Behind a strong performance from both sides of the ball, the Miami Dolphins completed a regular season sweep of the New York Jets with a 30-0 win Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa completed 21-of-24 passes for 224 yards, one touchdown and a 119.4 passer rating. Miami's defense forced four turnovers to secure the club's 10th victory of the season and eighth consecutive home win against the Jets.
We go Inside the Numbers, presented by BDO, to take a look at the most notable team stats, individual metrics, milestones and more from Miami's Week 15 win.
Run Defense
NFL defenses have held their opponents to under 40 rushing yards in 16 games this season. Only three teams (Miami, Chicago and New England) have done this in multiple games and just Miami and Chicago have done so three times. For the Dolphins, those three games have all come in the last five weeks of play as they held Las Vegas to 36 rushing yards (Week 11), the Jets to 29 yards (Week 12) and the Jets again to 23 yards (Week 15).
New York's 23 rushing yards were their fewest in a game since Nov. 20, 2005 at Denver (19 yards) and the fewest rushing yards allowed by Miami in a game since Nov. 28, 2010 at Oakland (16 yards).
Since Week 2, the Dolphins defense has given up the second-fewest rushing yards in the league (1,032), is second in opponent yards per carry (3.4) and tied for second in rushing first downs allowed (66).
Career Years
Dolphins defensive tackles Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler have been key contributors in building up the team's stout run defense through 14 games.
Wilkins (8.0 and 19) and Sieler (7.5 and 17) have both set new career highs in sacks and quarterback hits this season.
After coming into 2023 with two career fumble recoveries, Sieler recorded his second of the season on Sunday to set up running back Raheem Mostert's record-setting touchdown run.
On third-and-goal from the Jets two-yard line, Mostert took the handoff from Tagovailoa, cut to the outside and ran into the end zone untouched.
The play broke Dolphins wide receiver Mark Clayton's 39-year record of 18 touchdowns scored in 1984, as well as Dolphins running back Ricky Williams' 21-year-old record of 16 rushing touchdowns in 2002.
Mostert currently has career highs in carries (198), rushing yards (966), scrimmage yards (1,137) and total touchdowns (20) in his ninth NFL season. He had scored 19 total touchdowns in his first eight NFL seasons.
Linebacker Bradley Chubb is also having one of his best seasons as a pro. Chubb has a career-high 64 tackles and his team-leading 9.5 sacks are his most since he totaled 12.0 as a rookie in 2018.
On Sunday, Chubb tied his single-game high in solo tackles (5) and sacks (3.0) and set a new single-game best with two forced fumbles. His six forced fumbles are the most by an NFL player since the 2021 season and the most by a Dolphins player since Jason Taylor forced nine fumbles in 2006.
Individual/Team Milestones
- The Dolphins' won their third game by 30+ points this season. It's only the second time in franchise history that the team has won three games by at least 30 points and the first time since 1971.
- Miami posted its first shutout win since Oct. 18, 2020, also vs. the Jets (24-0), and just the team's third shutout in the past decade (Nov. 2, 2014 vs. San Diego, 37-0).
- The 103 total yards allowed is the second-fewest in any game in Dolphins history, and the lowest since Oct. 21, 1973 (76 vs. Buffalo).
- Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle totaled 142 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Jets. It's his third-highest receiving total of his career and his third 100-yard receiving game this season. All three have come in divisional games.
- Tagovailoa's 87.5 completion percentage was the second-highest of his career behind only an 88.5 completion percentage (23- of-26) in the Week 3 win over Denver.
- Mostert's 20 total touchdowns make him the third undrafted player since 1967 to record at least 20 touchdowns in a season, joining RB Austin Ekeler (20 in 2021) and RB Priest Holmes (27 in 2003 and 24 in 2002).
For more analysis from Week 15, listen to the latest episode of Drive Time with Travis Wingfield.
