Drive Time: Dolphins Bury Browns 20-3, Set Up Pivotal Week 18

football for your Miami Dolphins. They are winners waits win win win, win, win, Yeah, everything goes win win, win win as they close out the Cleveland Browns twenty to three, going away in the fourth quarter and thanks to a bunch of help that went the Dolphins away this weekend after a year where helps seemed like it was never gonna come from other teams. After two and six start, Miami finally gets all the breaks in Week seventeen as the Broncos fall to the Bengals and the Colts fall

on Sunday to the New York Giants. So now the Dolphins, by courtesy of their twenty to three victory over the Cleveland Browns, now need to beat the Jets in Week eighteen and hope the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos, and if that happens, the Dolphins will go back to the playoffs. We'll go to Buffalo to face the Bills

in the wild Card round. We'll go ahead and take a look at the game script talk about the stats and the big picture takeaways from the dolphins twenty to three win in Cleveland from the Baptist Hill Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Draft Time

Podcast Miami Dolphins. Let's go ahead and open the show with some sound here from Mike McDaniel, who was asked after the game talking about the Dolphins turn around from two to six to six and two to get themselves back to eight to eight and at five hundred for the first time since Week number two of the NFL season, and Adam Beasley of Pro Football Network had this tweet about how there were ten teams following Week nine that had six losses this year, and the Dolphins are six

and two since that mark, and the other ten teams that were in that category are ten and forty five over that same stretch of games. So the Dolphins were the one team from that group that turned things around. Let's go ahead and hear from Mike McDaniel on Miami getting back to eight and eight and giving themselves a chance to get back into the postseason, to get back over five hundred with a win over the Jets next Sunday.

over this, that or the other. So you know it, I think it speaks to speaks to that. And on top of all that, you're you're going through that stretch, you're you're five and two in your last seven games, and then you're and then uh, you know, on game day you're faced with, oh, yeah, you're not gonna have

your starting quarterback. I think, you know, defensively, uh, you know, team football, they rose to the occasion having a couple of turnovers and uh not letting them into the end zone and and uh, guys made some plays just across the board. So it was a team win that felt real good for all the reasons above. And and uh, the one that was I thought earned through the you know not only this last work week, but the accumulation of work weeks as they bonded together.

were far more efficient on the money down. They were seven for seventeen on third downs compared to Miami's two for eleven, but the Browns were also zero for four on fourth down. The Dolphins zero for one on a devon eight chan toss play that did not gain yardage on a fourth and one right on the fringe of field goal range. Miami had two hundred and eighty yards to Cleveland's two seventy six. Two h six of that

came through the air, seventy four on the ground. The Browns did run for one hundred and fourteen and through for one sixty two in the game themselves. The Browns also had eighteen more plays than are No, nineteen more plays than Miami seventy six to fifty seven. Offensively, now, the Dolphins had two takeaways and no giveaways big portion of the game right there. Miami was sacked four times

and had just one sack of Dorian Thompson Robinson. Also, the Dolphins penalties eleven for nine twenty four in this game, Cleveland nine for eighty four. And the Dolphins had possession for just over thirty minutes in this game. And it started off kind of how the previous non to a game started and probably cause a little bit of you know, tightening of the old muscles across Dolphins Nation as it were.

As Miami took a seven play, sixteen yard drive that ended in a punt after possessing the ball for four minutes to open the game, and it just started off like a lot of those other drives in the either Skylar Thompson or previous Tyler Huntley starts where it starts off with a couple of positive runs and for whatever reason, the Dolphins on first downs when Huntley's in the game, like those play action shots to start the drives, they

typically get the Dolphins like fifteen to eighteen yards. Now, this drive kicked off with a eight yard devon a chan run. They converted on a screenplay on the on the next play, they get themselves another positive run on

first down. In the next series of plays, but then you get a pre snap penalty and a false start, you get a personal foul and a low cut block, a bad snap essentially kills an entire play, and then you have a holding call on a screen pass on third down that's kind of a position field position type of call. So just a very frustrating start in a game where it felt like points were going to be at a premium, and that drive did little to inspire confidence that Miami would be the ones that would find

the points to get themselves in the winner circle. But luckily the defense on the other side really took care of that. From jump three and out to open the game, three play four yard drive and it was Tyrrel dots and flying all over the field making all kinds of plays. He had fifteen tackles in this game and a pick that we're going to talk about here in just one second, and the Dolphins create a third and six on this

opening drive. And this opening drive kind of told me how it was going to go from a Dolphins defensive perspective, because, look, Dorian Thompson Robinson minimal playing experience. He's the Browns third quarterback to play this year. We saw what happens when the Dolphins got to their third quarterback, like it is tough. It's tough when you don't have your starter, not much

less when you don't have your backup. And so on QB number three, there was a third and six play and they had like a too high coverage look where the I think it would Jerry Judy had out leveraged the split field safety that was to that side of the field and you could just see like the corner route was going to open up. But Dorian Thompson Robinson

was late to see it. He had to kind of see the receiver get out of the break and get to that leverage and then he threw it and because of that, it was late and thanks to Dotson's tackle for loss to open the game, Cater Kohu making a nice play like he does on screen game to get a short game. On the second down play, you created a third long situation from jump and the quarterback missed the throw in my opinion, to get the defense off

the field right away. And I just wrote, you have to find a way to capitalize on this if you are the Dolphins, because this is a quarterback with very minimal experience who clearly is not comfortable yet at this level to play at a high level, which is evident by his one touchdown to nine picks and a uypa under four yards average at this point of his career.

Miami gets it back and points, and it felt like any points at this point of the game kind of felt like it was going to be one of those huge right because we've Dolphins fans know like what thirteen to ten wins look like, going back to the Wance dead day and the Sperano days and into the Joe

Philbin days. This team won a lot of games this millennium thirteen to ten or sixteen to ten, like defense has kind of been it's calling card over those, you know, years before Mike McDaniel brought his high flying offense here. And so it's a seven play, just twenty six yard drive that takes three and a half minutes off the clock, but Jason Sanders kisses the crossbar and nudges it over the crossbar for a fifty four yard field goal to

continue his run. He made another field goal later in the game, so he is now twenty six consecutive field

goals made that of course as a franchise record. And this drive began, like I talked about the comeback to Tyreek more of like a curl route because he's not breaking this thing off to the sideline, but he brings that route back down the middle of the field, which is a curl route, and Huntley was hitting those all that long, those curls and glances and slants down the middle, and I thought that was a big area of progress and his game will talk about that and the takeaways.

But Miami finds their way into scoring range on that John News screen that kind of you know, had been not figured out, but defenses were privy too early on for a fifth teen yard play. Then eight Chan we get a holding call that backs is up to third and eighteen and they throw a check down to eight Chan that gets you know, ten more yards to put him back into field goal range. And every yard of that play was needed because the the field goal kicked

off the crossbar and went in. So Dolphins leaded three to nothing after about halfway through the first quarter. But then Cleveland mount to drive their own The kind of had you thinking like maybe this team can you know, post some offensive numbers in this game, as fourteen plays, sixty six yard drive, seven minutes, twenty seconds off the clock results in a twenty five yard field goal. And I just wrote down that Jordan Brooks was already all

over the field. He stiffed out a tight end leak and ran it down for a two yard game after he caught that football stuff's a run for a loss. And he heats up Dorian Thompson Robinson for a pressure, but they hit a holding call on Storm Duck in the defensive backfield. Then dtr converts a third and short on a quarterback sweep, and then he throws a couple of balls that Javon Holland gets hands on but can't

make the plays. And it was like three plays in this drive because Jordan Brooks had one earlier where he cut off the hook zone and the ball just got into that window. And I was like, that's three balls that really were a fraction of a second wave from going back the other way. Just kind of felt like that many bang bang plays, you're not gonna you know, it's gonna be tough making a living that way. Through the course of a sixty minute game, we miss a

tackle one of eighteen yards of room Ford runners. Javon Holland comes down and he kind of puts a stiff arm on him and gets around that tackle. Then Benito Joes stuffs up a run play for no game, getting off a double team. Then a Ramsey breaks up a pass and a slant to create a third down, and then they run the football and we snuff it out right away. So the Dolphins get off the field down in a little red zone. Great to see that in a game like this. Imy takes the football back and

punts it back after four plays twenty six yards. Once again, one of those Glands rounts to Tyreek Hill to kick off the drive. The ball was out before the break, the footwork, the timing was on point, big con big compleation to kick off the drive. We stay on schedule for a first down run, but b gap penetration on the second down play gets us behind the chains. Then they kind of bust a protection where they broke through the left guard position and snoop pass to flee and

throw it away. We kick it into the end zone a net just twenty four yards. So it's like this game of fine margins where you have to find your way to get advantages in those margins. It's not going your way so far early, but luckily it's still three

to three. The Browns get the ball back and do a quick three and out twenty four second drive and a very weird play from Jerry Judy, who had eighteen targets in twelve catches in this game, but it didn't feel like he had a good game because he had a big drop at one point and this play would have been an eight yard game to kick off the drive, but he just loses track of where he is in the field and doesn't put his feet in bounds and costs his team eight yards in a catch on the play.

They drop a pass on second down that was originally ruled a backwards pass and Dolphins' fumble recovery but got overturned. And that's been how many times has that happen to the Dolphins this year? What happened again in this game? Third and ten Tyrrel Dawson has a great spy rep on dtr forces him into a throwaway where he mirrors him at at the line of scrimmage, rolls out to the right and made a couple of plays in the game at this point and gets the Browns offense off

the field. Miami goes right back to the same well on the previous drive as they do to open this drive. It's a dig route full speed, almost retreats and runs that tries to outrun the bat by going backwards, but thinks better of it and goes down and picks up thirteen yards on that play. It's an effective play to open drives. They get, you know, chunk plays to kick off things. But then another negative play they blow up the end a round to Maleak Washington for a loss

of eleven and that rightly kills the drive. Elijah Campbell then has a punt very well covered, but the return man calls fair catch and then blocks and I'm like, hey, you can't do that, and I couldn't see the flag on the broadcast right away. But luckily they eventually got to that and showed you that the Dolphins were going to have a drive for the Browns beginning on the five yard line, and I wrote down, you need to find a way to make this a three and out

drive or turnover. And they didn't get the three and out, but they would get a Tyreil Dotson interception right at midfield. The Browns ran it for eight yards on the opening two plays of that drive. Backed up, they get a full back dive for a first down, and I was I was mad because I'm like, man, we had to get this is a chance where if you get a three and out on the opposing team inside their own ten yard line, it almost always leads to points. Like

the percentages are very high of that. I felt like that was a spot to kind of have the defense get a big win backed up. But luckily they would blow up a play from DeShawn Hand who draws a holding call and it kind of resets that previous situation. But then the Browns get a first down after a seventeen yard shot to Jerry Judy. Then deontaey Foreman moves

the sticks, and then Tyrrel Dotson. This is when my ferret plays the entire game, because the Dolphins kind of baited dtr into this throw and then Dotson just executed and made the play. Like you saw the two high safeties. They both played half field coverage and they widened and almost like invited this throw to the middle of the field, and dtr obliged him by ripping this slant route and Dotson just gets a lot of depth on that hook drop, and Juice O. J mcduffee was kind of like, was

that Tampa too him? Like, I don't think it was, because he wasn't like running the pipe. He was just kind of dropping into the hook zone. Made a great play on the football. But they takes his helmet off and costs US fifteen yards and back show up to the thirty five yard line, and then the offense goes three plays negative nine yards and two and a half minutes. We get hit with a hold to open the drive. It's now six for sixty and just looking not pretty right,

five of those coming on the offense. Then Isaiah Win gets beat across his face and Huntly gets sacked and it's third and twenty two. We false start back to the eighteen yard line. Like it went. You lost thirty two yards on the penalties and the loss of yardage on those ensuing plays and they pump the ball back in the Brown start at the forty two yard line. So again in the game where it felt like you

had to win in the margins. It wasn't going that way early, but then the entire game turned on this next drive. Let's go ahead and take our first break rate there, come back on the other side and get to that drive. The second half, we'll take another break

and get to the five takeaways all that. Next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation, Segment two on a Sunday night, December twenty ninth, could be Monday morning the time you hear this podcast probably will be for most of you, guys, but you are looking at a situation right here. At this point of the game, Dolphins are tied up three apiece, it is under two minutes to play, and the Browns have

it in plus territory. After a couple of runs, they incomplete a throw on the strangest OUTRW I've ever seen, where Derwan Thompson Robinson throws it at the line of scrimmage to the hash like a far hash throw, but it gains no yards in a speedout where the ball was so far up the field, the receiver had to come back to the line of scrimmage to make the catch. They can put a nine yard pass on third and ten and it creates a fourth and one from the plus thirty eight yard line late in the first half,

and they have the win with their backs. It kind of feels like this could be a spot where they take a league get the ball at the halftime, and then if in the second half, if they go march and score on that drive, Like could be you know, getting early, dark early for the Dolphins here in this week's seventeen game. But none of that happened because the Dolphins bow up and Kalaias Campbell makes not the first of but one of many plays he made in this game.

Quintin Bell there on the stop as well as Zach Seeler to stack up the Cleveland run and get the Dolphins the football back and they would pay it off on the other side by a five play forty one yard field goal drive. We could a defensive pass interference on John Smith who got clobbered by Martin Emerson who

winds up making like an NFL street pick. Can remember that game, how you could like jump in the air and like spin and do backflips and catch the football like I don't know how the hell he caught that ball, but he did, and runs all the way back to like the twenty three yard line or something like that. But luckily he was all over the back of John hus Smith. And rather than having first down in Dolphins territory for the Browns having the football, the Dolphins maintain

possession and have it in Cleveland territory. Then a League Washington makes this really sick catching a ball thrown behind him, juggling at getting hit and controls it going to the ground at the plus thirty seven yard line. But Tron Armstead gets nicked up and has to leave the game and would not return. Patrick Paul filled in for him at left tackle. Down the stretch, Maleak makes another catch on a hookup and he immediately gets upfield and find

space ball to plus thirty yard line. We go back to that well one more time for seven more yards, and then Jason Sanders connects on a forty yard field goal to give the Dolphins a six to three half time lead, and then the Browns have the football coming out of the break, And this is where that was kind of where the game turned to me, this is where the game was solidified and how it was going

to go. The Browns go three and out, They drop a third down conversion and leads to a three and out with Jerry Judy still struggling on the night, and the Dolphins take it back and go six plays seventy two yards and three minutes in cap but off of a thirteen yard Tyler Huntley touchdown run. Both Denzel Ward and Jordan Hicks were down to start the half, and the Dolphins came out and went right to Tygreek hill.

Because we talked about in the preview podcast with Daniel Oyufuzi that he said the Denzel Ward had been playing so locked down all year long with the other two cornerbacks had their struggles. And Miami throws that curl to Tyreek for fifteen yards and then we or rather they he hits like twelve or thirteen yards. Then they have a face mask on Tyreek attacks on fifteen more yards. Then we rip an RPO to Maleak for twelve yards

where Snoop is starting to fill the rhythm. And also on this drive they had Jeff Wilson where heem Moster, Jalen wright All took snaps on this drive after a heavy dose of Devon ah Chan early, so it was kind of cool to see the entire running back room gets some play. And then on third and eight twenty nine yard line, the Dolphins are you know, this is a spot where they went what was it one for eleven on third downs? Well, here it was. I mean, this was the one conversion they got and they had

to have it in the spot two for eleven. I apologize one of their two third downs they had conversions on. He throws this gland sproute to River Kraykraft, who stacked the corner back behind him, makes a tough, contested catch, and then Huntley makes his play of his Dolphins career with a thirteen yard touchdown scramble where he got out to the right, made some moves, cut it back and

found the end zone. And the Dolphins, in a game where points just felt like an absolute premium, take this thirteen to three lead like halfway through the third quarter, and it felt like that was a chance, kind of

a spot where they put the game away. But it wouldn't go that way because the Browns would go three and out on the next drive and Zach Steeler made this play to open the drive where he ran to the perimeter on this design DTR run from the five technique, and it just like it reminded me of like when he rides the wave on outside zone from a defensive tackle position. But I can't explain how tough this is, like the way he was able to stay on the outside edge of that play and force it back inside.

The Browns then falls start. It creates a third and thirteen. Then Kalaius Campbell has a great pass rush where he wraps up DTR who tries to throw it away but gets hit for grounding. So not only did the Dolphins force three out here, they knock him back fourteen yards and give the Dolphins offense even better field position. And we get an opening attitude run from Raheem Moster on first down of that drive, but then nothing on second down. And then Miles Garrett wins inside on Patrick Paul for

a sec. And I was going to compliment how well he was doing in the few series I had seen of him, and I would actually argue that he probably required some help on that play because you saw on the on the snap they slid the left side of the offensive line with both Jones and Brewer that way, but Garrett crossed his face and he split the two defenders or the offensive lineman I should say, which, Hey, Miles, Garrett's done that a few times in his career, right,

so there's nothing to be ashamed about with him beating you. But I thought that he was able to kind of beat the Dolphins protection plan with that pass rush and get Miami off the field after three plays in just one yard. Took a little less than two minutes off the clock. And then the Browns get it back down by ten and again like game. On still six play, fourteen yard drive that concludes, they sack fumble from Manuel

Ogbad recovered by DeShawn Hand. They moved it into Miami territory on a scramble and a defense holding call onto Sean Hand, and then Kalais sniffs out a zone read and just crashes on dtr and tackles him in the backfield for a three yard loss. Gosh, Kalayis emptied the tank in this game, which is playing at a different level all night long. So such a valuable player for the Dolphins this year. Then Ogba has his best pass rush of the entire year where he just completely completely

took the right tackle to school. You could see, and that's Jack Conklin. That's not like a shlub out there. It's one of the best right tackles in the league for the last you know, basically decade. And he goes for the punch and Ogba just swipes the hands down, angles around the corner and gets the ball out of the hands of the quarterback to Sean hann falls on

it and the Dolphins are right back in business. But they turn it over on downs on the ensuing drive where they ran a toss sweep on fourth and inches. McDaniel talked about it after the game, saying, like, obviously I wanted to play to work. It didn't work out that way. But they go on the outside run that does not get enough for a first down, and the Browns get the ball back, and this is where the

game kind of got interesting again. It's an eleven play, fifty nine yard drive, took four months off the clock, and they turn it over on downs after we lost consecutive challenges. But yeah, they challenged the third down play before the eighth cham play, and I still think that Snoop got it, but there's not really a great angle a great shot of it for you to get the

information you need. And then the Dolphins. The Browns throw a pass that quite frankly, maybe I'm laterally challenged, but I thought that was a backwards pass this time around, and I thought Maya's gonna have an issue because nobody actually fell on the ball. It got batted around for quite a while after the whistle had blown, so I didn't think there was a clear recovery because of that. But a man, that sure felt like a pass that was at least down the line of scrimmage, if not

backwards by a little bit. But they do hit a big run on the drive after that play didn't go our way and we lost our second challenge and our second time out of the half. They hit a big play with basically running the ball right after Jordan Brooks splitz and they get down to the thirty two yard line. The rain picks up really heavily at this point. Dtr misses a throw that has a completion to the twenty five yard line, setting up a third and four play.

They hit Jerry Judy on it out we have a switch release where Storm Duck and Jordan Poyer switch it, and just because of the route combination they had, it was the right read and the right throw from dtr Sometimes that just happens. Offenses can be tough to stop when they are on their stuff. That's what happens here.

Then Quentin Bell does an awesome job on second in goal to get downhill and force a throwaway with the Browns threatening to make it a one score game, a three point game, even defense bows up on third down. They run the ball on third and three down that situation, which again kind of tells you where they're thinking, Like

obviously in that spot they're thinking four down territory. But I think part of that has to do with the fact that, again you're starting a quarterback who just doesn't have a lot of experience or success in this league to this point. And Seth and oj Now were kind of discussing this kind of seem like probably a spot to kick the field goal there, because with the way the rain was going, like maybe field goals aren't going to be as easy as you think they might be

later on in the game. And I understand they probably felt like they had to get a touchdown being that close, but they throw a fourth down slant to Jerry Judy, who's their best player. Right, makes sense to do that, but he actually beats Jalen Ramsey on the release and kind of had him stacked a little bit. But Ramsey is I mentioned this on I Think the Friday podcast, like how I've just saw him around the building and

he's looks like a linebacker. Well, he looks like a linebacker and still moves like a premier cornerback because he recovers in time to get himself right back into great shape and makes the biggest pass defense he's made of the entire season to get the Dolphins defense off the field. Miami cannot cash it. On the other side. They go three and out, three plays five yards. Malik Washington had a tough drop on a second and ten throw that

would have been a first down from the three yard line. Instead, we have to kind of play field position. Jeff Wilson runs it out for five more yards, which I felt was the right call. Just punt the ball back and stay safe because right now the defense allowing three points. You can't lose the game doing that, And that's exactly

what happened. The Browns get the ball back, they go three plays, negative nine yards, one minute off the clock, and Javon Holland has a free run on dtr who gets hit for his third intentional grounding of the night. Becomes third and twenty three. They can't overcome that and they have to punt it back to the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins take the ensuing drive and they don't score.

But there was another play where Tyler Huntley on third and seven has an eighteen yard scramble where he's able to step up out of pressure and weave around the field and do a pure wet spin move That didn't really do anything for him, but it was still fun to watch to just two up more time off the clock. It's an eight play, thirty two yard drive that takes five and a half minutes off the clock. And then

Jake Bayley gives you the full complement. Right the defensive stop, the offense kills some clock, the special teams hammers a punt down to the two yard line, and they down that thing right there. The Browns have no choice but

to try to play four down football. They turn it over on downs after Jordan Brooks makes a fantastic tackle on fourth down to get the ball back to the Dolphins inn plus territory, and they would call game on the ensuing drive with a four play, twenty one yard touchdown drive capped off by a seven yard touchdown pass from Tyler Snoop Huntley to John new Smith, who then ties the Dolphins all time franchise record for touchdowns by a tight end in a season, a chance to break

that next week. The Browns would have a twelve play turnover on down drives after that, and Miami would end the game by kneeling it out on the ensuing drive. So twenty three the Dolphins are winners. Before we get

into the five takeaways. To close this podcast up, I want to play some audio here from Mike McDaniel who addressed the two a tongue by loa injury and the inactive for the game, and also the response by Tyler Huntley to get the Dolphins this critical win against the Browns here in week seventeen.

see the improvement we had hoped. But still uh still really you know, allowing his body the full amount of time to heal, and you know, ultimately he absolutely wanted to play. It wasn't a pain tolerance thing because he that's not in the equation for him. He wasn't physically.

The main thing was is that he uh not only was super susceptible to a much more significant injury based upon uh that injury if he were to uh fall in harm's way, but uh, you know, a major factor was the the lack of strength due to the injury and his inability, as we forecasted, to TechEd himself and his teammates, uh within the pocket and doing the things that he normally has to do.

is in the process. You know, I think what was evident was the the positives of time for for Snoop and and how far he's come since we last played with him. And you know, I thought that was a tremendous outing for him. Made some plays, was very good with the ball, and you know, those are always cool things for a player when they're playing a team that they were on that same calendar year.

Dolphins winners over the Cleveland Browns, and we should by the time you hear this podcast know what time the Dolphins will be playing their Week eighteen game. I think there's a possibility it could be on Saturday in primetime. There's a possibility it could be a four twenty five kickoff on Sunday. It just depends on how these results

play out. There's really gonna be like five or maybe six games that have playoff implications, and the Dolphins could be one of the ones that find themselves in an island window or that the only game on because they are one of the biggest games that matters this coming weekend.

We'll get to that one second. The Dolphins first takeaway from this twenty three win over the Cleveland Browns, Tyler Huntley showed you something from the backup quarterback position you haven't seen in three years here under this current regime. I tweeted that I thought he was playing very good football and this was like maybe early second half, and it was met with some pushback on that, or rather

just people saying lol. And I was really taken a back by that because I thought that I was watching a quarterback play on time and in rhythm in the way that no other quarterback has done in this system other than to a Tongua by Low. I thought it was a massive, massive step from where he played back in October, when we heard Tyreek Hill after the game or even Tyler Huntley after the game say like, now I'm more privy to the motions and shifts in the

pre snap operation. Tyreek basically said that he didn't know the offense. But that's that's Tyreek being tyreekbviously hunting to do a little bit of the offense to play the games. But it just illustrates a point that like, yeah, he was fresh and green in this offense and was tough for him to get going. And I thought this game was a clear example of growth with how he threw those curls and those glances on time and in rhythm.

He made some scramble plays, including a tremendous touchdown run which came on the heels of that absolute shot to Crek Craft for a first down throw on third and eight. Those were the games where the plays where the game was kind of sealed. In my opinion, he played really good football. Twenty two for twenty six, two hundred and twenty five yards through the air, a rushing touchdown, and fifty three yards in the ground. That is really good football, folks.

I don't care anybody says takeaway number two. And that's the downside of all this is the operation and penalties. It was just way too many. Eleven for ninety foursm is not good. There was drives in the game early that were kind of bogged down because of either holding or penalties rather or an errant snap at one point in the game, or missed opportunities seven for sixty five in the first half and the opening drive with the cut block, the false start, the hold. We had two

special teams fouls on saran Neil. The Dotson penalty was just a lack of It was a mental air in that position that cost us a great field position. That stuff really went away when Tua came back back in October.

But I was just disappointing to see that come back in a game like this, especially with the growth we saw from Huntley, because they could have had like three more scoring drives in my opinion, had they not just shot themselves in the foot number three is a defense did more than just hold up their end of the bargain.

They made the splash plays that you kind of have to make in a game like this, right, because in a game like this, you kind of feel like the defense needs to do more than just get three and outs. Like Dotson on the lunging pick was a splash play. Ogba the amazing pass rush to get a massive takeaway Kalays Campbell, a bunch of negative plays, including a fourth down stop they got them off the field in Jordan

Brooks as well. That tackle on the fourth down on their last gasp drive that was a perfectly timed up, well you know, bring your feet type of tackle. They went to their best on our best and the critical goal line stand and Jalen Ramsey steps up and makes a pass breakup and that was really the game kind of ended, right. Granted that a tough offense they faced,

or they brought to the game tonight. You heard the comment early on about twenty three drives and having six points under dtr that became thirty drives at one point with just six points, But you didn't just hold him to three points. You gave the offense two short fields, so had to have it, got it from the defense. Fourth takeaway, how about all reliable Jason Sanders. I mean this guy, he's clutched as hell man fifty four yards into the wind. Then the kick at the end of

the half to go up. You miss either of those kicks, I think you give the Browns a little bit of life. Twenty second, twenty six consecutive field goals, and after he wins November Special Teams Player of the Month, all he does is have two games in the stretch with five plus with five field goals to really help the mind to get two critical wins. Just been reliable in the elements and a beast with massive, massive performances and a big reason why we're in this position heading into the

final game of the season. Speaking of that final position, the fifth takeaway, what a weekend it was. I've been complaining about this all your along. How that's freaking Chargers and Falcons game a few weeks back. That was like Kirk Cousins throwing four picks and they still were driving late to win the game and threw a pick to

end the game. And that Colts and Patriots game where the Colts hadn't done anything offensively all day and then on the final drive of the game, Anthony Richardson drives him eighty five yards and converts to two point conversion to win the game. It had just been that kind of year all year for the Miami Dolphins. But you get a big Broncos loss on Saturday after a game that shaved years off of my life because the Bengals had that thing won several times and tried to find

a way to lose it. They do not. They get the big win. But then Sunday after the one o'clock window I always say morning because the West Coast brain still kicks in there, but the one o'clock window for the Giants to score forty five points to help the Dolphins, Like I never would have predicted that in a million years. So what an awesome way to see your playoff odds go from six percent to twenty nine percent based on one model, which is not great, but thirty percent after

you were six and eight, that's pretty dang good. And then the week eighteen schedule should be coming up anytime when you hear this podcast or in the morning Monday morning, I should say we will know what time Miami plays we'll get that on social media. Necessarily important for a podcast to have that coverage for you guys. So there you go. Dolphins win big twenty to three in Cleveland, All on the line next week in New York against

the Jets. We'll have you covered all week long, including the All twenty two podcast review tomorrow on the show, and then we'll kick it off with Jets coverage starting on Wednesday. In the meantime, you all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave us a rating, leave us a review, follow me on social at Twinkle NFL. The team at Miami Dolphin check out the fish Tank

podcast with Seth and Juice. Check out the YouTube channel for a brand new episode this week of Dolphins HQ and YouTube or media availabilities on that YouTube channel as well, and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot com. Until next time, fins up Carolyn and Cameron. Daddy, He's coming home.