He didn’t finally play quarterback Tua Tagovailoa because of a hip injury, but his substitute Tyler managed well to get a major win on the penultimate date of the NFL season.
The Dolphins had all been put in front after the Broncos’s defeat in extra time against the Bengals on Saturday, and the Colts’ fall to the Giants on Sunday and they only needed to take the victory this Sunday, December 29 at Cleveland’s Huntington Bank Field to reach the last date with options to reach the playoffs.
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And so in an ugly, brilliance-free game, where the common factor was the penalties, Miami’s squad managed to impose 20-3 on the Browns to exhaust next Sunday, January 5, against the Jets their last chance to advance to the postseason.
The Dolphins (8-8) are now only behind the Broncos (9-7) in the fight for the third wildcard, so he needs to win next Sunday in New York and that Denver loses its last duel to the current champions and best NFL team with 15-1. In the event of a draw, even a triple tie, Miami would advance by the better record in its division.
The key to the win has to be given to the Dolphins’s defense, although in honor of the truth Cleveland (3-13) showed that it is an extremely mediocre team.
Huntley scored a touchdown, gave a pass to another, wasn’t intercepted, and completed 22 of his 26 passes to get 225 yards and most importantly, the win.
Interestingly, Huntley was the Miami player whose most yards per ground led to 52 of the team’s 52 of 74; beating DeVon Achane, who finished with 25.
By air the wide receiver Tyreek Hill, although he didn’t yet have a great performance, getting 105 yards, and the one that if he scored again was TE Jonnu Smith, who had 26 yards.
In one of the first mediocre halves to be remembered, Miami finished ahead with a poor score of 6-3, after committing seven penalties that harmed the team especially the offensive, where QB Huntley looked lost, although he was far more efficient than the rival QB.
Kicker Jason Sanders put the first three points of the game (5:46) with a great 54-legged golf field to put Miami 3-0 ahead, a score with which he finished the first quarter.
At the start of the second (13.26) the Browns tied the game 3-0 with a 25-teard field goal from their kicker Dustin Hopkins.
But in the end, with a second, Sanders, with his second FG in the afternoon, tied 3-3 the partial and put the Dolphins 6-3 ahead.
At the start of the third (11:14) QB Huntley fooled everyone and scored the first touchdown of the game that, with Sanders’s extra point wided the score 13-3. First deceived by the ovoid’s non-delivery, then he sucked with a pass, and finally in the middle of the run changed course and threw himself head-to-head to complete the TD with a 13-yard touchdown pass.
There was no more and the fourth ended 7-0 with Miami in front 13-3 and a sea of doubt leaving Cleveland near the scoring area. At the start of the last quarter, however, Miami’s defense slowed down Cleveland’s offense, which lost the fourth down to just three yards and the chance to score.
Later, after several skirmishes, the Dolphins scored their second TD with 3:38 on the clock, when Huntley gave a 7-legged pass to Johnny Smith, who caught the ovoid in the same corner and stretching his arms, set the final scoring, which with Sanders’s point definitely stretched the 20-3 difference.
