PHILADELPHIA — The Miami Dolphins competed with another upper-echelon team.
But they just haven’t proven yet in 2023 they can beat one.
Without several key players and seemingly not getting a call from officials on the road, they hung tight with the reigning NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles for much of what was widely dubbed a Super Bowl preview and even came back to tie from one two-touchdown deficit.
But with a chance to quiet skeptics who point to how the Dolphins’ five wins have come against losing teams, Miami lost its second opportunity to beat a winning team on the road, falling, 31-17, to the Eagles Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Miami dropped to 5-2, missing a chance to start 6-1 for the first time since 1999, but remains atop the AFC East because the Buffalo Bills also lost earlier Sunday to the New England Patriots. The Eagles are 6-1, rebounding Sunday night their first loss last week to the New York Jets.
With many viewing this game as a measuring stick for the Dolphins, they didn’t measure up to the Eagles, but they took the defeat as a lesson to learn from on a journey to be their best version of themselves by the end of the season.
“You have to feel what it’s like to play such a good team on the road,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “Your margin for error is so small. It’s an important building block on your progression for the season.”
“This is a good test early in the season,” said Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was held to 216 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception. “There’s a lot of football to be played, a lot of football. It’s a long season.”
Added Tyreek Hill, who had 11 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown: “I think we proved to a lot of people that we can play with about anybody. It’s all upon us.”
Tagovailoa’s former teammate at Alabama on the other side, Jalen Hurts, was 23 of 31 for 279 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, plus a rushing score, to win their first professional meeting.
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown, taking advantage of a Miami secondary that still doesn’t have Jalen Ramsey and was missing Xavien Howard due to a groin injury, had 10 receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown.
The Dolphins’ No. 1 run game was held to 45 yards on the ground. Miami committed 10 penalties for 70 yards while the Eagles were never called for a penalty.
Early in the fourth quarter, with Miami trailing, 24-17, Tagovailoa was intercepted on a throw to the end zone intended for running back Raheem Mostert. He and Jaylen Waddle, who left the game with a back injury but returned, were in the same area on their routes as Eagles cornerback Darius Slay came off his coverage of Waddle to come down with the ball.
Tagovailoa called it an underthrow after the game. Mostert said he should’ve made a move into the defender.
The Eagles then methodically moved the ball down the field before Hurts hit a big 42-yarder to Brown deep. It set up a 3-yard touchdown from Kenneth Gainwell to cap a 13-play, 83-yard drive that involved two fourth-and-1 conversions on their side of the field by way of Philadelphia’s unstoppable “Tush Push” play.
Miami quickly turned it over on downs to wrap up its chances.
The Dolphins tied the Eagles at 17 deep into the third quarter with their defense. Linebacker Jerome Baker intercepted a ball batted at the line of scrimmage by cornerback Kader Kohou on the blitz, and Baker returned it 22 yards for the touchdown.
“We just didn’t execute,” said Baker of what went wrong afterward. “They got back into it. The crowd got back into it. They turned the momentum.”
The defensive touchdown came after the Dolphins missed an opportunity to score with Hill dropping a pass over the middle on third down and Eagles cornerback James Bradberry getting away with a grab of Cedrick Wilson Jr.’s facemask on fourth-and-3 with McDaniel going for it instead of kicking the field goal.
“I caught the ball and the ball hit my knee, and that’s the crazy part about it,” Hill said.
Philadelphia retook a touchdown lead by the end of the third quarter. Brown broke free from the grasp of Kohou and outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel for a 14-yard catch-and-run into the end zone. Earlier in the series, safety Jevon Holland and linebacker David Long Jr. collided with each other in coverage on a play where Hurts took off for a sizable gain on a scramble.
As Philadelphia started to pull away and Miami was seemingly hopeless offensively late in the first half, Tagovailoa threw deep down the left sideline to hit Hill sprinting past an Eagles double team for a 27-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left before halftime. Hill’s celebration for the prime-time audience: Simulating a fish flopping as he was caught by right guard Robert Hunt reeling him in.
Hill’s touchdown was made possible by Wilson stepping up to convert a third-and-18 on a pass beyond the sticks from Tagovailoa with a toe-tap inbounds. It came at a time when it looked like the Dolphins offense could get nothing going against the Eagles.
Jaelan Phillips picked up a sack and flapped his wings at the Philadelphia fans to preserve the deficit at 17-10 at halftime. Phillips beat Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson, who hadn’t surrendered a sack since Week 11 in 2020.
The Eagles went up two scores, 17-3, with 3:10 remaining in the half when Hurts punched it in from a yard out on a “Tush Push” or “Brotherly Shove,” where several offensive players assist Hurts to get through in short-yardage situations. They were in position for the score after Hurts converted a fourth-and-3 pass to Brown by buying time rolling to his right.
Early in the second quarter, Philadelphia scored the night’s first touchdown to take a 10-3 lead. Hurts threw a screen to tight end Dallas Goedert, and he took it 19 yards for a touchdown behind a block from left tackle Jordan Mailata on safety DeShon Elliott. A questionable roughing-the-passer penalty against Christian Wilkins two plays earlier pushed the Eagles into the red zone, shortly after the Eagles pulled off their first “Tush Push” of the night on fourth-and-1.
The Eagles scored first Sunday with a field goal on the opening drive after possessing the ball for the night’s first 7:06 on the opening series. The Dolphins matched the 3 points later in the opening period off the field position from a Bradley Chubb strip-sack and Wilkins recovery of Hurts’ fumble. It was one of two sacks Chubb was credited with after they initially went to another player.
Tagovailoa was sacked three times, matching a season high from the only other loss, at Buffalo. Miami was already down left tackle Terron Armstead and center Connor Williams. Then it lost left guard Isaiah Wynn during the game.
“Not a factor. We trust all of our guys,” said right tackle Austin Jackson.
The Dolphins return home to wrap up their season series with the division rival New England Patriots (2-5) next Sunday before flying out to Frankfurt, Germany for another heavyweight bout like Sunday’s in Philadelphia, this time against the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (6-1).
