Through the first quarter and into the second quarter of the Miami Dolphins’ Saturday night game against the Buffalo Bills, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa continued the struggles with timing and accuracy that had marked his last two games against the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers. So, head coach and offensive shot-caller Mike McDaniel turned to his run game, and specifically running back Raheem Mostert, to balance things out.
As NFL Films’ John Facenda was fond of saying, “It was a wise decision.”
In the first quarter alone, Mostert ran eight times for 101 yards, including this 67-yard scamper with 1:05 left in the first quarter.
.@RMos_8Ball powers through for 68 yards!!
📺 @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/6hqzY2KP1E
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) December 18, 2022
It was a rare occurrence.
.@RMos_8Ball is the 2nd player to rush for 100 yards in the 1Q of a game this yr. The other was QB Jalen Hurts on Nov. 27, 2022 vs. Green Bay.
He's only the 2nd NFL RB in the past 3 years to top 100 rushing yds in the 1Q of a game. The other is Jonathan Taylor on Jan. 3, 2021.
— Brett Brecheisen (@bbrech) December 18, 2022
Because of Tagovailoa’s struggles, though, the Dolphins were unable to capitalize on these plays with touchdowns, and that will not generally do against the Bills’ explosive offense.
