A look at the highlights and lowlights for the Miami Dolphins in the first half of their Week 15 game against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium.
DOLPHINS HIGHLIGHTS
-- Pressure by Xavien Howard forced an early throw by wide receiver Keelan Cole, who was attempting to throw into the end zone to quarterback Zach Wilson and defensive tackle Zach Sieler broke up the underthrown pass (it hit his back) to force an incompletion and force the Jets to settle for a field goal.
-- Sieler came up with another good play when he tripped up running back Austin Walter in open field and limited him to a 1-yard gain.
-- Michael Palardy's first two punts went for over 50 yards and the first resulted in a fair catch.
-- The Dolphins finally had a positive play on offense when Duke Johnson broke through the middle of the line for a 10-yard run on third-and-1.
-- The first quarter ended with the Dolphins catching a break when a Tua pass that was tipped by a Jets defender went right to Albert Wilson for a 9-yard gain and a first down.
-- The second quarter opened with a 37-yard completion from Tua to DeVante Parker that featured both a great throw by Tua and a great catch by Parker after Jets defenders converged him.
-- Duke Johnson got the Dolphins on the scoreboard with a 1-yard touchdown run when he persevered after first being stopped short.
-- Johnson began a Dolphins drive with a 12-yard run and the drive continued with runs of 4 and 5 yards, along with scrambles of 8 and 5 yards by Tua.
-- The Dolphins easily converted a fourth-and-1 when Johnson gained 6 yards on a pitch with some great blocking up front, namely by Durham Smythe and the right side of the line.
-- Tua threw a strike to Mike Gesicki on a slant for a 13-yard gain.
-- Christian Wilkins brought down Michael Carter for a 5-yard loss on the first play of the Jets' two-minute drive.
-- Jerome Baker beat Carter on a blitz and dropped Wilson for a 9-yard sack on the play after the Jets converted a third-and-15 with a brilliant move that saw wide receiver Jameson Crowder throw a backyard pass to Braxton Berrios after catching a short pass.
DOLPHINS LOWLIGHTS
-- The opening drive of the game was ugly for the Dolphins and ended with a mistake on a handoff or fake handoff by Tua to running back Duke Johnson on third-and-3, forcing Tua to fall on the ball for a 1-yard loss.
-- The defense gave up plays of 16, 13, 11 and 19 yards on the Jets' first drive, including a 19-yard completion from Wilson to Trevon Wesco off a broken play.
-- The Dolphins' second drive was even worse because the Jets took away a quick out pass, and then safety Ashtyn Davis picked off Tagovailoa when he tried to throw into traffic, setting up a Jets field goal.
-- The Dolphins had a chance at a big play on their third possession when Albert Wilson got behind the secondary, but the pass from Tua was late and underthrown, allowing the Jets defense to break it up.
-- The defense committed two costly penalties on the Jets' touchdown drive of the second quarter, a dubious roughing the passer on Andrew Van Ginkel and one for too many men on the field when the Jets hurried up to run a QB sneak on third-and-1.
-- The touchdown on that drive was set up by a 23-yard gain by tight end Ryan Griffin off a gadget play when Zach Wilson did a good job of buying time after his first read down the field was taken away by pressure.
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