Dolphins shut down injury-plagued Giants

Tua Tagovailoa passed for 244 yards and two touchdowns, leading the host Miami Dolphins to their fifth straight win, a 20-9 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon.

Rookie Jaelan Phillips had two of the three sacks by the Dolphins (6-7), who held an opponent without a touchdown for the second time in five weeks. The other such showing was a 17-9 win over the Houston Texans on Nov. 7. Miami has also held five straight opponents under 20 points.

Tagovailoa completed 30-of-41 passes with no interceptions. Dolphins rookie receiver Jaylen Waddle had nine catches for 90 yards before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter due to leg cramps.

Another Dolphins receiver, DeVante Parker, returned for the first time since Halloween, catching five passes on five targets for 62 yards. He had missed four straight games and seven of eight.

The Giants (4-8) struggled on offense without three injured standouts: quarterback Daniel Jones (neck) and wide receivers Kadarius Toney (oblique) and Sterling Shepard (quad).

Giants backup QB Mike Glennon completed 23-of-44 passes for 187 yards and one interception.

Giants running back Saquon Barkley rushed 11 times for 55 yards.

New York, though, led early, 3-0, on Graham Gano’s 39-yard field goal in the second quarter.

But Miami rallied to take a 10-3 into halftime as Jason Sanders booted a 48-yard field goal before Tagovailoa threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Mack Hollins, who made a juggling catch in the back-left corner of the end zone with just 26 seconds left before the break.

Tagovailoa went 11-of-12 on that drive and 21-of-25 for 137 yards for the first half.

On New York’s first possession of the second half, the Giants put together their best drive of the game, a 10-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Gano’s 34-yard field goal.

Miami responded in the fourth quarter with the most important drive of the game, a seven-play, 61-yard march that ended with Tagovailoa’s two-yard bullet TD pass to Isaiah Ford. That gave the Dolphins a 17-6 lead with 11:06 left in the fourth quarter.

After Miami’s Sanders missed a 52-yarder wide right, Gano booted a 51-yard field goal to cut New York’s deficit to 17-9 with 5:04 left.

But Miami clinched the win on Sanders’ 48-yarder with 1:11 left, giving the Dolphins a 20-9 lead.

–Field Level Media

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