SAN DIEGO _ It's never a good idea to get into a fourth-quarter shootout with a potential Hall of Fame quarterback, but that's exactly what the Miami Dolphins did on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers.
Philip Rivers and Ryan Tannehill traded impressive scoring drives like boxers trade body blows in the third quarter, then San Diego's elite passer threw four interceptions to seal his teams fate, delivering Miami a 31-24 victory after a couple of scary moments.
But the Dolphins endured, and were even, dare we say, clutch when the game was on the line, producing the franchise's first four-game winning streak since the 2008 season, which was the last time Miami won the AFC East, produced a winning season, and made it to the playoffs.
But this victory wasn't easy. In fact, it came with more than its fair share of nail-biting moments like when Rivers side-stepped pressure, rolled to his right to buy time, and finding Hunter Henry for a 7-yard touchdown in the right corner of the end zone, where Byron Maxwell was in zone coverage.
That play allowed the Chargers to take a 17-14 lead at the conclusion of a 12-play, 75-yard drive, which was fueled by blown coverage from Miami's secondary.
However, Tannehill responded, weaved through traffic, on a play that featured him evading a sack twice in the pocket. He points down field to throw, making San Diego's defenders pause, and then scurries downfield for an 18-yard gain that converts a first down and puts Miami at the 26-yard line.
Two plays later on a third-and-2 play Tannehill lobs a beautiful spiral to tailback Damien Williams on the left side of the end zone and he catches it for an 18-yard touchdown, which was his second of the game.
The score puts Miami ahead 21-17 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, and that lead carried over to the fourth.
That's when Rivers threw two interceptions on Miami's side of the field. The first occurred inside the red zone after the Chargers recovered a punt Jakeem Grant mishandled at the 5-yard line, turning the ball over to San Diego when Darrell Stuckey recovered it.
Fortunately for the Dolphins cornerback Tony Lippett intercepted Rivers in the end zone on a pass intended for Tyrell Williams, giving the Dolphins possession back five plays later.
Miami's offense would stall on the ensuing drive, but Rivers would commit another turnover when an errant pass got picked off by Maxwell, who returned it to the 40-yard line.
The Dolphins committed a negative run, then two penalties, one of which negated a deep pass to DeVante Parker and set up a third and 20 from the 23-yard line. Miami got a third penalty on a 9-run from Kenyan Drake, but the Chargers declined the penalty to get the ball back at the 29-yard line with 5:06 left in the game, trailing by four points.
From that point Rivers only needed four plays on a penalty assisted drive to connect on a 49-yard touchdown pass to Williams, who snuck inside Miami's zone coverage on a deep post and out sprinted the Dolphins' entire defense for a touchdown that put the Chargers ahead 24-21 with 4:04 left in the game.
But Tannehill didn't back down. His first pass of the next drive turned into 46-yard reception to DeVante Parker, which included a roughing the passer penalty that put the Dolphins on the 9-yard line.
A run that didn't gain anything, and an incompletion to tight end Dion Sims set up a 27-yard field goal from Andrew Franks that tied the game 24 all.
The Chargers were driving down the field on its possession before Kiko Alonso jumped in front of yet another pass to Williams and returned the interception 60-yards for a score that put the Dolphins up 31-24 with 1:01 left in the game.
Lippett picked off Rivers for a second time on the next series, ending the game on Rivers fourth interception after Miami's offense took a knee.
The victory was Tannehill's third fourth-quarter or overtime comeback win over this season.
