Dolphins-49ers 2024 Week 16 Instant Takeaways

Sanders, Achane, defense come through in must-win game

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) scores a touchdown past San Francisco 49ers cornerback Charvarius Ward (7) during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

What stood out in the Miami Dolphins Week 16 game against the San Francisco 49ers.

We'll start with the inactive list, which was highlighted by wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. But the Dolphins did have tackles Terron Armstead and Kendall Lamm back after they missed the Houston game with injuries, and Tyreek Hill after he was listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week.

The Dolphins went with four active running backs for the first time all season.

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GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

What stands out immediately when we'll look back at this game was the running game finally putting up some good numbers after a rough month.

De'Von Achane had 191 total yards, though his total was helped by his 50-yard touchdown when the outcome pretty much was sealed.

The Dolphins were able to finish this game, taking advantage of a 49ers team that's just found ways to lose all season.

Tyreek Hill scored the Dolphins' only touchdown, though he had a couple of bad drops, including one in the end zone. It wasn't two, however, as we'll discuss later.

Thank goodness for Jason Sanders, who was money again, making all five of his field goal attempts, including one from 54 yards.

Isaiah Wynn made his first appearance on offense all season and rotated series with Liam Eichenberg at right guard.

The bottom line is this was a win the Dolphins had to have, and they got it with a clutch defensive stand followed by the offense slamming the door.

FIRST QUARTER

-- Calais Campbell and Jalen Ramsaey were credited with the tackle for no gain on third-and-1 to stop the 49ers' first drive, but it was Emmanuel Ogbah who disrupted the play. It kicked off what might have been his most impactful game in months.

-- Sloppy first drive by the Dolphins, with center Aaron Brewer cleanly beat on a 2-yard loss by Raheem Mostert followed by Hill's first drop of the game on third-and-9.

-- The 49ers' sloppiness started showing up on the next series with a couple of penalties, but another big play came when Jordyn Brooks sacked Brock Purdy with Chop Robinson also around the quarterback.

-- The next series features a lot of screens, but a nice 20-yard completion to De'Von Achane after he lined up in the slot.

-- The Dolphins almost had a touchdown, but Tyreek Hill couldn't make the catch in the end zone on third-and-9 from the 26 after cornerback Deommodore Lenoir tipped the ball enough before it got to Hill to change the trajectory. And, no, that was not a drop — no matter how much money Hill gets paid.

-- Nice tackle by Jordan Poyer against George Kittle to force a fourth-and-1, though that was negated by the Dolphins having too many men on the field

-- Jevon Holland missed a tackle in the open field to allow Deebo Samuel to turn a short gain on third-and-10 into a 17-yard gain.

SECOND QUARTER

-- Holland's previous missed tackle was nothing compared to what happened on San Francisco's first touchdown when Samuel bounced off Poyer and Holland on his way to the end zone. Ugh.

-- The Dolphins came back with another field goal drive, highlighted by a 24-yard completion from Tua to Tyreek Hill at the numbers, something we simply haven't seen enough this season.

-- Tua had a similar completion to Malik Washington, good for 19 yards on the next drive.

-- No problem hanging on to the ball for Tyreek Hill on his 3-yard touchdown in the second quarter, though it also was a perfect throw from Tua that wasn't tipped.

-- Big play by Chop Robinson to tipe a third-and-goal pass that appeared headed for Kittle in the end zone, forcing the 49ers to instead settle for a field goal.

THIRD QUARTER

-- A holding penalty on Aaron Brewer derailed the Dolphins' first drive of the second half and we didn't love calling for a screen pass on third-and-14 from the 49ers 44.

-- It paid off in a sense, but still required Sanders to make a 54-yard field goal. We would have preferred a more aggressive approach there, to be frank. Then again, the Dolphins offense has been an awful lot of dink-and-dunk this season.

-- The Dolphins caught a massive break leading 16-10 when a completion to Samuel to the Miami 2-yard line was nullified by a second illegal formation penalty on rookie Ricky Pearsall and Jake Moody then missed a 41-yard field goal attempt.

-- Great throw over the middle by Tua to Jonnu Smith for 22 yards.

FOURTH QUARTER

-- Duke Riley had to come into the game after Brooks was injured and the 49ers picked on him a little bit, and he appeared to be the one out of position on the 2-yard touchdown pass to Eric Saubert.

-- Robert Jones helped stalled the following drive with a second holding penalty. Maybe the Dolphins will look at him as well if they're in an offensive lineman rotating mood.

-- The Dolphins defense held on the next series after a 20-yard screen pass to fullback Kyle Juszczyk after Riley got caught out of position.

-- The Dolphins got the benefit of a highly dubious roughness penalty (minor shove in the back) on their next drive to get yet another field goal by Sanders to make it 22-17.

-- The Dolphins got the defensive stand they needed when Calais Campbell got pressure up the middle and prevented Purdy from following through a pass over the middle, leading to the interception by Kader Kohou.

-- The Dolphins pretty much clinched the victory with a first down off two runs, even before De'Von Achane got loose for a 50-yard touchdown.