Defense, Hill lift Dolphins
Tyreek Hill celebrated a touchdown catch by giving the ball to his new wife in the stands, Jevon Holland returned an intercepted first-half Hail Mary attempt 99 yards for a score, and the Dolphins cruised past the Jets 34-13 in the NFL’s first game played on Black Friday.
Raheem Mostert also ran for two touchdowns for the Dolphins (8-3), who cushioned their lead atop the AFC East by sending the Jets (4-7) to their fourth straight loss.
Tua Tagovailoa was intercepted twice, including one returned for a score by Brandin Echols, but Miami was in control for most of the game. Tagovailoa finished 21 of 30 for 243 yards with the TD to Hill and the two INTs.
Tim Boyle started at quarterback for the Jets in place of the benched Zach Wilson, but the Jets’ stagnant offense failed to get much going other than Boyle’s 1-yard TD pass to Garrett Wilson with 4:37 remaining.
The Dolphins took a 10-0 lead when Tagovailoa connected with Hill, who avoided a tackle attempt by Jordan Whitehead and zipped into the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown with 8:21 left in the second quarter. Hill took off his helmet and looked into the MetLife Stadium stands, found wife Keeta Vaccaro and blew her a kiss before tossing her the football. The two were married during the Dolphins’ bye two weeks ago. Hill’s touchdown catch was his 10th of the season, making him the first Dolphins player since Mike Wallace in 2014 to have doubledigit TD receptions.
With the Jets’ offense struggling — as usual — the defense stepped up to get the Jets into the game.
On first-and-10 from the Dolphins 27, Tagovailoa threw a pass intended for Braxton Berrios, but Echols jumped the route, intercepted the toss and took it 30 yards to the end zone. D.J. Reed intercepted Tagovailoa on the Dolphins’ next possession, giving the Jets the ball at their 49 with 2 seconds left. Instead of taking a knee and going into halftime down 4, the Jets tried a Hail Mary — and it went embarrassingly wrong.
Boyle’s throw to the end zone was picked off by Holland, who took off down the field, weaved his way past some would-be Jets tacklers — including Boyle — and took it in untouched for a 99-yard interception return.
Carroll sounds fed up with Seahawks’ broken offense:
The Seahawks are broken offensively in a way that could not have been anticipated during training camp or even a couple of months ago.
Their 31-13 loss to the 49ers on Thursday night was the latest example of an offense that’s filled with talent but is awful on third downs, inefficient in the red zone and sometimes has game plans that don’t make sense.
Coach Pete Carroll sounds fed up.
“We have unique talents and we got to make sure we’re maximizing that and I feel like we’re not,” Carroll said. “I feel like we’re not seeing stuff.”
Carroll was then asked if that was a criticism of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and his game plans.
“I just want to emphasize in that direction because we’re fighting to get it right. I want to emphasize the guys as much as we can, see if we can maximize the players even more so,” he said.