5 THINGS WE LEARNED

Dolphins’ record vs. 2022 playoff

teams on the road: The Dolphins, under coach Mike McDaniel, entered Sunday’s game with a 2-8 road record against teams that made the playoffs during the 2022 season. They’re now 2-9 against such opponents, which doesn’t bode well for Miami’s Super Bowl hopes because they’ll now have to win a road playoff game.

Last season the Dolphins beat Baltimore and lost to Buffalo (twice), Cincinnati, San Francisco, and the Los Angeles Chargers. This season they defeated the Chargers and lost to Buffalo, Philadelphia, Kansas City (in Germany) and Baltimore.

Achane springs to life: Rookie running back De’Von Achane, who rushed for 107 yards and had 137 yards from scrimmage, supplied early offensive fireworks with eight touches for 91 yards in the first quarter. He compiled those first-half numbers on seven carries for 68 yards, including a 45-yard run, and one reception for 23 yards.

Achane burst onto the scene with a 203-yard rushing game against Denver, 101 yards at Buffalo, and then 151 against the New York Giants, and by averaging 12.1 yards per carry through his first four games.

But then he had to sit out for four games on injured reserve with a knee injury, played one game, and then had to sit out one game with a toe injury.

Dolphins lose another challenge:

Coach Mike McDaniel threw a red challenge flag on a 32-yard reception to wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. that got the Ravens to the 2-yard line.

McDaniel entered the game 2 of 11 on challenges, including 1 of 5 this year.

McDaniel fell to 2 of 12 on challenges overall, 1 of 6 in each season.

Tua Tagovailoa and Dolphins’ difficulty defeating playoff teams

persists: The win over the Dallas Cowboys was a quality victory, but Sunday was the 19th game Tua Tagovailoa has started against a team with at least a .588 win percentage (what a 10-7 full season is), and Miami fell to to 6-13 (.316) in such games. Tagovailoa’s stats in the 19 games: 363-607, 3,972 yards, 24 TD, 16 INT, 81.4 passer rating, 10 fumbles, 302 net points (15.9 net points per game).

Tyreek Hill passed four stars to break an NFL record in Baltimore: With his 76 receiving yards against the Ravens, Tyreek Hill became the first player in NFL history with multiple seasons of at least 1,699 yards receiving. Hill’s now second-best seasonal receiving-yardage output of 1,710, beat out ex-Steeler Antonio Brown and his 1,698 yards (in 2014), which was second best to his 1,834 in 2015. Other receivers’ second-best total that Hill passed on Sunday: Marvin Harrison (1,663 in 1999), Julio Jones (1,677 in 2018) and Calvin Johnson (1,681 in 2011).