Cote: Like good ol’ days as Miami Dolphins whip Raiders, 34-19, set season high for points | Opinion
Remember the excitement and electricity of the Miami Dolphins’ offense last season? That’s a rhetorical question. It isn’t intended to torment, but to encourage a fond memory as the current season slogs on with what has been a fight for every point where the fireworks used to be.
That’s why Sunday felt a little bit nostalgic, like, where has this been all season, Dolphins?
It was back for at least an afternoon as Miami worked a 34-19 home victory over a lousy, reeling Las Vegas Raiders squad that had lost five in a row coming in. A Dolphins team that scored 70 points in a game last year has no longer been dominating even the dregs of the NFL — a designation the Fins perhaps escaped for now with this win promoting their record to 4-6.
This was the Fins’ highest-scoring game of the season and largest margin of victory, glimpses of the good ol’ days, meaning last season.
[Quick aside to the Raiders fans at Hard Rock Stadium: That biker/pirate/Halloween-y face-paint shtick seems a lot more menacing when your team didn’t just fall with a thud to 2-8. OK back to the column...]
Last season, the Dolphins had the franchise’s most exciting team since the Dan Marino heydays, going 11-6 with an offense that led the league in yards and was second in points. Raheem Mostert scored 21 touchdowns. Tyreek Hill had 18 with 1,799 receiving yards in a bombs-away attack led by Tua Tagovailoa’s Pro Bowl year and perfect health.
Different this season even as Tagovailoa on Sunday had his fourth consecutive 200-plus-yards game and with 288 his most since returning from a four-game concussion absence.
During that absence Raiders coach Antonio Pierce butted into Miami’s affairs by volunteering he thought Tagovailoa should retire. Sunday the quarterback showed the opposing coach why he did not in beating him with three TD passes., one to Hill and a pair to Jonnu Smith.
Hill’s was only his third TD of the season on a day he caught seven passes for 61 yards — what these days constitutes a pretty big game. Smith, the new tight end, enjoyed the star turn with 101 yards receiving. His two teams of 7-under and 9-under Cooper City Optimist flag football players he coaches were there watching. Both won championships. Sunday they saw their “Coach ‘Nu” play like one.
“Had my pups come in,” he said, smiling.
The victory marked Miami’s first two-game win streak in a trying season — needed nourishment after previously losing two last-second heartbreakers in a row.
Coach Mike McDaniel said of the two wins in a row, “It’s monumental.”
“Obviously the fire is still small. We still got a big hole to climb out him,” Calais Campbell, said of 4-6. “But we got the spark going.”
Miami played ball control with its four four drives totaling 14, 16 and 14 plays — after only three possessions all last season were that long in what was a quick-strike attack. But the Fins also hit on a 57-yard TD pass to Smith.
The first half had been an is-what-it-is proposition: A low-scoring, rather boring back and forth between two teams slogging through what feel like lost seasons.
Miami led, 10-6, The half ended with hardly any noise from a less than full stadium.
Dolphins led 7-0 with a promising 70-yard opening drive helped by two Raiders penalties and capped by Smith’s 1-yard scoring pass from Tagovailoa.
Vegas countered with a 27-yard field goal that should not have been, on a drive kept alive when Calais Campbell ran into the punter.
The teams then swapped Miami’s 31-yard field goal and Vegas’ from 22 yards as the game quietly snored to halftime — Jaylen Waddle’s 24-yard catch the only play for either team longer than 20.
An impressively methodical 97-yard march to begin the second half had Miami up 17-6, its first somewhat comfy lead. De’Von Achane’s 30-yard run was the highlight and Hill’s 8-yard scoring pass the exclamation. Tagovailoa rolled left as if he might run (and risk another concussion) as the crowd gasped ... then exhaled with the throw. And cheered with the catch.
Of course, this being 2024 and nothing coming easily for Miami, the Raiders quickly scored on Brock Bowers 23-yard scoring pass as the tight end barreled right through safety Jordan Poyer’s weak attempt at a tackle. It was 17-12 after the Fins stopped the run on a two-point try,
Miami made it 24-12 in the fourth quarter on Achane’s 2-yard TD run.
Vegas pulled within 24-19 with 4:23 left on Ameer Abdulah’s 10-yard catch-and-run through a miserably missed tackle by Kader Kohou.
The Dolphins pulled away on Smith’s second TD catch and run, this for 57 yards, for a 31-19 lead with 3:19 left.
A late Jalen Ramsey interception punctuated the victory, leading to a late 46-yard field goal and the final score.
Two wins in a row with a home game on deck vs. New England have kindled hope that Miami still could make a run at playoff contention.
Sunday helped, with a rare comfortable win in a struggling season, and a season-high in points that felt a little like old times.
This story was originally published November 17, 2024 at 4:05 PM.
