Monday night’s matchup between the Dolphins and Rams wasn’t particularly pretty from either side. But Miami was able to keep its dwindling playoff hopes alive with a 23-15 victory over the Rams.
The Dolphins scored two touchdowns, each coming on their first drive of the half. Aside from that, Miami had trouble getting into scoring position, with Jason Sanders hitting field goals of 50 and 37 yards, and the Dolphins gained only 238 yards.
The Rams stru offensively for much of the night, with high snaps, penalties, and poor pass protection derailing their possessions. They started 1-of-10 on third down and 0-of-2 in the red zone.
The two teams combined for four turnovers, three of which came in the second quarter. Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw an interception and lost a fumble on a strip-sack, while Matthew Stafford also had an interception and Rams running back Kyren Williams lost a fumble.
Miami went up 17-6 midway through the third quarter when Tyreek Hill caught his first touchdown since Week 1 on a 1-yard pass from Tagovailoa. Tight end Jonnu Smith had set up the score by bouncing off defenders for a 33-yard reception down to the 1-yard line.
After Joshua Karty narrowed the lead to 17-9 with a 53-yard field goal, the Dolphins answered with a 37-yard field goal by Jason Sanders to make it 20-9.
The Rams got down inside the 10, but Stafford’s pass was incomplete to Demarcus Robinson on third-and-goal from the 4-yard line. Karty’s 22-yard field goal put Los Angeles down by eight points with 6:31 to go.
But it wouldn’t be enough, as Los Angeles’ defense couldn’t get off the field. Tagovailoa found former Ram Odell Beckham Jr. for an 11-yard pass on third-and-6 in Miami territory. From there, the Dolphins were able to drive down to Los Angeles’ 31 and put the game out of reach with a Sanders 50-yard field goal.
While L.A. narrowed Miami’s lead to eight with 39 seconds left, the Rams could not recover the onside kick.
Tagovailoa finished 20-of-28 passing for 207 yards with a touchdown, an interception, and a lost fumble. Jaylen Waddle led with 57 yards on three catches. Hill caught three passes for 16 yards and rushed two times for 11 yards.
Receiver Malik Washington scored his first career touchdown on an 18-yard carry to cap Miami’s opening drive in the first quarter.
On the other side, Stafford finished 32-of-46 for 293 yards with an interception.
Williams rushed for 62 yards on 15 carries. Nacua caught nine passes for 98 yards, while Cooper Kupp added seven receptions for 80 yards.
Dolphins cornerback Kendall Fuller had to exit the game in concussion protocol, and left guard Robert Jones also exited with a knee injury.
With the win, Miami is now 3-6 and will host the 2-7 Raiders next weekend. The 4-5 Rams will head East to play the 3-7 Patriots.
