Tua Tagovailoa put together a mostly impressive performance in his return to the Miami Dolphins lineup, but the team found another way to lose against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.
Shortly after Malcolm Brown was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the Dolphins 46-yard line three plays after the two-minute warning, Matthew Wright kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired to give Jacksonville a 23-20 victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
The win ended Jacksonville's 20-game losing streak, which was the second-longest in NFL history, while extending the Dolphins' losing streak to five games.
Wright, who was elevated from Jacksonville's practice squad Saturday, earlier kicked a 54-yard field goal to tie the score 20-20. His game-winning kick came right after Trevor Lawrence completed a 9-yard pass to Laviska Shenault on fourth-and-8 on a play that started with 5 seconds remaining. The Jaguars quickly called a timeout after Shenault went down and Wright delivered the back-breaking blow to the Dolphins, who haven't won since their 17-16 decision against the New England Patriots in the opener.
Tagovailoa completed 33 of 47 passes for 329 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, good for a passer rating of 95.1. He also scrambled three times for 22 yards, picking up a first down in the process each time.
Both touchdown passes went to rookie first-round pick Jaylen Waddle, who had 10 catches for 70 yards. Tight end Mike Gesicki had 115 yards on eight catches, the second 100-yard performance of his career.
The Dolphins played not only without wide receivers DeVante Parker and Preston Williams but also without both of their starting cornerbacks, Xavien Howard and Byron Jones.
The game-winning field goal capped a wild fourth quarter that began with Jacksonville looking to take command holding a 17-13 lead and having the ball inside the Miami 10-yard line.
But linebacker Jerome Baker led the charge to stuff James Robinson on fourth-and-1, bailing out Tagovailoa after his most forgettable play of the day, an interception when he badly underthrew Waddle near the sideline.
After the fourth-down stop, Tagovailoa began the next drive with completions of 32 and 20 yards to Gesicki and the drive ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Waddle, regiving the Dolphins the lead, 20-17.
The Dolphins' final two possessions ended agonizingly close to first downs that could have led to a win; on the first, Myles Gaskin dropped a third-and-1 pass; on the second, Brown was stuffed on fourth down after Tua's third-and-6 to Gesicki picked up only 5 yards before Gesicki went out of bounds.
Tagovailoa's return to action could not have started better.
The Dolphins' opening drive was a thing of beauty, with Tua completing 8 of 10 passes and finishing it off with a 6-yard slant to Waddle. Before that, there were completions of 18 yards to Mack Hollins and 20 yards to Gesicki.
The Dolphins' second drive also appeared headed for a touchdown, especially after running back Salvon Ahmed had a run to the 1-yard line, but tight end Cethan Carter was called for holding.
The Dolphins pushed their first-half lead to 13-3 after a second Jason Sanders field goal, but they failed to gain a first down after being pinned at their 3-yard line and Jacksonville took advantage of the short field to get back to within three.
First overall pick Trevor Lawrence connected with Marvin Jones Jr. for a 28-yard touchdown despite really tight coverage by 2020 first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene, who got the start at cornerback because of the Jones and Howard injuries.
Jacksonville took its first lead of the game by taking the second-half kickoff down the field for a touchdown, a 1-yard run by James Robinson.
They would take the lead one more time on the final play of the game, sending the Dolphins' 2021 season further into disarray.
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