MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — It was just eight months ago that wide receiver Tyreek Hill, still thawing out after a frigid road playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, said the most honest thing ever uttered about these Miami Dolphins:
“We can’t just be a bunch of frontrunners.”
The Dolphins were anything but that Sunday. Mike McDaniel’s bunch rallied from a two-touchdown home deficit to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-17 here on a walkoff 52-yard field goal from Jason Sanders.
Breaking Down Miami Dolphins’ Wild Week 1 Win
The Dolphins outscored the Jaguars 13-0 in the second half, making a series of gutty plays to steal a conference win. The way they won suggests this group might have a different — and potentially championship — DNA. It was the Dolphins’ first two-touchdown comeback in nearly a year.
“That game, we don’t win the last two years,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said postgame. “And that’s because of the growth of the people that have been here for those two years, as well as the added influence from the new guys on our team.”
The Dolphins pulled off the epic comeback largely because of three plays:
Jevon Holland’s strip of Travis Etienne when the Jaguars running back was just feet away from putting the Jags up 24-7.
Hill’s electric 80-yard touchdown catch from Tua Tagovailoa on the ensuing play.
Sanders’ 52-yard field goal at the gun, just two drives after he missed a 42-yard attempt that could have been decisive.
“You guys got to come up with a new narrative, I guess,” Hill said.
“You have to talk about something else. Y’all can’t say that we are frontrunners now. It’s amazing to see. It’s amazing to see our team not feel sorry for ourselves early on in the game. Our defense had our back the whole entire game.
“We just came together as an offense, man. We decided like, ‘Hey, first of all, we got to call the plays, get out of the huddle fast and do what we normally do, baby.’ We’re fast. People don’t like to run fast with us in Miami. It’s too hot. We did that in the second half. We ran fast, ran some deep routes and we executed.”
The Dolphins completely dominated the Jaguars in the second half. Not only did Miami shut Jacksonville out in the third and fourth quarters, but Anthony Weaver’s defense held the Jags to just 105 yards and six first downs after the break.
Trevor Lawrence went just 3 of 7 for 37 yards in the second half.
But none of that would have mattered had Holland not peanut-punched the ball out of Etienne’s grasp, a moment that McDaniel called “the play of the game.”
“It changed the momentum of the game,” Holland said. “I’m happy to be the guy that my name was called and I was able to make that play, but it could be any of us. That’s the sweet part about being on a team; you just have to wait for your opportunity. Play your alignment, assignment, technique and then when that thing happens you just take advantage of it, so I was happy it was me.”