It wasn’t pretty, but the Tyler Huntley-led Miami Dolphins took care of business on Sunday with a 20-3 road win over the Cleveland Browns. Now at 8-8, Miami remains in a hotly contested three-way battle for the AFC’s final playoff spot.
While not spectacular, Huntley was efficient, racking up 277 total yards and accounting for the game’s only two touchdowns while outplaying Cleveland’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson in a game that featured 12 combined punts and 20 penalties.
Thanks to a surprising loss by the Indianapolis Colts earlier in the day, the Dolphins’ playoff chances rose to 17 percent before kickoff Sunday, according to The Athletic’s projection model. While a sliver of hope remains, they’ll need to win their Week 18 finale at the New York Jets and get some help to unseat the 9-7 Denver Broncos (67 percent) and hold off the surging 8-8 Cincinnati Bengals (16 percent).
Huntley looked much-improved in fourth Dolphins start
With Tua Tagovailoa inactive, the Dolphins had to turn to Huntley as their quarterback, and he was ready. Huntley wasn’t perfect, but in his fourth start of the season and first since mid-October, he kept the offense moving and avoided big mistakes. The Dolphins only averaged 12.3 points per game in Huntley’s first three starts this season and didn’t exactly light it up here, but Huntley was clearly more comfortable and confident for this game.
He got rid of the ball quickly, frequently targeting Tyreek Hill, and in the third quarter ran 13 yards for a touchdown and what felt like an insurmountable 13-3 lead. Huntley also had an 18-yard scramble on third down in the fourth quarter for an important time-killing conversion.
The Browns have a quarterback disaster on their hands, and Huntley had to enjoy delivering a win versus the team that signed him for the offseason but chose to keep Thompson-Robinson over him. Most importantly, the Dolphins kept their playoff hopes alive. — Zac Jackson, Browns staff writer
Hill bounces back with 100-yard effort
The Dolphins ran their offense through a bunch of short passes to Hill, and with 105 receiving yards on the day, Hill posted just his third 100-yard game of the season. He finished with nine catches and was consistently open; he probably would have if the Dolphins needed him to get to 15 catches. The nine receptions were Hill’s second-most in a game this season. — Jackson
Thompson-Robinson puts up uninspiring performance
Browns fans can take solace in a couple of things. Their team is positioned to pick either second or third in next April’s NFL Draft, and they probably won’t have to watch Thompson-Robinson play quarterback again. The idea of turning to a second-year quarterback at the end of a lost season made sense, but Thompson-Robinson continues to prove he’s not an NFL starter.
In the second half Sunday, he was flagged for intentional grounding three times. The Browns got over 100 net passing yards in the final four minutes once they were down by three scores, but Thompson-Robinson was piloting a hopeless operation. Even if winning this game wasn’t the biggest organizational goal, Kevin Stefanski owes it to the locker room to go back to Jameis Winston or to play Bailey Zappe in next week’s season finale at Baltimore. Thompson-Robinson just doesn’t give the Browns a chance. — Jackson
Browns’ offense let down the defense again
A week after becoming the youngest player to record 100 career sacks, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett got two more sacks to get 14 for the season. Garrett is now the first player to record 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons. He’ll head to the season finale tied with Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson in the race to be the NFL’s sack leader.
As has been the case for much of the season, the Browns’ defense delivered an effort that could have been good enough to win. In September and now in late December, the offense generally has been incapable of matching that effort.
Browns cornerback Denzel Ward was knocked out of the game by a shoulder injury, and Browns linebacker Jordan Hicks did not play in the second half due to a concussion. — Jackson
Required reading
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
