Miami Dolphins 8-3 after ‘Hail Jevon’ play leads 34-13 Black Friday rout at New York Jets | Opinion
Hail Jevon?
Doesn’t quite have the same familiar ring as Hail Mary, but Miami Dolphins fans will take it.
In 58 seasons of Dolphins football there have been more important plays, yes, maybe even ones more memorable -- so let’s just agree this was the latest to rise to that select pantheon.
Black Friday, the first such game in NFL history.
Dolphins at New York Jets.
The bitter-rival Jets have the worst offense not only in the annals of pro football but in the history of humankind, inviting the worst possible connotation of the word “offensive.” Before the game injured Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and long-retired Dolphins special advisor Dan Marino were chatting. The Jets are praying for Rodgers’ return. At this point they might sign Marino, at age 62, if he’d be interested.
But when Tua Tagovailoa’s awful interception was returned for a touchdown and the Jets were within 10-6 of Miami very late in the first half, everything changed. The downtrodden had new life. Out of mothballs fans lifted the annoying “J-E-T-S!” chant.
And then.
And then!
Jets quarterback Tim Boyle -- I told you you that offense was awful -- throws a last-second Hail Mary toward the end zone.
But Dolphins safety Jevon Holland intercepts and returns it 99 yards for a touchdown, weaving spectacularly through Jets players ill-suited to make tackles. And suddenly it’s 17-6, Fins, at the half. It was the pivotal play in the victory.
“Unfortunately I had to take (Boyle’s) ankles, yessir,” said Holland afterward.
“Definitely game-changing,” said Tagovailoa.
Jets coach Robert Saleh: “Just a very unfortunate play at the end of the half when we felt like we had captured momentum. Cut it to a four-point game and gave it right back to them.”
Said Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel: “That was absolutely a huge momentum swing. That was a cool moment that nobody on this team that was on the field will forget. That will probably be the first play people think of when you think back to this game.”
And the Jets were the Jets again. It was over.
Tim Boyle, a 29-year-old journeyman making his fourth career start only because Zach Wilson is even worse, was ill-equipped to play catch-up. (Or to play, period, we’d say, except we don’t wish to be too harsh especially on a holiday weekend.)
The Dolphins win, 34-13.
It completed a Miami/Miami Black Friday doubleheader sweep, after the Hurricanes had won at Boston College just before.
And it put Miami at 8-3 for the season and kept the Fins in command in the AFC East.
A major down note: Dolphins pass rusher Jaelan Phillips carted off with an Achilles injury that seemed season-ending serious. (Fins players were complaining about the turf at the Jets’ stadium. Hopefully that was not the cause.)
The division-rival Jets would score only that one defensive TD followed by a botched extra point, until a Dolphins fumble set the team up for a late scoring pass.
The Dolphins would score not only on Holland’s length-of-the-field pick-six but on Tua’s 7-yard scoring pass to Tyreek Hill, on Raheem Mostert’s 13-yard TD run, on a pair of field goals -- and then on Mosterrt’s 34-yard scoring run to close it out.
Hill’s 102 yards receiving gave him the most ever for a season in NFL history through the first 11 games. He also became the first Dolphin since 2014 (Mike Wallace) to catch at least 10 TD passes.
Tagovailao also surpassed 3,000 passing yards for the year.
Oh, and putting backup QB Mike White, an ex-Jet, in to kneel to end the game? Chef’s kiss.
The Dolphins continue to win against the teams they should. Beating the Jets makes Miami 8-0 this season against teams that do not have a winning record.
Three more of those are upcoming: at Washington, home against Tennessee, and then home against these same Jets. (We’d start a rumor that Rodgers will be back for that game, but that might be flagrantly unprofessional.)
After this soft schedule stretch the regular season ends brutally with a Christmas Eve game vs. Dallas, a game at Baltimore, then a home date with Buffalo.
That closing troika will tell us whether the Dolphins have what it takes to reach the Super Bowl.
Black Friday’s road domination of the Jets did nothing but suggest they might.
This story was originally published November 24, 2023 at 6:06 PM.
