MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins may be peaking at the right time.
Just in time to make the Thanksgiving night game entertaining later this week.
Tagovailoa threw three of his four touchdown passes in the first half, and the Dolphins beat the New England Patriots 34-15 at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.
After beginning this season losing 6 of 8 games, Miami is riding a three-game winning streak. The Dolphins are now 5-6 and staring down .500, heading into their primetime Thanksgiving Day matchup at the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night.
Can Tagovailoa and the Dolphins win a cold-weather game? The Hawaiian native surely has that knock again him during his five-year career. And the temperature could be in the teens by primetime.
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Can the Dolphins beat a team with a winning record? They were close against the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals, losing by three points or less, before they rattled off this recent win streak.
The Dolphins are 2-14 in their last 16 games against opponents with a .500 record or better. The Packers were 7-3 in this season ahead of Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers.
“I’m excited to kill narratives, so let’s go,” Tagovailoa said after the game. “Bring it on.”
The Detroit Lions will do the heavy lifting against Chicago Bears in the 12:30 p.m. game. The tryptophan from Thanksgiving lunch should settle in by time the lowly New York Giants and just-as-lowly Dallas Cowboys kick off at 4:30 p.m. But, Tagovailoa and the Dolphins bring enough intrigue against the Packers to save the NFL’s holiday tripleheader from an entertainment standpoint.
“Our record now is 5-6, and the Packers aren’t going to care about our three-game win streak,” McDaniel said. “The Packers are going to want to make us the team that can’t win in the cold or beat a good team. And we’ll have an opportunity on Thursday to either prove them right or wrong, as well as everybody else, in front of a bunch of families that are digesting and judgmental.”
Could Miami upset Green Bay on Thursday? They’ll need to capitalize on what’s made them successful in their recent streak if they hope to make the playoffs in the final six weeks of the season.
Tagovailoa finished 29 of 40 for 317 yards against New England, improving to 7-0 all-time against his AFC East rivals from Foxborough.
Tagovailoa is 82 of 105 (78%) with eight touchdown passes in his last three games during Miami’s winning streak. The Dolphins have converted 18 of their 34 third-down attempts (52.9%) in the last three games – before Tagovailoa was pulled with 11:01 left in the fourth quarter Sunday.
Tagovailoa threw his first touchdown pass to tight end Jonnu Smith, and his second of two touchdowns to running back De’Von Achane on third down against the Patriots.
“We’re still below the .500 threshold and it’s a long way to where we want to get to,” Tagovailoa said. “We’ll enjoy this win, but this next one is going to be big for us.”
McDaniel has also identified a third receiving target to open the passing game. Teams are focusing on Dolphins receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, leaving windows open for others.
It’s become Smith, the former Titans tight end who has three touchdowns in the last two weeks. At times, it’s also Odell Beckham Jr., who draws the attention of secondary defenders despite missing all three of his targets against the Patriots.
Smith finished with nine catches for 87 yards against the Patriots, one week after he had six catches for 101 yards against the Las Vegas Raiders.
His performance Sunday opened the window for Waddle’s best game of the season with eight catches for 144 yards and a touchdown against New England. Achane had 56 total yards, and two touchdown catches in the victory. Hill finished with five catches for 48 yards.
“When you have a lot of playmakers on the team, it’s hard to stop us,” Achane said.
Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to tight end Austin Hooper, and New England’s Christian Gonzalez returned a fumble 63 yards for another score within a 3:33 stretch early in the fourth quarter.
The Dolphins did their work early in this one. Now, they have three days of rest before their holiday game this week.
“We have a tough task ahead of us. Short week, on the road, night game, cold weather. All that stuff is really going to test our mental toughness,” Dolphins edge rusher Calais Campbell said. “We’re going to see what kind of team we are.”
Added Tagovailoa: “We’re excited to go down to Green Bay and show everybody on primetime what we can do.”
(This story has been updated with quotes and additional details.)