Hill, Achane help offense return to form as Dolphins bounce back with win over the Giants
The Miami Dolphins offense was humming again on Sunday.
The explosive plays that wrote the formula for victory during the season’s first three weeks were on display again thanks to its speedsters like wide receiver Tyreek Hill and running back De’Von Achane.
And the defense delivered its best outing so far this season — albeit against the struggling and undermanned New York Giants — as Miami rebounded from a dismal loss at Buffalo last week with a 31-16 victory at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Dolphins (4-1) regained sole possession of first place in the AFC East with the victory following Buffalo’s loss to Jacksonville on Sunday morning in London, which dropped the Bills to 3-2.
But while Miami still needs to figure out how to beat Buffalo down the road, its performance Sunday — which didn’t come without some miscues on offense — showed it has reached a point where teams like the Giants shouldn’t be a problem. The Dolphins will face another struggling opponent next Sunday when they host the Carolina Panthers, who fell to 0-5 after a loss at Detroit.
“We always want to protect home. It was one that we wanted,” said wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, who caught a 2-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, his first of the season. “We wanted to make last week a learning lesson for us coming into the game. So I think we learned from it. We still got a lot to grow from throughout the year and throughout this game, so we’re going to come back and just try to keep building.”
The Dolphins never trailed in the game, amassed 524 yards of total offense and recorded seven sacks on defense led by defensive lineman Zach Sieler, who had two. The defense’s effort came a week after allowing 48 points and 414 total yards against the Bills.
The Dolphins broke the NFL record for most total yards through the first five games of a season.
Miami had seven plays of 20 or more yards and three plays of 60 or more yards.
“I think a lot of things were going right for us,” said quarterback Tua Tagovaioa, who completed 22 of 30 passes for 300 yards and two touchdown passes but also threw two interceptions. “If we just stuck with our plan and we stuck with our rules for each play, I think things were going really smooth. There were just times where we were misaligned, things didn’t play within the structure of our offense and things just got out of hand with some plays. But outside of that, I would say that’s how the game went.”
Achane set the tone for the offense’s huge day from the Dolphins’ first offensive snap. He followed a 24-yard run on that play with a 76-yard touchdown on Miami’s third drive that put the Dolphins ahead 14-0.
Achane continued his impressive start to his pro career with 151 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. He became the first Dolphins running back to rush for over 100 yards in three consecutive games since Jay Ajayi in 2016 and the fifth in franchise history to do so. Achane’s 76-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the fifth-longest in team history and the longest rushing play by Miami since 2015.
The Tagovailoa-Hill combination was also clicking once again.
Hill caught eight passes for 181 yards including a 69-yard touchdown with 14:06 left in the third quarter to push Miami’s lead to 24-10.
Hill topped 150 receiving yards for the 13th time in his career, tying Calvin Johnson for the third-most in a player’s first eight NFL seasons. It was his 22nd game as a Dolphin with 100 or more receiving yards.
Hill also topped his previous ball-carrier speed mark with his 64-yard catch and run in the second quarter on which he reached 22.01 mph per NextGen Stats.
It wasn’t a perfect performance on offense though as the Dolphins turned the ball over three times. Tagovailoa’s first interception was returned 102 yards for a touchdown by safety Jason Pinnock with 1:40 remaining in the second quarter and cut Miami’s lead at the time to 14-10. His second came in the third quarter and led to a Giants field goal that cut the Dolphins’ lead to 24-13.
But Miami responded with an eight-play touchdown drive, seven of which were called runs, and running back Raheem Mostert scored on a 2-yard run to close the quarter and give the Dolphins a 31-13 lead.
“I think it speaks to what the defense was doing,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “The Giants had a lot of opportunities to make plays, and even if they were converting first downs, there was no quit. There was absolutely no quit.”
He added: “They didn’t let the guys get in the end zone, so we had more points. It’s definitely not the formula you want to really live by because more often than not, that’s why it’s an anomaly, but that’s why as a team we can’t overreact to anything negative that crosses our path. When you have people playing together, you can overcome a lot, like a pick-six and a minus-three-[turnover margin] day.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2023 at 4:03 PM.
