The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Late fumble costs Pats in loss to Fins
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tua Tagovailoa threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle in the third quarter and Xavien Howard recovered a fumble with New England driving in the fourth to help the Miami Dolphins hold on for a 17-16 win over the Patriots on Sunday.
It was Miami’s second straight win over the Patriots. Tagovailoa also led the
Dolphins to a win in the second meeting between the teams last season.
Tagovailoa finished 16 of 27 for 202 yards, a touchdown and one interception, and also had a 3-yard TD run to lead a revamped offense that kept the Patriots’ rebuilt defense guessing, mixing in no-huddle and empty backfield formations. DeVante Parker caught four passes for 81 yards.
Miami’s win spoiled the debut of New England’s Mac Jones, who became the first rookie quarterback to
derson and took full advantage of a healthy Christian McCaffrey, who piled up 187 yards from scrimmage on 30 touches after missing 13 games last season with injuries.
Darnold said seeing the Jets on the other sideline was “a little different,” but said once the game began he pretty much forgot about it.
“I mean, I’m sure later tonight or tomorrow when I’m watching the game I’ll start to feel that, but it was just good to get a win,“Darnold said.
“I thought Sam played excellent,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “We weren’t great up front tonight, but he hung in there and slid around the pocket and found guys down the field and made key thirddown throws, key firstdown throws and protected the football.“
Darnold’s replacement, Zach Wilson, suffered through many of the same issues his predecessor did during his three seasons in New York when he was sacked 98 times in 38 starts. Carolina sacked the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft six times and intercepted him once.
Defensive end Brian Burns said the strategy facing the rookie QB was to “hit him a lot, be in his face a lot, try to confuse and just basically make his first game hell.”
Wilson kept battling, though and finished 20 of 37 for 258 yards with two touchdown passes to Corey Davis in his first career start.
Six different players were in sacks for the Panthers.
“That’s the thing with our defense — you never know who is going to make the play,” said Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson, who had 10 tackles, a sack,
an interception and broke up three passes.
“That’s part of the job, right?“Wilson said. “Part of the quarterback pressure is knowing there’s going to be pressure. It’s good for me.”
Wilson’s final sack came with 2 minutes left when his head hit the turf hard after getting landed on by 320-pound defensive tackle Derrick Brown. But he stayed in the game and connected with Davis for with 1:56 left to cut Carolina’s lead to 19-14 and give his team a chance.
“My neck is a little sore. But I’ll be alright,” Wilson said.
The loss also spoiled the head coaching debut of Robert Saleh for the Jets.
Darnold, acquired from the Jets for three draft picks this past offseason, struggled in the red zone early where he turned over the ball on a botched handoff that hit his fullback’s arm.
But the momentum changed midway through the second quarter when the Jets went for it on fourth-and-inches near midfield and Panthers defensive end Yetur GrossMatos tackled Tevin Coleman behind the line of scrimmage.
On the next play, Darnold
found Anderson streaking down the middle of the field for a 57-yard score. Darnold then made it 16-0 on the next drive when he scored on a 5-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw as the Panthers outgained the Jets 272-82 in the first half.
Despite the pressure, Wilson had some bright spots including the late TD toss and a 22-yard touchdown pass to Davis late in the third quarter when he rolled out of the pocket to buy time. He also threw an 8-yard TD pass to Davis with 1:56 left that gave the Jets a chance.
“The kid has been hit before,” Saleh said. “He took some shots today, obviously. But, he got back up. He showed resolve. And he’s fearless. He really is. He’s only going to get better.”
NUMBERS GAME
The Panthers announced less than an hour before the game that linebacker Shaq Thompson changed his number from 54 to 7 and linebacker Jermaine Carter changed his number from 56 to 4. An NFL spokesman said there is no rule that clubs are required to make jersey number changes public before the start of the regular season.