Dolphins Handle Patriots: The Five Biggest Plays

Breaking down the five plays that most decided the outcome in the Miami Dolphins' 20-7 victory against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium

Sam Navarro - USA Today Sports

The Miami Dolphins open their season in style with a 20-7 victory against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

We rank the five biggest, most important, plays of the game:

1. Melvin Ingram's touchdown

You could make an argument here that Jaylen Waddle's touchdown was the biggest play of the game, but this was the one that gave the Dolphins all the points they would need on this day. It also was more emblematic of this win. This was a great blitz design where Brandon Jones was lined up on the second level and Melvin Ingram lined up wide on the line. With left tackle Trent Brown picking up Ingram off the snap, that allowed Jones to come in free and he knocked the ball loose when he nailed Mac Jones from behind. 

2. Jaylen Waddle's touchdown

This started with the decision to go for it on fourth-and-7 from the New England 42-yard line with a 10-0 lead with 24 seconds left and, while we applaud the aggressiveness, it wasn't necessarily an overly bold move. And the reason is that New England was out of timeouts, so even had the Dolphins been stopped it's questionable the Patriots would have been able to get points anyway. But the Dolphins made the decision look great with perfect execution, with Tagovailoa throwing a strike over the middle and Waddle splitting three Patriots defenders with his speed.

3. Jevon Holland's interception

The Dolphins defense stymied the Patriots most of the day, but New England did start the game with four first downs on the first drive and was methodically moving down the field with running plays and short passes. The Pats then made the odd decision to try to test Xavien Howard by going deep to DeVante Parker, but the Dolphins made them pay with the Holland interception after Howard tipped the ball. But replays showed Howard grabbing Parker's jersey and it would have been hard to complain about a DPI call on the play. That would have given New England a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, and who knows how the game would have played out had New England had a lead.

4. The fourth-down stop

With the Dolphins offense sputtering in the second half, New England had a couple of promising drives in the fourth quarter that could have allowed the Patriots to try to mount a comeback. The first key moment came on a fourth-and-3 at midfield after Zach Sieler (who else?) stuffed Ty Montgomery on a running play on third down. The Dolphins went against tendency and rushed only three players on the fourth-down play, Jones couldn't find anybody open and then tried to force a pass down the middle to Hunter Henry, who was tightly covered by Kader Kohou, and the result was an incompletion. And there was a flag for holding on the play, with Trent Brown taking down Emmanuel Ogbah after Ogbah just keep going after a few seconds.

5. Jaelan Phillips' fumble recovery

This more appropriately could be called the Kader Kohou forced fumble, and it was the play that basically sealed the outcome with 4:55 left. It came on a second-and-10 from the Miami 43 after a 41-yard completion to Kendrick Bourne when Kohou threw a shoulder into Nelson Agholor after a short completion. The Dolphins ran out the clock with four first downs after that play, but it's not like anybody would have expected them to score two touchdowns anyway.