The Miami Dolphins took the monkey off their backs on Sunday finally taking down a team with a winning record 22-20.
Behind Jason Sanders 5 field goals, the Dolphins secured their playoff spot as well, and kept the fate of both the AFC East, and the AFC’s number 1 seed in their own hands. It was a battling game that saw the Dolphins offence struggle to get in the end zone, but put up just enough points to get over the line.
Raheem Mostert cracked the 1,000 yard mark for the first time in his career, and Jaylen Waddle became the first Dolphins receiver in history with three consecutive 1,000 yard receiving seasons. The only bad news on the night was Waddle leaving the game with what appears to be a high-ankle sprain.
Dolphins beat a winning team
Much has been made of the Dolphins inability to beat winning teams this season (and last), but there can be no question that they deserved to beat the Cowboys on this night. If they hadn’t stalled out so many times in Dallas territory this game could’ve been a blowout.
“It’s always big when you do something that, internally, you know that you’re capable of,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said. “When it comes to fruition, it’s pretty satisfying. … Nobody on this team thought we were going to lose that game, and that’s pretty cool when everyone tells you that you can’t do X, Y or Z.”
It was another stellar defensive performance from DC Vic Fangio’s unit as well, holding the high powered Cowboys offence down for most of the night.
“It’s just finally good to get over that hump of the narrative and changing the narrative to be what we want it to be,” linebacker Bradley Chubb said, “and it’s just been dope to see this team come together, not worry about the outsiders, the naysayers and just do what we do and prepare like we’re a championship team each and every week.”
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Downs | 19 | 22 |
| Passing 1st downs | 9 | 16 |
| Rushing 1st downs | 7 | 4 |
| 1st downs from penalties | 3 | 2 |
| 3rd down efficiency | 4-12 | 6-13 |
| 4th down efficiency | 2-2 | 0-1 |
| Total Plays | 61 | 64 |
| Total Yards | 339 | 375 |
| Total Drives | 9 | 9 |
| Yards per Play | 5.6 | 5.9 |
| Passing | 242 | 284 |
| Comp-Att | 20-32 | 24-37 |
| Yards per pass | 6.7 | 7.5 |
| Interceptions thrown | 0 | 0 |
| Sacks-Yards Lost | 4-11 | 1-9 |
| Rushing | 97 | 91 |
| Rushing Attempts | 25 | 26 |
| Yards per rush | 3.9 | 3.5 |
| Red Zone (Made-Att) | 1-3 | 1-4 |
| Penalties | 6-38 | 5-33 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 0 |
| Fumbles lost | 1 | 0 |
| Interceptions thrown | 0 | 0 |
| Defensive / Special Teams TDs | 0 | 0 |
| Possession | 31:02 | 28:58 |
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