Halfway by a season of heartbreaking losses, main accidents and maddeningly inconsistent play, the Miami Dolphins largely put it collectively on Monday night time.
Whereas their preseason Tremendous Bowl aspirations nonetheless look unlikely, the Dolphins’ gritty 23-15 victory over the Los Angeles Rams demonstrated that they nonetheless might have a shot to make one thing out of a really making an attempt yr.
Tyreek Hill caught a brief landing go from Tua Tagovailoa within the third quarter to finish the longest scoring drought of his profession, and the Dolphins (3-6) stored Los Angeles out of the top zone whereas snapping their three-game shedding streak with simply their second victory in eight video games.
“Once we’re taking part in our greatest ball, we will nonetheless beat anyone,” defensive deal with Calais Campbell mentioned. “We’ve simply bought to proceed to imagine, proceed to battle. And clearly the margin for error is zero. So it’s one sport, however we’ve bought to maintain it going. For us to go the place we need to go, we’ve bought to maintain combating and imagine.”
Rookie receiver Malik Washington rushed 18 yards on the opening possession of a much-needed turnaround night time for the beleaguered Dolphins (3-6), who had misplaced three video games by a mixed 10 factors since their final victory on 6 October.
Miami’s stable protection stepped up impressively at SoFi Stadium, forcing two turnovers and holding the Rams touchdown-less regardless of yielding 327 yards.
Tagovailoa handed for under 207 yards, however he made a sequence of huge throws whereas the Dolphins transformed six third downs, most of them at key moments. Tagovailoa was 9 of 12 for 137 yards on third downs alone.
“We’ve come a great distance by nonetheless many losses in a row,” Tagovailoa mentioned. “The resilience of this crew with the exterior noise, everybody counting us out, hopefully this is a chance to not waste. Hopefully we will go on a run with this win and discover our rhythm.”
Hill had three receptions – together with his first TD catch because the season opener – whereas taking part in by a wrist damage, and Jason Sanders kicked three area objectives.
“That is the type of sport that may spark a run,” Campbell mentioned. “However it doesn’t imply something if we don’t win the subsequent one … The laborious half is, how do you proceed this? However like we mentioned within the [pregame] conferences, to create a wildfire, all it takes is one spark. So we maintain believing, maintain combating and make a run for it.”
The Rams’ run was stopped in its tracks.
Matthew Stafford handed for 293 yards and rookie Joshua Karty kicked 5 area objectives for the Rams (4-5), whose three-game successful streak ended with a significant offensive regression. Los Angeles failed to attain a landing for under the eighth time in coach Sean McVay’s eight seasons.
“Defensively, I used to be happy with the best way we performed,” McVay mentioned. “In the end we weren’t in a position to capitalize on offense. There wasn’t any semblance of complementary soccer … There have been situations the place we haven’t been constant sufficient. Sloppy? Yeah. We’ve to have the ability to play higher and be extra constant.”
After scoring 76 factors of their three straight wins, Los Angeles failed to attain a landing for the primary time since November 2023, at Inexperienced Bay whereas Stafford was injured.
Puka Nacua had 9 catches for 98 yards, and Cooper Kupp made seven receptions for 80 yards.
Los Angeles drove to the Miami four-yard line within the fourth quarter, however McVay settled for a fourth area aim that made it a one-score sport with 6:31 to play. Miami’s Odell Beckham Jr then made a key catch for a primary down within the stadium the place he badly injured his knee whereas successful the Tremendous Bowl with the Rams three seasons in the past, and the Dolphins drove for Sanders’ 50-yard area aim with 2:38 left.
