Quite possibly the best match-up of the regular season happened today. The Miami Dolphins taking on the San Francisco 49ers.
The Dolphins wasted no time, as Tua Tagovailoa found former 49er wide receiver Trent Sherfield for a 75 yard touchdown. In the blink of an eye, San Francisco was trailing 7-0 after a Jason Sanders extra point.
Offensively, the 49ers seemed poised for a frustrating three and out, with Brandon Aiyuk dropping an easy throw from Jimmy Garoppolo.
Fortunately on the next play the ball went right back to Aiyuk for a 23 yard completion on third down. Christian McCaffrey picked up 33 yards and the offense was looking good until an incomplete pass to tight end George Kittle. With the play clock winding down and the 49ers late coming out of the huddle, Garropolo had to get the ball snapped quickly. With the offense discombobulated head coach Kyle Shanahan elected to not use a timeout.
In a rush to get the play off, the offensive line failed to pick up the blitzer, forcing Garoppolo to try to elude the pressure. He ended up getting sacked and leaving the game. He was taken off on a cart with seemingly an ankle injury though ater reports clarified that it was a foot injury.
This meant that Mr. Irrelevant, suddenly became relevant for Shanahan and the 49ers offense.
In other words Quarterback Brock Purdy who was taken as the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft was now in the game replacing the injured Garoppolo. So how did he do? He outplayed Tagovaiola who many placed in MVP discussions.
For the most part the 49ers defense made Tagovailoa work. He made a number of poor throws with some low and some too high for his intended targets.
Purdy though on his first series led San Francisco on a 9-play 54-yard touchdown drive. Kyle Juszczyk helped put his quarterback in the NFL record books, as the signal called became the players taken last to throw a touchdown pass.
Miami did have a solid drive to tie the game up at 10. Nick Bosa recorded his first sack of the day though negating an opportunity for a touchdown.
After both teams traded 3-and-outs, Purdy was intercepted on a third down throw. He did have McCaffrey wide open short, yet elected to go for the deeper target. Which ultimately was more like a punt than a turnover on downs which would have hurt the 49ers more. The Dolphins got the football at the 19-yard line.
The 49ers defense forced a punt. Miami elected to try to throw Purdy off by bringing pressure. He looked poised under said pressure and led an impressive touchdown drive, including making a tremendous throw to Kittle as he was getting hit and finding Jauan Jennings who made a beautiful move to get open. He made another incredible throw to McCaffrey in the end zone that threaded the needle and was placed perfectly, unfortunately it got dropped.
McCaffrey did not drop the next throw to him and at halftime the 49ers took a 17-10 lead.
San Francisco opened the second half with the football. The drive stalled after a strong run by Jordan Mason. Penalties became the story as 49ers safety Tarvarius Moore got called for unsportsmanlike conduct and Bosa got called for roughing the passer on a low hit on Tagovailoa. Miami then went backwards with a false start and a holding call.
Jimmie Ward then intercepted Tagovaiola. A long drive by the 49ers offense went for over seven minutes, the end result was a field goal for Robbie Gould.
On the ensuing possesion for the Dolphins, Tagovailoa threw behind Tyreek Hill. The result an interception by Deommodore Lenoir, giving the 49ers excellent field position. The offense couldn’t get anything going and went three-and-out though. Gould made another field goal to increase the lead to 23-10.
Miami did not score in the third quarter making it nine straight quarters in the second half of games that the 49ers defense did not allow a single point. That quickly ended to start the fourth quarter though.
A miscommunication on defense allowed Hill to become wide open for an easy 45 yard touchdown. The Dolphins now only trailed by six. On the ensuing offensive series for the 49ers, Purdy and Jennings were not on the same page. The result punting the football back to the Dolphins with plenty of time for their explosive offense to score.
Miami’s head coach Mike McDaniel on this drive made several gutsy decisions, the first after Shanahan won a challenge on a third and short completion that was overturned to incomplete.
McDaniel went for it, Hill was found for an easy conversion, though he nearly dropped the football. Shanahan once again needed to challenge a completion by the Dolphins this one though was on fourth down and if the call remained, it was a first down reception by tight end Mike Gesicki. Once again, the call was overturned and the 49ers got the football back still up six.
On this drive, Kittle made a tremendous play to pick up a first down to save the 49ers offense another three-and-out and a punt. Deebo Samuel then picked up a first down on a nice run while eluding tacklers. This allowed for more time to run off the clock. Then McCaffrey broke a 30-yard run, he had so much room on the play that tight end Charlie Woerner didn’t have a Dolphin defender near him to block.
After an easily diagnosed run play by the Dolphins defense, Purdy got sacked. Kittle then got called for a hold, and what seemed like a touchdown scoring drive once again resulted in a field goal made by Gould.
San Francisco now led by nine. Bosa on the Dolphins next offensive possession got to Tagovailoa for his third sack of the day, the result of it was a fumble recovered by linebacker Dre Greenlaw who ran it in for a touchdown.
With the game essentially over and trailing by 16, the Dolphins put quarterback Skylar Thompson in the game. He did not read the coverage well, threw in the direction of three 49ers with Fred Warner coming up with an easy interception and return.
The 49ers offense came out one last time in victory formation.