Tagovailoa’s four turnovers dooms Dolphins as they fall to Texans 20-12
Sunday was put-up-or-shut-up time for the Miami Dolphins.
At 6-7 and on the road versus the playoff-bound Houston Texans, the Dolphins had the opportunity to make a statement.
Instead, Tua Tagovailoa turned the ball over four times and the Texans beat the Dolphins 20-12. With the loss, the hopes of the Dolphins’ postseason season comes to an unceremonious end as the likelihood of a playoff appearance disappeared with a second interception by Derek Stingley Jr.
The Dolphins fought valiantly throughout the game but couldn’t overcome Tagovailoa’s three interceptions and one fumble. Tagovailoa’s four turnovers led to 10 Texans points.
“Plain and simple: it’s just my fault,” the Dolphins signal caller said after the game. “I have to protect the ball. I got to play better ball for our guys.”
Added Tagovailoa: “That’s not how you win games in this league. Very disappointed with how I played today and with how I conducted myself on the field with our guys, with our team. I just need to be better.”
The defense played more than well enough to win the game. CJ Stroud and the Texans offense mustered only 131 yards passing and just 77 yards on the ground, 35 of which came on a fake punt in the third quarter.
“I thought the defense effort was tremendous, which is the reason it was a one-score game,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “It’s unfortunate for a lot of guys. That was a hard fought loss for our team.”
The Dolphins and the Texans traded field goals for most of the first half. Toward the midway point of the second quarter, Tagovailoa didn’t feel the pressure from behind which led to a strip sack courtesy of Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. The Texans got the ball on the Miami 28 and before long, Stroud found Nico Collins for the 6-yard touchdown.
A turnover that led to a touchdown might not have been the worst aspect of the second quarter as receiver Jaylen Waddle sustained a right knee injury in the same period. The severity of the injury is unknown yet Waddle did not return to the game.
“He was super frustrated,” coach Mike McDaniel said of Waddle, who didn’t catch any of his two targets prior to exiting the game. “I don’t really have much after that. He was on the sidelines cheering his teammates on which was good for me to see, but we’ll get some more information tomorrow.”
A Jason Sanders field goal with two minutes left cut the Texans lead to 10-6. On the Texans’ subsequent possession, Stroud mishandled a snap that linebacker Jordyn Brooks recovered and took to the Houston 38. Texans safety Calen Bullock would intercept a Tagovailoa pass and take it 68 yards to the Miami 5, which would lead to another Houston field goal as time expired.
By far one of the biggest plays of the game happened on the Texans’ first drive of the quarter. The Dolphins allowed one first-down conversion yet managed to force a punt. Or so they thought: the Texans snapped the ball directly to running back Dare Ogunbowale who subsequently ran for 35 yards to the Miami 9. Stroud would find Collins for his second touchdown of the day just two plays later.
“It was a huge game changer,” McDaniel said of the fake punt. “Specifically, we were anticipating that situation so we had the appropriate call. I’ll have to take a look at the execution of it.”
The Dolphins would score their sole touchdown of the day on the following drive — a 7-yard pass from Tagovailoa to Jonnu Smith — yet couldn’t muster up much another score. Receiver Grant DuBose sustained a severe head injury on this drive and was taken to the hospital in stable condition, per the team.
Despite getting the ball to the Houston 20 on the subsequent drive, Stingley stepped in front of Hill for his first interception of the day. While the Dolphins defense would force the Texans into another punt, a penalty and poor pass blocking ultimately limited the Miami offense.
After yet another punt, the Dolphins defense would once again shut down the Stroud on the offense who went three and out.
The ball once again landed Tagovailoa’s hands with the game on the line and less than two minutes remaining. On the first play of the drive, Tagovailoa fired a deep ball to Hill who ran a go route to beat Stingley’s 1-on-1 coverage. Hill actually managed to jump above the young corner and grab the ball — that is, until Stingley snatched it back, effectively ending the game.
“You’re not going to win a game with four turnovers, so it was very disappointing in that regard,” McDaniel said, later adding that “I just know they didn’t connect and that’s something that, if you would’ve said before the game that the game was going to come down to, our expectation was to make that play.”
With yet another loss, the Dolphins fell to 6-8 and will have to pray for other teams to lose in order to sneak into the playoffs. Miami will face a depleted San Francisco 49ers team next week to try to keep their season alive.
“Maybe some more things are out of our control but we can control what we can control from here on,” defensive tackle Zach Sieler said. “That’s all we can do. We’re in this position now so we have to play out and win the rest of these games.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2024 at 4:44 PM.
