Dolphins-Giants Week 5 Complete Observations

Checking out the key moments from the Miami Dolphins' 31-16 victory against the New York Giants at Hard Rock Stadium

Here's what caught our eye before and during the Miami Dolphins' Week 5 victory the New York Giants at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

-- We'll start with the inactive list, which again included outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips (for a second consecutive game), as well as newcomer Chase Claypool, who was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Bears on Friday.

-- Also inactive were CB Kelvin Joseph, RB Salvon Ahmed and DT Brandon Pili, with Skylar Thompson once again serving as the emergency third quarterback.

-- One player who was not on the inactive list was center Connor Williams, back after he missed the Week 4 game at Buffalo with a groin injury.

FIRST QUARTER

-- The Dolphins again won the coin toss and deferred, and watched the Giants move the ball on their first possession close to midfield before Christian Wilkins and Andrew Van Ginkel pressured Daniel Jones into an early throw on third-and-8, resulting in only a 2-yard completion.

-- On fourth-and-6 from the Miami 49, the Giants decided to punt (when you're playing the high-flying Dolphins, it would seem coaches would want to be more aggressive, but that's an issue for those teams, not Miami).

-- The Dolphins took possession at their 11 and put on a clinic on how they maximize their speed.

-- They went 89 yards on eight plays, mixing in shovel passes and wide receiver screen before the drive was capped by Tua's 2-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle after Tua scramble to his left and threw a nice high ball that only Waddle could catch.

-- The drive started with an end-around to De'Von Achane, who used the ton of space in front of him to gain 24 yards.

-- Tua later had a 20-yard completion to Waddle off a wide receiver before finding Cedrick Wilson Jr. for 23 yards on a wheel route where he was left uncovered.

-- The only blemish on the drive was Raheem Mostert fumbling outside the Giants 10-yard line, although the ball flew out of bounds to allow the Dolphins to retain possession.

-- The Dolphins defense gave up three first downs on the Giants' next drive, including one when Xavien Howard easily was beaten by Darius Slayton for a 15-yard gain on a third-and-8, but that was overcome by sacks from Emmanuel Ogbah and Christian Wilkins, who had his best quarter of the season.

-- Wilkins' sack on third-and-7 from the Miami 31 ended the first quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

-- Graham Gano began the quarter by pulling his 55-yard field goal attempt to the left, putting the Dolphins in great field position at their 45.

-- After a third-down conversion, Achane was on his way to a productive run when safety Xavier McKinney punched the ball out to force a fumble that Kayvon Thibodeaux recovered for New York.

-- On the first play after the turnover, Kader Kohou sniffed out a swing pass to wideout WanDale Robinson and dropped him for a 4-yard loss with one of his sure tackles.

-- On third-and-3, Wilkins again got through the line of scrimmage to force Jones to scramble, where Jerome Baker and Eli Apple combined to knock him out of bounds for a sack to force a punt.

-- The punt became nullified when the Dolphins were flagged for having 12 playes on the field, giving the Giants a free first down, but the Dolphins challenged and were successful and the penalty was nullified, although Miami did have to start its next drive at its own 6-yard line.

-- It didn't matter.

-- Tua came up with a really nice on second-and-10 when he stepped up in the pocket after Isaiah Wynn allowed some pressure and found Tyreek HIll over the middle for an 18-yard gain.

-- On the next play, Achane took a handoff, ran through a big hole created by Durham Smythe, Wynn and Kendall Lamm and used his speed to outrun the Giants defense for a 76-yard touchdown that made it 14-0.

-- The Dolphins defense gave up some first downs again on the Giants' next drive.

-- There were some mistakes by the defense in this one, with Andrew Van Ginkel flagged for offside (Wilkins also jumped) and the Dolphins being called for an illegal substitution on fourth-and-1, though the Giants appeared to have converted anyway.

-- Xavien Howard saved a touchdown after biting on a stop-and-go move by Darren Waller, pulled Waller's arm to force an incompletion after Waller got the ball.

-- The Dolphins held the Giants to a field goal, a 49-yarder by Gano, after Zach Sieler sacked Jones on third-and-9 from the 25. That gave the Dolphins four sacks in the half, as the Dolphins have been taking advantage of the Giants' battered offensive line.

-- The Dolphins were right back at it with their offense when they got the ball back, after a false-start penalty by Wynn, that is.

-- On first-and-15, Tua threw quickly outside to Tyreek Hill after he motioned and Hill then cut across the field and used his speed to race downfield, gaining 64 yards before the Giants got him down.

-- It was more speed on the next play, with Achane getting outside thanks to Smythe's block and gaining 12 yards to the 4. Achane was brought down by a shoestring tackle and we'll bet that's one where he'll say he should have scored.

-- Disaster struck on third-and-goal from the 4 with a bad mistake by Tua and some bad luck. Tua tried to force a pass to Jaylen Waddle on the left side even though he simply wasn't open, linebacker Bobby Okereke tipped the ball and it ended up in the hands of DB Jason Pinnock, who had an open field for a 102-yard interception return for a touchdown that made. the score 14-10.

-- Tua rebounded with a nice two-minute drive (with Tyreek Hill on the sideline) with four completions of 10 of more yards, including a precise throw into tight coverage to Waddle.

-- The drive lost momentum when Thibodeaux bull-rushed Kendall Lamm and sacked Tua for a 6-yard loss.

-- The Dolphins still were able to get a field goal out of the drive with Jason Sanders making a 40-yard kickfon the final play to make it 17-10 at the half.

THIRD QUARTER

-- The Dolphins got the ball first in the half and Tua forced another throw into coverage, this one to Hill down the middle of the field, but it was merely tipped into an incompletion this time.

-- On third-and-4, the Dolphins took advantage of man coverage against Hill on the outside. He easily got past the cornerback and Tua hit him in stride for a 69-yard touchdown that restored the lead to 14 points, though Hill was flagged for taunting. Tua said after the game that he wound up making that play call because he couldn't hear the play Mike McDaniel wanted in his headset.

-- It was more of the same for the Dolphins defense, which gave up two first downs but forced a punt.

-- Jerome Baker was credited for Miami's fifth sack of the game when Jones slid right in front of him at the original line of scrimmage before Raekwon Davis forced a fumble by Eric Gray on a run on the next play (though the Giants recovered).

-- The Dolphins' next drive began at their 10 and it proved to be a tough one for center Connor Williams.

-- On first down, Raheem Mostert reeled off a 39-yard run, but most of it was negated by Williams getting flagged for holding at the second level away from the ball.

-- Then on third-and-4 from the 27, Williams was pushed back by DT Dexter Lawrence far enough that Tua's left hand hit his helmet as he was throwing a short crosser to Waddle. The result was that Tua wasn't able to follow through and the ball floated past Waddle right to linebacker Bobby Okereke for an easy pick.

-- Taking over at the Miami 23, the Giants had a chance to make it a one-possession game with the touchdown, but they were held to a field goal on a drive that began with Van Ginkel (him again) dropping Earl Gray for a 1-yard loss on a first-down run.

-- Up 24-13, the Dolphins used the ground game on their next possession to pretty much put the game away.

-- The Dolphins marched 75 on eight plays, all of them runs except for one jet sweep by Achane, to take a 31-13 lead on Mostert's 2-yard touchdown, by which time the Giants appeared to have all but given up on trying to stop the Miami running game.

-- The big play of the drive was a 23-yard gain by Mostert to the Giants 19-yard line when he sprinted through a big hole on the right side.

-- Mostert's touchdown came on the final play of the third quarter. 

FOURTH QUARTER

-- The defense forced a three-and-out on the Giants' opening drive of the fourth, with pressure from Bradley Chubb and Kader Kohou forcing a hurried throw and incompletion on third-and-3.

-- The Dolphins also went three-and-out when they got the ball, with pressure forcing Tua out of the pocket on third-and-7 and a subsequent incompletion on a pass intended for Waddle.

-- Jake Bailey then completely mis-hit his first punt of the game and the result was a meager 20-yard kick that gave the Giants the ball at their 49.

-- On first down, Van Ginkel used his speed to easily get around left tackle Josh Ezeudu and sacked Daniel Jones from behind, in the process knocking him out of the game with a neck injury.

-- Safety Jevon Holland had a nice pass breakup on a shot to tight end Darren Waller deep over the middle when he jumped over him from behind (with no premature contact) to knock the pass away.

-- The Giants got into field goal range after Tyrod Taylor kept the drive alive with a 9-yard scramble on fourth-and-8, but they settled for a 51-yard field goal after Zach Sieler sacked Taylor on third-and-10.

-- The Dolphins had another three-and-out when they got the ball back when they again chose to pass on third-and-1. Tua had plenty of time and he hit Waddle in the flat, but the receiver was coming back when he made the catch and was tackled way short of the first-down marker.

-- The Giants began their final drive at their 17, but got pushed back to their 9 on first down with a holding penalty against Jalen Mayfield trying to slow down Christian Wilkins.

-- As the drive reached midfield, it was kept alive on fourth-and-2 when Xavien Howard was flagged for illegal contact. That penalty negated a fourth-down sack by Van Ginkel.

-- Raekwon Davis crashed the line and dropped running back Matt Breida for a 2-yard loss on the next play.

-- The drive ended on fourth-and-3 when Van Ginkel got Taylor from behind to keep him to a 2-yard gain.

-- Not that the outcome was in doubt, the Dolphins put themselves into victory formation when Mostert converted a third-and-6 by making a defender miss after catching a short pass from Tua and got the first down.

-- The clock wound down and the Dolphins moved to 4-1 with their 31-16 victory.

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