Jets-Dolphins Game Recap | OT Battle Goes South to the 'Fins, 32-26

Locked in yet another close contest late Sunday against the Dolphins, the Jets were unable to flip the script as the Miami erased the Jets' two fourth-quarter leads to force overtime. Owning an 0-6 record in games decided by 6 points or fewer entering Week 14, the Jets never touched the ball in the extra session and dropped a 32-26 OT decision as Tua Tagovailoa hit TE Jonnu Smith from 10 yards out for the game-winner.

Despite QB Aaron Rodgers passing for 300-plus yards for the first time in 35 games, the Jets (3-10) lost their fourth consecutive contest and their first win at Miami since 2014 proved elusive. The 'Fins (6-7) won for the fourth time in five games and kept their playoff hopes alive. Anders Carlson's 42-yard field goal with 52 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Jets a 26-23 lead that stood for 45 seconds until Jason Sanders had an emphatic answer from 52 yards out. Then Miami won the coin toss before the start of overtime and Smith had 3 catches for 44 yards on the final possession.

"We have to find a way to finish and close these things out," said interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich. "We have to be at our best when our best is required and we're not getting that accomplished and I have to look at myself first."

Rodgers turned back the clock as the Jets had 100-yard efforts from Garrett Wilson (7-114) and Davante Adams (9-109-1TD). And with star RB Breece Hall (knee) inactive, rookie backs Isaiah Davis and Braelon Allen had a combined 28 touches for 148 yards. But Tagovailoa passed for 331 yards, Tyreek Hill had 10 catches for 115 yards and Jaylen Waddle added 9 grabs for 99 yards.

"It's very frustrating," Adams said. "Been right there and have had opportunities whether it's the offense to go down and finish it off or if it's the defense to close it out. And we just haven't finished the game."

With the Jets trailing by 15-13 at halftime in a seesaw affair, Rodgers stayed hot at the outset of the third quarter. Wilson won up the visiting sideline with a double move and Rodgers was on the money with a 42-yarder to the Miami 26. Then after Rodgers converted the Jets' second fourth down with a 15-yard short pass to Davis, he rifled a 3-yard pass to Adams as the Green & White grabbed a 20-15 advantage. Carlson pushed the lead to 8 points, 23-15, with a 40-yard field goal but the 'Fins had an answer.

Tagovailoa deadlocked things at 23, not only hitting Hill for a TD on fourth-and-4 but following it up with a successful 2-point attempt to Waddle.

There were seven combined possessions, four lead changes and 28 points in the first half. Sanders' 57-yard rocket shot at the end of the second quarter was the difference as Miami had a 15-13 lead at the break.

Rodgers (11 of 17 for 152 yards) and Tagovailoa (15 of 18 for 165 yards) were effective and efficient out of the gate. Miami had the slight yardage edge (204 to 195) as neither team had much success on third down (Jets 1 of 4 and Miami 0 of 3) and the Green & White were just 1 of 3 in the red zone.

"We had chances, a lot of chances," Rodgers said. "We just have to look at the offense. That's what we can control. We have to score touchdowns in the red zone. … We had our chances to get to 30 today – didn't do it and that's why we lost."

Allen and Davis made immediate impacts on the Jets' first two drives. Allen, a fourth-round pick from Wisconsin, had a 7-yard run on the offense's first play and later added a pair of catches for 22 yards on a possession that ended on Carlson's 28-yard field goal.

After the Jets kept their second possession alive with a fourth-down conversion from Rodgers to Wilson that covered 35 yards, Davis exploded through a hole on the left side of the offensive line for a 17-yard TD. Carlson's extra point gave the Jets a 10-9 lead and Davis, a fifth-round pick from South Dakota State, had his first NFL rush TD and second score in as many weeks.

Using another explosive play through the air, Rodgers flipped the field late in the second stanza with a 34-yard connection to Adams. That same pair also accounted for the first third-down conversion of the game on a 10-yard hook-up on a third-and-6 helped set up Carlson's 30-yarder with 52 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Amassing 9 first downs on their first 14 plays, the 'Fins gained 104 yards on their first two drives while taking a 9-3 lead. The Dolphins culminated their 8-play, 70-yard opening drive with RB Devon Achane's 2-yard scoring run. The Jets were penalized twice on the possession as DT Javon Kinlaw was flagged for unnecessary roughness after Waddle's 20-yard catch-and-run and CB D.J. Reed was flagged for pass interference on a third-and-goal snap from the Miami 1. Sanders followed up a missed extra point with a 39-yard field goal at the beginning of the second quarter.

The Jets outgained the Dolphins (402 to 375), almost doubled Miami in rush yards (83 to 44) and held the 'Fins to 1 of 9 on third down. They also didn't turn the ball over but another close one went the other way.

"There are some teams that might relent a little bit, that might relax a little bit, might start thinking about the offseason and might start thinking about their own thing," Ulbrich said. "I haven't felt that from that locker room at all. They have absolutely stayed together, they continue to fight and it's a great testament to them."

Jetcetera
The second-quarter TD pass from Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams was their 79th, moving the pair into fourth place as a duo … The Jets were charged with 10 penalties for 83 yards while the Dolphins had 49 yards marked off their 8 infractions. … LB Jamien Sherwood had 18 tackles (13 solos) while CB Brandin Echols, who got the start in place of CB Sauce Gardner (hamstring), had 10 stops. … The Jets rush defense held RB De'Von Achane to 24 yards on 14 carries. …. Malik Washington's 46-yard KR in the closing minute of the fourth quarter came with Jets special teams stalwart Irv Charles out of the game with a knee injury. … Rookie Olu Fashanu made his third consecutive start at LT while Max Mitchell entered early at RT when Morgan Moses departed with a wrist injury. … Rookie WR Malachi Corley was among the gameday inactives because WR Allen Lazard (1-18) returned to the lineup.