Dolphins Rally For Thrilling Comeback Win Over Lions
Dolphins Rally For Thrilling Comeback Win Over Lions
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When Tua Tagovailoa plays in the fourth quarter, the Miami Dolphins are 5-0.
That’s the best way to describe this season, which would have been on life support yesterday had Tua and the offense not delivered their second best performance on the year on the same day Miami’s defense just might have turned in their worst.
Dolphins 31, Lions 27.
Far more telling though would be the halftime score, when Detroit led 27-17 thanks to a gutsy fake punt and last second field goal. Maybe the Lions wanted to win this one for head coach Dan Campbell, who the Dolphins moved on from after giving him a brief stint as interim head coach back in 2015. Maybe the Lions were just happy to have star players De’Andre Swift and Amon Ra St. Brown back on the field. Maybe NFL Hall of Famer and Lions legend Barry Sanders gave a really fiery pregame speech. But there’s no denying that the home team came out swinging, and that it took the Dolphins defense an entire half to figure out how to stop them.
Five Detroit possessions. Five Detroit scores. That’s not what you ever want to see from your defense. In fact, it hadn’t happened to any defense all season.
Fortunately, this Dolphins team is built to win shootouts, thanks to an offense that is finally capable of carrying the team if need be. That hasn’t been the case since the Marino days, and in truth, this 2022 offense is currently doing things that didn’t even happen then. Tua’s line of 29/36 for 380 yards and 3 TDs, in which he completed 80% of his passes with no turnovers? Marino had never been that efficiently explosive. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are on pace to set not just a franchise record, but a league one, for a receiving tandem.
Obviously, some of the thanks here needs to go to the fact that as bad as Miami’s defense was in the first half, Detroit’s was every bit the league worst defense they were supposed to be Sunday. Miami never looked challenged, and combined with Detroit for a first half entirely free of actual punts. The Lions did line up in the formation, but perfectly executed that aforementioned fake. The Dolphins special teams continue to be anything but, a fact that arguably looms as the most concerning takeaway from this contest. There are tangible reasons to believe the defense will improve. Special teams execution...that’s really more down to just hoping things get better.
Ultimately, this team will go as far as Tua and Tyreek will take them. This Sunday, Dolphins fans were given cause to hope that will extend to the playoffs, and perhaps even Miami’s first playoff win this century. They can keep pace with anyone, and have displayed a knack for making just enough defensive stops. If they can get back to the point where they can get those stops consistently...look out NFL.
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