Dolphins-Steelers Week 15: The Five Biggest Plays

The Miami Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention when their winning streak was stopped at four games in a 28-15 loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

We rank the five biggest, most important plays of the game (and there were a lot from which to choose):

1) THE TUA INTERCEPTION

This is the one play that stands out because it pretty much set the tone for a tough evening for the offense — before the two meaningless touchdowns in the fourth quarter. There were so many things wrong with this play it's hard to know where to begin, but we'll go with the fact it came on first-and-10 after the Dolphins had gained 6, 15 and 10 yards on their previous three plays. There was simply no reason to force anything there, let alone a throw downfield from a quarterback with a history of struggling with those exact kind of throws in those conditions.

2) THE 38-YARD RUN

This was the play that set the tone for the second-half barrage that put the game out of reach. The Steelers had gotten a first down, but still were only at their 40-yard line before Kenneth Gainwell bounced off the diving tackle attempt of safety Ashtyn Davis and raced down the sideline for the 38-yard gain that set up the second Pittsburgh touchdown for a 14-3 lead.

3) THE RAMSEY SACK

This play when former Dolphins DB Jalen Ramsey blitzed after lining up far off the line of scrimmage ended the Dolphins' first drive of the second half after Pittsburgh had taken that 14-3 lead. This was a failure of the offensive line to pick up Ramsey, combined with Tua Tagovailoa's lack of escapibility in the pocket. Regardless, it told the story of where the Dolphins were on offense for most of the second and third quarters when the game was decided.

4) THE TUA SCRAMBLE

This actually should be a combination of two plays because the Tua scramble was disappointing, but then so was the decision by Mike McDaniel to punt on fourth-and-1 (or shorter) from the Miami 39-yard line. It did follow a pattern of McDaniel not being quite as aggressive in his decisions lately as he was in previous years. As for the scamble itself, Tua sliding instead of diving forward low to the ground and avoiding contact cost him the first down. We get the need to be careful in the open field, but at the same time it does prove costly at times for the Dolphins and this was one clear example.

5) THE SECOND HEYWARD FOURTH-DOWN RUN

The Dolphins defense overall was very good in the first half, but the one thing it couldn't do was stop the Steelers on fourth down. Pittsburgh was 3-for-3 in those situations and two of them were a version of the "tush push" with tight end/fullback Connor Heyward. The second one converted a fourth-and-1 from the Miami 15 on the drive that gave the Steelers the lead for good. It's a tough play for the defense to stop, but a big play here would have been huge for the Miami defense.