DETROIT — The Dolphins’ revamped offense was looking for a breakthrough and found it in Detroit on a day when the team needed it most.
Trailing 27-17 at halftime, the Dolphins shut out the Lions, 14-0, in the second half to defeat Detroit, 31-27, at Ford Field on Sunday.
Behind quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s three touchdown passes, including a go-ahead score to tight Mike Gesicki with 12 seconds left in the third quarter, and a defense that limited the Lions (1-6) to 67 second-half yards, the Dolphins improved to 5-3 for just the third time in the last decade.
“We’re starting to learn as a team that momentum swings happen and to have faith in each other,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said, “to play comfortable football when we can. I was happy about that.”
It was clear early on that the Dolphins would need to lean on their offense more against a struggling Lions team that scored a combined six points in their previous two games.
Detroit scored on all five of its first-half possessions, including touchdowns on their first three drives. The Dolphins almost matched Detroit drive-for-drive in the first half, though. Miami scored on three of its four first-half possessions and ended all but one of their first six possessions with points; a lost fumble by rookie receiver Braylon Sanders on the opening drive was the sole possession that ended without a score on the Dolphins’ first six drives.
“I think we felt really comfortable after moving the ball, first series, second series,” Tagoavailoa said, “(we) started feeling really comfortable going with the game plan.”
The Dolphins’ 10-point deficit at halftime was their first trailing by double digits since their Week 2 win over the Baltimore Ravens when they made an improbable 21-point comeback in the fourth quarter. Sunday didn’t require such drastic heroics and that may have been a testament to the growth of the Dolphins — and the state of a 32nd-ranked Lions defense — through the first half of the 2022 season. The Dolphins’ 476 yards on offense and 31 points were both their most since Week 2.
“I don’t think the goal of any game is really perfection. It’s more growth,” McDaniel said. “And I think this game was, we’re able to come out with a victory because of certain things we’ve gone through in the past weeks.”
On offense, McDaniel praised the ease with which the offense responded to each score by the Lions. In Week 2, a pair of first-half interceptions by Tagovailoa sunk the Dolphins into an even deeper first-half hole. On Sunday, he was poised as he connected early and often with wide receivers Tyreek Hill (12 catches, 188 yards) and Jaylen Waddle (eight catches, 108 yards).
“We didn’t want to turn it into a track meet. And it was a track meet,” said Lions coach Dan Campbell.
Tagovailoa’s first touchdown, a 5-yard pass to a streaking Waddle over the middle of the field, cut the deficit to 7, 14-7, in the first quarter. His second, a 29-yard pass to Waddle, was again in response to a Lions touchdown and made it a one-possession game.
“We just saw what we liked,” Waddle said with a smile when asked about the Lions’ coverage.
The defense, playing without another starter after safety Brandon Jones’ season-ending ACL injury the week prior, struggled in the first half as quarterback Jared Goff (27 of 37, 321 yards, one touchdown) led scoring drives on each possession and Detroit totaled 326 yards.
In the second half, Detroit had just three drives. The first ended in a punt after fullback Alec Ingold’s 1-yard run on the Dolphins’ opening possession brought them within three points, 27-24. The Lions’ second drive was put to a halt by the defense’s lone sack of the game from defensive lineman Zach Sieler. But the change of possession was the opening a streaking Dolphins offense needed against a reeling Lions defense. Nine plays later, Tagovailoa found Gesicki in the back of the end zone for the Dolphins’ first lead and the decisive score.
One week after the defense was called upon to make a late stop against the Steelers, they were up to the task again. Facing fourth-and-2 from the Dolphins’ 35, Goff scanned the field before lofting a pass to the end zone in the direction of wide receiver Josh Reynolds. Again, it was a young defensive back stepping up — this time rookie Kader Kohou — whose tight coverage prevented Reynolds from adjusting in time to bring in the catch.
“There were subtle adjustments and there are also guys making plays,” McDaniel said of the defense, which kept the opposing team scoreless in the second half for the second consecutive game.
One of the few Dolphins drives that didn’t result in points was one they could be content with. Tagovailoa, as he had done countless times throughout the afternoon, found Hill twice on the game-sealing drive, including a scrambling, eight-yard pass to on third-and-8 with 1:40 remaining.
“That’s what this league wants. It’s an offensive game, dawg,” Hill said. “That’s why people want to view the game. Because of scoring, long drives, scoring points, fast players, touchdown, celebrations and all that.”
The Dolphins had all that in Detroit, a reminder of why they over-overhauled their offense months ago.
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