A lot of dominating defense. Just enough Tua Tagovailoa. It was a dream combination on a dream night for the Miami Dolphins.
It will not save a season. It may be too late for that.
But oh did it feel right on time for a laid-low franchise and its starving fans.
In the middle of a season so bad you hoped it might be redacted from the history books, the Dolphins conjured a defensive performance for the ages as America watched dumbfounded on Thursday night.
Lamar Jackson and the unstoppable Baltimore Ravens were stopped, every which way.
The downtrodden Dolphins rose up at home and proved that half a team can be enough -- the half that stops you -- in a 22-10 victory nobody saw coming.
When I say a defensive showing for the ages, all I mean is that there have been few better or as utterly dominating in the 56-year history of this franchise.
Fittingly, the exclamation point, and points, came in the fourth quarter when Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard stripped the ball from receiver Sammy Watkins, recovered the fumble he caused, and ran it 49 yards for a touchdown to make it 15-3.
It was a cherry on a night of sacks, stops and celebration for a Fins team that entered with a 2-7 record as one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL. A team that one month earlier had been the reason Jacksonville ended its 20-game losing streak.
Throughout the night at Hard Rock Stadium the explosive Jackson and the high-scoring Ravens were denied.
It was another night of mostly offensive futility for Miami, but for a change it didn’t matter.
It was a night when Tua Tagovailoa missed a second straight start with a finger injury but then entered the game early in the second half when Jacoby Brissett hurt a knee. But that was a side note, too.
It was Miami’s defense that stole the show, owned the night, owned the Ravens.
Tua mattered, though.
He proved he is better than Brissett, at least, if there were any doubters.
Tagovailoa was 8-for-13 for 158 yards in relief. He completed a season-long 64-yard completion to Albert Wilson that set up the TD he himself scored on a 1-yard run to make the final score.
For most of the night the offensive ineptitude showed but with comical relief early in the fourth quarter when the Fins had 1st-and-goal but somehow settled for a field goal and a 9-3 lead. That was after a Tagovailoa pass intended for back Myles Gaskin was caught by guard Robert Hunt, an ineligible 6-6, 330-pound receiver who thundered for a TD soon to be negated by the flag.
You saw on the field Hunt had to smile. It was that kind of night.
The smiling, the relief, feel extra good for a team like this, at a time like this.
Isaiah Ford’ 52-yard pass play from Brissett late in the first half had been nearly a pinch-me, was-that-the-Dolphins moment.
Miami had, through the first nine games, been only the third NFL team in the past 23 seasons to not have completed a 50-yard pass or made a 25-yard run to that point. This was (mostly still is) an offense mired in short, quick-slant passes and a quicksand running game.
(The Fins inexplicably have two offensive coordinators. Hopefully they are each getting half a paycheck).
Oh, but that defense! Where has it been? A year ago it was really good. This season it had regressed mightily, though with signs of recovery lately. Thursday night, it was a tour de force, not less.
And Tagovailoa entering the game off the bench and completing the victory, well, that’s what this season is all about now.
With the playoffs a most distant possibility, even now, the season is about a referendum on Tagovailoa.
Is he good enough? Is he The Man moving forward?
The signs were encouraging on a Thursday night this franchise dearly needed.
