Dolphins blow 14-point fourth-quarter lead in defeat to Titans, lose No. 1 seed in AFC
While much of the criticisms of the Dolphins this season surrounded their struggles against upper-echelon competition, Miami had taken care of business against teams they were expected to beat.
That track record, though, was tested against a Tennessee Titans team that entered Week 14 with the second-worst record in the AFC.
After scoring 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and holding a 14-point lead with 4:34 remaining, the Dolphins gave up 15 unanswered points in a shocking 28-27 defeat on “Monday Night Football.”
The loss dropped the team from its spot atop the AFC and down to the No. 2 seed, while also reducing its lead in the AFC East to two games ahead of the Buffalo Bills (7-6) with four games left in the regular season.
“I think it was a legitimate team loss,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “I think everybody had their hand in it.”
The Dolphins (9-4) needed the win to keep pace with the Baltimore Ravens (10-3) for the No. 1 seed in the conference. But playing their first home “Monday Night Football” game since 2017, Miami sputtered in all phases in its first defeat to a team with a losing record.
The Dolphins’ three-game winning streak and six-game home winning streak, dating to Week 18 of the 2022 season, also came to an end in a defeat that could have far-reaching consequences.
Rookie quarterback Will Levis rallied Tennessee with a pair of touchdown drives, including a four-play, 64-yard touchdown drive in 26 seconds, capped by running back Derrick Henry’s 3-yard score that gave the Titans the late lead.
The Dolphins got the ball back at their 26-yard line with 1:45 remaining and no timeouts left but the offense never crossed midfield and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was sacked by outside linebacker Harold Landry on fourth down.
The Dolphins were doomed on the prime-time stage by a series of miscues, injuries and sloppy play, even as a pair of gaffes opened a window for Miami to take control of the game late.
The first came with the score tied at 13 when cornerback Eric Garror made contact with a Miami punt and defensive back Elijah Campbell recovered, setting the Dolphins up at the Tennessee 7-yard line. Two plays later, running back Raheem Mostert (100 scrimmage yards) scored on a 3-yard run to give Miami a 20-13 lead with 5:54 remaining.
On the first play of the next possession, outside linebacker Bradley Chubb recovered a mishandled pitch from Levis to Henry, once again placing the Dolphins deep in the red zone, this time at the 12-yard line. Mostert scored his second touchdown of the game and league-leading 16th rushing score two plays later to give Miami a 27-13 lead.
But just as quickly as the Titans gave the game to the Dolphins, Miami returned it equally as fast, leaving the Hard Rock Stadium crowd stunned. According to ESPN Stats and Info, the Dolphins were the first team in 767 NFL games to lose after leading by 14 points with less than three minutes remaining in regulation.
“It’s the NFL. Anything can happen,” said Tagovailoa, who completed 23 of 33 passes for 240 yards but was sacked five times. “We’ve got to do a better job finishing the game with the time that we had while we had the ball, not allowing their opposing team’s offense to get that opportunity to potentially go down and score. It’s a team sport. You can’t blame one side. But I would say from an offensive standpoint there’s things that we could have done a lot better to not have gone through what we’ve gone through tonight.”
Both of Tennessee’s scoring drives combined to take less than three minutes. The first materialized in one minute and 54 seconds, as Levis found wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (game-high seven catches, 124 yards) for a 5-yard touchdown and then converted a two-point try that cut the Dolphins’ lead to six points with 2:40 remaining.
The Titans got the ball back with 2:15 after a Dolphins’ three-and-out and Levis, whose 327 passing yards are the most for a rookie on “Monday Night Football,” drove to the Miami 16 with a pair of chunk completions. Two plays later, Henry found his way into the end zone on a 3-yard run for the game-tying score and Tennessee took the lead with the made extra point.
Issues for the Dolphins’ ranged on all sides of the ball.
Kicker Jason Sanders’ had a 44-yard field-goal attempt blocked toward the end of the first half. Instead of leading 10-7 at halftime, Miami trailed by three points after Levis drove the Titans down the field for a late field goal.
The Dolphins rushed for 158 yards but continued to struggle within the red zone. Miami was 2 of 5 in the red zone and 1 of 4 in goal-to-goal situations. This included the Dolphins turning the ball on their first possession on the Titans’ 7-yard yard line when Tagovailoa was stripped after a botched exchange with Liam Eichenberg, who moved from right guard to center after Connor Williams exited the game in the first quarter because of a knee injury.
Williams’ injury left the Dolphins’ with just one starter — right tackle Austin Jackson — along the offensive line as left tackle Terron Armstead (ankle) and right guard Robert Hunt (hamstring) were inactive. The passing game also struggled with wide receiver Tyreek Hill (four catches, 61 yards) limited by a late first-quarter ankle injury that sidelined him for the first half and parts of the second half.
“Obviously a player of Tyreek’s caliber, it hurts when he’s not in,” McDaniel said. “However, I think there was plenty of offense to be had and we’ve got a lot of guys that I trust to do that. I think that just bottom line, you have things like that happen in a game, you’re going to lose and those are lessons that are learned usually one way and that’s the hard one.”
The Dolphins’ defense scored for the third straight game after defensive lineman Zach Sieler’s pick-six gave Miami a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. But a unit that had been one of the league’s best in recent weeks couldn’t get a key stop with two opportunities late. McDaniel attributed some of the defense’s problems to a “couple communication issues.” Miami was playing without its top two safeties as Jevon Holland (knees) was inactive and DeShon Elliott didn’t play in the final two drives, ruled out after sustaining a ribs injury and being evaluated for a concussion.
Earlier in the game, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Chubb, who slammed his helmet frustration after missing a third-down sack, extended a Titans drive that allowed them to tie the game at 7 in the first quarter after a 1-yard run from Henry.
“We’ve done out-of-character things to almost find a way to lose the game,” McDaniel said.
The Dolphins, despite the loss, technically are still in control of their destiny. Miami, which will face the first-place Ravens in Baltimore in Week 17, can regain the No. 1 seed by winning out in the final month of the regular season. But Monday night showed the road to a first-round bye and home-field advantage will be easier said than done, especially with finishing the regular season with three games against opponents with winning records.
Miami was adamant that after last year’s December struggles, they were a different team. After their latest setback, there’s still work to be done to prove that isn’t lip service.
“I don’t think this is the same Dolphins team that everyone thinks about,” Tagovailoa said. “We’ve got a lot of really good players. We’ve got really good coaches. It’s one loss [at] home this year. It’s not like the world ends because we lost this game. We’re human. We’ll continue to get better from this. This is the NFL; no one is perfect. That’s that.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 2:19 AM.
