The Miami Dolphins made too many mistakes in Tua Tagovailoa's return. The miscues also overshadowed another solid game from De'Von Achane, who rushed for 97 yards on ten carries. He also caught six passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.
The Dolphins lost to the Arizona Cardinals 28-27 on a walk-off field goal by Cardinals placekicker Chad Ryland. They have now lost five of their last six games.
The biggest mistake was an errant snap from center Aaron Brewer to Tagovailoa in the third quarter deep in their end of the field. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety after Tagovailoa batted it backwards from just inside the goal line.
The safety cut the Dolphins' lead to 20-12 and the Cardinals took the ensuing possession down for a touchdown to make it 20-18 after the two-point conversion failed.
It was the second bad center exchange between Brewer and Tagovailoa in the game.
Tagovailoa muffed a snap in the first quarter, though he fell on the ball to save possession for the Dolphins.
After the game, Tagovailoa said he should have caught the ball on the shotgun snap, regardless of the placement.
The Cardinals then took possession after the free kick. They drove the field and scored a touchdown when Kyler Murray found rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. in the end zone on a 22-yard pass. The two-point conversion failed, and Miami clung on to a 20-18 lead.
Miami would come back and score again to increase their lead to 27-18 on a Raheem Mostert six-yard run.
However, the offense could not seal the deal in the fourth quarter when they had the had a drive stall at the Arizona 47-yard line with 5:01 left to play. Miami gained 23 yards on eight plays. They had two first downs on the drive, but could get no further before having to punt.
McDANIEL REFUSES TO PLACE BLAME BUT SAID CENTER EXCHANGES MUST BE CLEANED UP
"I think if you ask both of them, Brew[er] would say he should have taken a little steam off of it. Tua said he should have caught it," Miami coach Mike McDaniel said after the game. "Bottom line is, backed up, we can't have those types of issues, you can't just give free points to people.
"You can't expect winning a close game, that ended up being the difference in points. It wasn't just that play. There is a multitude of things that ended up in points...Hard lessons and they have to be lessons learned if you want them to change."
Tagovailoa said he wants to move forward. He said he is looking forward for the team to improve going forward.
"It was a tough loss," Tagovailoa said. "We gotta keep chopping wood. We have to look from within and encourage one another. It's going to take everyone to get to where we want to go."
PASS DEFENSE FAILS IN THE CLUTCH
Miami's pass defense, a strength of the team coming into the game, could not contain Harrison, who had six catches for 111 yards and the score. Miami also could not stop the tight end position as Trey McBride led the team with nine receptions for 124 yards.
The Dolphins came in leading the NFL in pass defense and had allowed more than 162 passing yards to only quarterback (Geno Smith) all season.
"I thought guys were in position to make plays and they didn't," McDaniel said. "We will go back and look at the tape, me and Weave [Anthony Weaver, defensive coordinator] and see where we can get better."
Whenever the Cardinals needed to make a play, a pass to Harrison or McBride bailed them out.
The Dolphins defense failed to record a sack or a turnover. Despite applying significant pressure, the Dolphins could not get Murray on the ground all afternoon.
The loss dropped Miami to 2-5 on the season. Next week, they head to Buffalo for a game against the AFC East-leading Bills.
