over the middle to Conner for what would have been a first down. Instead, the Dolphins went with a wide receiver screen on third-and-10 and Jaylen Waddle was tackled at the 36, setting up Sanders' failed field goal attempt.

3. The play where Terron Armstead was injured

While losing Teddy Bridgewater was the bigger game-changer, watching Terron Armstead having to leave the game with his lingering (and apparently aggravated) toe injury wasn't far behind in terms of impact. Without Armstead, the Dolphins pass protection was spotty after being mostly very good for the first four games of the regular season. On a smaller scale, it hurt that on the play he was injured, Armstead was flagged for holding to negate a 12-yard scramble by Thompson that would have given the Dolphins a first down at the Jets 42 on their first drive after the safety.

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4. The sack-strip in the fourth quarter

Probably the biggest play of the massive collapse was the one that came shortly after the Jets increased their lead to 26-17 when Thompson dropped back to pass on first-and-15, held the ball too long and Carl Lawson hit him from behind after beating Mike Gesicki's block in a one-on-one situation. Adding injury to insult, defensive lineman Quinnen Williams stepped on Tyreek HIll's foot during his return to the 5-yard line, which set up the Breece Hall touchdown that made it 33-17. That was a disaster all around.

5. The third-down sack of Thompson in the third quarter

When we talk about the Dolphins having their chance in this game, we're not just talking about the drive that ended with Sanders' miss and the Conner drop. The Dolphins also wasted another great opportunity late in the third quarter when they were trailing 19-17 and the Jets failed to convert a fourth-and-2 from the Miami 45-yard line. This is the type of decision that can turn a game around and the first play after the turnover on downs was a 5-yard run by Raheem Mostert, setting up second-and-5 from midfield. But pressure forced a second-down incompletion before Thompson was sacked on third-and-5, leading to a punt. It was a missed opportunity on a day when the Dolphins didn't have the margin of error to waste many of those.