Dolphins experience highs and lows in dominant Black Friday win over Jets

The Miami Dolphins experienced the highs of highs and lows of lows of football in Friday’s win over the New York Jets.

There was the exhilaration of safety Jevon Holland’s rare feat, a 99-yard interception return touchdown on a Hail Mary attempt. And then there was the devastation of losing a valued player to serious injury when edge defender Jaelan Phillips was carted off after injuring his Achilles.

Ultimately, the Dolphins came away with a dominant road victory in the AFC East, 34-13, over the rival Jets in the NFL’s first Black Friday game at MetLife Stadium.

For the moment, Miami (8-3) is No. 1 in the AFC, but that will likely change once the rest of the league’s Week 12 action is complete.

The Dolphins have two consecutive 8-3 starts for the first time since 2000-2001. They have also won five of six and 12 of their last 15 against the Jets.

The Miami defense surrendered a miniscule 159 yards of total offense against a Jets offense that might have been in a food coma the day after Thanksgiving — or is just bad in general. New York quarterback Tim Boyle, replacing Zach Wilson as starter this week, went 21 of 30 for 135 yards, a late touchdown and two interceptions.

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa didn’t have his best game as two interceptions late in the first half kept the Jets (4-7) close before Holland’s heroics to send the teams into the locker room.

Both of Tagovailoa’s top targets surpassed 100 receiving yards. Tyreek Hill had nine receptions for 102 yards and the touchdown. Jaylen Waddle went for eight catches and 114 yards.

Running back Raheem Mostert ran for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to put New York away and tallied 94 rushing yards, while Jeff Wilson Jr. spelled him for 56 yards on 11 attempts in a balanced attack for Miami.

Holland’s 99-yard pick-six came at a moment in Friday’s action where it seemed the Dolphins were keeping the Jets alive with back-to-back Tagovailoa interceptions. He fielded Boyle’s Hail Mary attempt like a punt and, with the Jets’ fastest athletes behind him in the end zone, Holland had lineman in front of him after bursting through open field. Boyle was the last man to beat as Holland put an inside-out move on him before trotting into the end zone.

With a seemingly insurmountable 10-0 lead, given the way the Dolphins were defending the Jets in the first half, Tagovailoa made an inexcusable mistake.

In Miami territory, he threw a short out to wide receiver Braxton Berrios, which was intercepted by cornerback Brandin Echols and returned 30 yards for the touchdown. If it seemed familiar, Echols also had a pick-six against Tagovailoa in 2021. Jets cornerback DJ Reed picked off Tagovailoa just more than a minute later, giving the Jets their shot at the Hail Mary that went awry.

Phillips was having a strong game before he went down with the Achilles injury in the fourth quarter. He had four tackles, a sack, three tackles for loss and a pass deflection. Linebacker Jerome Baker had an interception Friday off a pass deflection from cornerback Xavien Howard.

Mostert had one of his touchdown runs come from 13 yards out. There was a scuffle to follow on the point-after, which resulted in ejections to Dolphins right tackle Austin Jackson and Jets edge rusher Michael Clemons.

New York tried to sneak back in, with Boyle throwing a touchdown pass on a long drive to wide receiver Garrett Wilson, but a 34-yard scamper for a score from Mostert put the Jets away for good.

Leading, 3-0, in the second quarter, Hill scored a 7-yard touchdown out of the right flat with Jets safety Jordan Whitehead whiffing on an open-field tackle. It extended Miami’s lead to 10. Hill found his newlywed wife, Keeta Vaccaro Hill, in the first row at MetLife Stadium on the Miami side to toss her the touchdown ball.

The Dolphins drove 81 yards on their opening offensive series but came up empty on points. Tagovailoa threw a fourth-and-2 pass from the Jets’ 4-yard line over cornerback Sauce Gardner to Hill, but it went through Hill’s hands.

Earlier in the drive, Hill made a big third-down reception deep for 35 yards, but it came at a cost as he hurt his left ankle/foot while tackled from behind. Miami training staff quickly examined him and taped outside his shoe. He re-entered later in the possession.

The next time coach Mike McDaniel had a fourth-and-short on Miami’s second series, he took the 3 points and early lead as Jason Sanders made a 38-yard field goal on fourth-and-1.

Dolphins defensive tackle Christian Wilkins had two sacks and defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah had 1 1/2 Friday.

The Dolphins get the remainder of the weekend off before hitting the road again for a Dec. 3 game against the Washington Commanders.