After beginning the season 1-4, many people didn’t give the Miami Dolphins much of a chance to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Some of the Dolphins players were criticized by coaches this week because of their poor play in their first five games. As the famous phrase goes, that’s why they play the game.
Miami came into their game against the Steelers seven-point underdogs, but they came up victorious 30-15.
After being chastised in his first five games of the season, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill was 24 for 32 as he threw for 252 yards and had zero interceptions.
Miami’s biggest star of the game was running back Jay Ajayi. The second-year player from Boise State rushed for 204 yards and two touchdowns. Ajayi became the first Dolphins running back to rush for over 100 yards in a game this season and the first since last December against the Baltimore Ravens.
Ajayi also became the first Dolphin to rush for over 200 yards in a game since December 18, 2011, when Reggie Bush accomplished the feat against the Buffalo Bills
Jarvis Landry also had a big game against the Steelers as the receiver caught seven passes for 91 yards. His longest reception was a 39-yard pass in the second quarter.
After Miami scored the first points of the game in the first quarter by an Andrew Franks field goal, the Steelers receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey rushed for 60 yards for a touchdown. Pittsburgh went for the two-point conversion and the Steelers made it as the score was 8-3 at the time.
In the second quarter after Miami kicked a field goal to make it 8-6, Dolphins safety Reshad Jones intercepted Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at the Pittsburgh 30-yard-line. Miami scored another field goal to make it 9-8.
On the interception, Roethlisberger hurt his knee and had to come out of the game. Backup quarterback Landry Jones replaced Roethlisberger for a drive and he only threw one pass and that was an incompletion.
Right before halftime, Miami ran a nine play, 71-yard drive that resulted in a Damien Williams one-yard touchdown run. That was Williams first touchdown run of his career. That touchdown made it 16-8 Dolphins at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Dolphins continued to rush the ball with Ajayi as he scored his first touchdown of the day on a one-yard run to extend the Dolphins lead to 23-8. Later, he would rush for a 62-yard touchdown to make it 30-8.
Roethlisberger returned to the game in the third quarter, but the Steeler offense was unable to get anything going. On the day, Roethlisberger struggled as he was 19 for 34 for 189 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Pittsburgh added a late touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to receiver Cobi Hamilton to make it 30-30, but it was too little, too late.
Antonio Brown was held to four catches for 39 yards the entire game. Running back LeVeon Bell rushed for 53 yards on 10 carries.
After the game, Dolphins head coach Adam Gase was able to enjoy the victory a little more than he did his first coaching win in the NFL against the Cleveland Browns last month.
“That was good team football right there,” Gase said. “That’s what we’re looking to do. I’m sure there’s going to be some things we’ll want to clear up, but that’s what we need to be consistent with.”
Next week, the Dolphins (2-4) will host the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium. Pittsburgh (4-2) will return home as they will face the New England Patriots at Heinz Field.
