Tua Tagovailoa said the Dolphins are "excited to go to Green Bay and show everybody in prime time what we can do.”

Pressure Point: Dolphins back in playoff race, must now win ‘big-boy games’

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It was Feel Good Sunday for the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.

Perfect weather and a near-perfect performance (for three quarters) by the home team in a thorough pasting of the Patriots, their long-time nemesis.

The giddy 34-15 romp even had team owner Steve Ross doing the celebratory Waddle waddle after Tua Tagovailoa threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game in the third quarter to Jaylen Waddle.

Most important, the Dolphins’ third consecutive win put Miami, now 5-6, one spot out of the final wild card in the AFC — 7-5 Denver holds it.

Enjoy the moment, Dolfans, like a second helping of Thanksgiving turkey. But beware of the tryptophan.

The Dolphins can’t afford to snooze Thursday night in a holiday prime-time matchup with the Packers in Green Bay.

Beating up on the weakling Raiders and Patriots back-to-back at home in the sunshine was entertaining and necessary to dig out of a deep early season hole.

The telling test will be how a Dolphins team that has gained some momentum can meet the bigger challenges of the stretch run.

Or as the CBS announcers put it: “You’ve got to win the big-boy games.”

Packers present big test for Dolphins

There will be two of those on the road in the next three weeks, at Green Bay and Dec. 15 at AFC South-leading Houston, sandwiched around a home game against the struggling Jets.

Miami then hosts the San Francisco 49ers, who remain in the big-boy category despite struggles of their own.

This is the point that so many Dolphins seasons have gone off the rails. Look no further than last season when they led the Buffalo Bills by three games in the AFC East with five to play and coughed it all up.

The downfall began with blowing a two-touchdown lead in the final three minutes against the Titans in a Monday night collapse. Season-ending losses to the Ravens and Bills pushed the Dolphins from hosting a playoff game to having to play the Chiefs in frigid Kansas City. The result was a predictable one-sided loss to extend the drought without a playoff win since the 2000 season.

“I think we’re heading in the right direction,” said Waddle. “We’ve got big games coming up the end of the year, so it’s important that we start playing our best ball heading into this last stretch of the season.”

Waddle played his best game of the season Sunday with eight receptions for 144 yards and the 29-yard touchdown from Tua.

Tua, offense thrives against Patriots

The offense has been increasingly efficient in Tagovailoa’s four games since returning from his latest concussion. In improving to 7-0 in his career against the Patriots, he completed 29 of 40 for 317 yards and a rating of 128.9.

He again made good use of tight end Jonnu Smith, who had nine catches for 87 yards and the first touchdown of the day. De’Von Achane caught the other two TDs on screens out of the backfield. Tyreek Hill had five receptions for 48 yards.

“The guys are feeling good,” Tagovailoa said. “Everything feels better when you win.”

In the past two games, Tua has thrown for 605 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions and a 128.5 passer rating.

Again, that is against two of the downtrodden teams in the league.

But as Tagovailoa pointed out, “Getting into rhythm of stacking wins up, I definitely think that is a big morale booster.”

The continued struggles to run the ball is concerning, though. They rushed for only 65 yards while averaging a mere 2.7 a carry against the Patriots.

Chop Robinson puts rush in Dolphins defense

Throwing likely will be more difficult at Lambeau Field, where the forecast for Thursday night calls for temperatures dropped to near 20 degrees. Little chance of snow, though, with winds moderate.

Could be worse. But there is a 100-percent chance of a hostile atmosphere. It is certain to be plenty loud.

“We’re still below the .500 threshold and it’s a long way to where we want to get to,” Tagovailoa said. “But this next one is going to be big for us and we’re excited to go to Green Bay and show everybody in prime time what we can do.”

They will be coming off another strong showing by the defense. Rookie Chop Robinson is becoming a force on the pass rush. He had 1 ½ sacks and three hits on quarterback Drake Maye.

The Dolphins sacked Maye four times, including a strip-sack by Zach Sieler that was recovered by Jordyn Brooks to set up Miami’s final touchdown.

The defense suffered a blow when linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. left with a hamstring injury in the first half. But newly acquired veteran Tyrel Dodson not only filled the void, he had a one-handed interception.

Dolphins aim for rare strong stretch run

Could it be that these Dolphins actually flip the script recent history and finish stronger than they started?


Insight on that question should come in about four days. Miami, trailing Denver by two games in the wild-card chase, can’t afford to fall farther behind.

“The Packers aren’t going to care about our three-game win streak. The Packers are going to try to make us seem like a team that can’t win in the cold and can’t beat a good team,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said.

That is an apt statement of the Dolphins’ profile for close to a quarter-century.

It is valid until they prove otherwise.

McDaniel went on to say, “Like life, it’s not about avoiding adversity. It’s about flourishing in it. You really can’t hide. You find out who believes in what we’re doing and who believes in each other.”

Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on the site formerly known as Twitter @CraigDavisRuns.

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