Key to Fins’ victory: Pressure on QB leads to turnovers, sacks

The Dolphins’ plan on defense Sunday, according to Eric Rowe, was simple.

“Put the pressure on Tyrod,” the safety said. And that they did. Whether it was bull rushes from the defensive line or blitzes from the secondary, the Dolphins kept Houston Texans quarterback Tyrod Taylor busy and flustered in the backfield.

Miami made the most of the opposition’s mistakes.

Five sacks. Four forced turnovers. Four separate red-zone stops.

Put that together with a few key plays by the offense, and the Dolphins snapped their seven-game losing streak with a 17-9 win over the Texans on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

“That’s our mindset every week,” defensive back Eric Rowe said. “Interceptions, sacks, fumbles, turnover on downs. However we can get the ball back to the offense because ultimately that’s how you win the game.”

Now, let’s get the obvious caveat out of the way: The Dolphins were playing a Texans team ranked at or near the bottom of the league in just about every offensive statistical category. It was a game between one-win teams at the halfway mark of the season.

With that said, give the Dolphins defense (itself one of the worst statistically so far this season) credit for holding its own, especially after the team has faltered and blown a pair of two-score leads already this season.

The four turnovers forced were a season high and just the third time under coach Brian Flores they have forced at least four turnovers in a game.

The five sacks were also a season high. The Dolphins didn’t have more than three this season heading into Sunday.

Houston converted just 6 of 17 third-down attempts and settled for field goals on three of its four red-zone trips — including two on drives that started in Dolphins territory.

It helped mitigate issues from the Dolphins’ offense — namely five turnovers of their own, the continued inability to run the ball and Jacoby Brissett making a spot start with Tua Tagovailoa relegated to backup duties while dealing with a fractured finger on his throwing hand.

“Thankfully, we got [turnovers] off them,” Flores said, “to even it out to some degree.”

Some individual notables:

Emmanuel Ogbah had two-and-a-half sacks, matching his total through the first eight games of the season. He had come close to big plays earlier this year, but was able to finish on Sunday. “It’s finally starting to come around,” he said.

Jevon Holland recorded his first career interception, catching an overthrown pass in the end zone from Taylor, who was hit by Jaelan Phillips as he threw. Holland celebrated with Nik Needham before the rest of the defense mobbed him in the end zone. He capped his celebration by jumping into the stands.

“I told Brandon Jones, when I get that first pick, I’m going to try that electric slide,” Holland said. “I was trying to, but everybody was right there.

Then I just seen the fans, and somebody was, like, ‘come on,’ so I just — forget it, I’m going to just jump. I thought they were going to grab me, but unfortunately [they didn’t]. I think somebody spilled beer on me, honestly. I’m not going to lie. It was fun.”

Jerome Baker’s interception late in the second quarter — one in which he stepped out of bounds, re-established himself in the field of play and caught a pass that Taylor was trying to throw away — gave the Dolphins a short field that turned into a 5-yard touchdown pass from Brissett to Mack Hollins to give Miami a 17-6 lead heading into halftime.

And Rowe sealed the win when he forced Jordan Akins to fumble with 2:28 left to play. Brandon Jones recovered the loose ball.