East Rutherford, N.J. - Ryan Tannehill led Miami on what became the game-winning drive as the Dolphins came back to defeat the New York Jets 16-13 Monday night.
A win in December that kept Miami in the AFC Wild Card chase.
A win that came despite losing three contests this season after holding fourth quarter leads in all of them.
A win that came despite being outrushed 277-74 and being handled at the line of scrimmage.
For three quarters, that is.
"I think we made some plays down the stretch," Tannehill said afterwards. "We struggled a lot all night, but in the fourth quarter, we were able to move the ball and make some plays."
He finished 25-for-35 on 235 yards passing and an interception, and became the first quarterback to complete 70 percent of his passes in 5 straight NFL contests.
Trailing 13-6 to begin the fourth quarter, however, Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins had yet to cross the goal line in New Jersey.
But he would lead Miami (7-5) on their sole touchdown drive of the game, which, against the lowly Jets, would be enough.
Miami secured possession at the Jets 39 after a New York drive stalled and their punt was pushed back 10 yards following a holding call against them.
Tannehill struck immediately when Jarvis Landry came open to the right side, snagging a 25 yard catch-and-run to the Jets 14. The quarterback rushed himself on a zone-read play when the middle came open to the Jets 9.
Lamar Miller carried on 3rd-and-2 for 5 more and Tannehill's would-be scoring toss to Brandon Gibson was high.
But Miller would feature the one rushing highlight of the evening for the Dolphins, powering for the 4 yard touchdown over the right side. The hole came open for the back when Mike Wallace went in motion to the left and the Jets followed him.
After New York's ensuing possession stalled on Koa Misi's sack of Geno Smith, Miami drove again, over 57 yards before Caleb Sturgis would finally take and hold the lead at the 1:57 mark, kicking from 26 yards.
Until then, the Jets' defense had been stellar.
New York (2-10) held the Dolphins to 6 first half points and exactly 25 yards rushing.
"We had a couple of opportunities," a dejected Jets coach Rex Ryan said afterwards, "thought the game plan was good. Did what we thought we wanted to do to win the game, run the ball."
Run the ball, they did. After one quarter, the Jets outrushed Miami 134-10, and would enter the halftime intermission leading them 210-15.
They ran so good, one wondered if the playbook had anything prepared for their quarterback.
Smith would attempt 6 passes in the first half, completing 3. Two 3rd-and-5 tosses of his were both high to Percy Harvin, the first of which would have given the Jets a goal-to-go series.
His last pass was intercepted with 34 seconds left in the contest after his throw for Jeff Cumberland in center field was bobbled and intercepted by Reshad Jones to end it.
That was Smith's 13th pass attempt, 7 of which were completed for 65 yards.
Early on, however, it looked as though the Jets were game for the upset.
Greg Salas raced around left end for a 20 yard touchdown rush on a give from Geno Smith on a misdirection play that had the formation going right. Salas went left and broke through an empty secondary before trotting into the end zone for the quick 7-0 lead.
Smith converted a 3rd-and-7 on the drive to Bilal Powell and New York was set up by Chris Johnson, who broke on a 46 yard rush, charging over the right, cutting left in traffic, and juking left again before streaking down the sideline into the red zone.
Chris Johnson finished with 105 yards rushing on 17 attempts and Chris Ivory gained 62 on one less carry.
But that dominance was lost when it was needed most.
"We had opportunities, a couple picks we dropped," Ryan added. "Not scoring after the Walls interception, missed a couple of field goals."
Darrin Walls picked Ryan Tannehill near the end of the third quarter after a tipped Jets punt gave the Dolphins possession on the New York 41. His pass for Lamar Miller was low and tipped upwards by the back, into the hands of Walls, who ran the other way for 30 yards to the Dolphins 30.
But Geno Smith was sacked on the 3rd-and-9 play of the succeeding possession when Cameron Wake finally overpowered the Jets' previously invincible front line for an 8 yard loss.
Nick Folk kicked only 2-of-4 field goals on the night and a third that barely crossed the threshold, bouncing off the center post and just inside.
Ryan Tannehill took over late after a failed Jets drive with the game tied 13-13 and slung to passes to Dion Sims for 18 yards and a 3rd-and-7 play that likely decided the outcome, a 17 yard completion to Sims to the Jets 14. Gibson caught to the 8 at the two-minute warning.
Caleb Sturgis kicked what would be the game-winner three seconds later, giving a boost to the Dolphins' Wild Card postseason chase and sending Rex Ryan and the Jets into oblivion.
"I feel sick," Rex Ryan said after a long pause, his famous bluster gone. "We can't buy a win. I can't believe we're 2-10."
He paused again and looked down under the brim of his hat.
"What a joke."
No comments:
Post a Comment