Sanders’ game-winning field goal caps Dolphins’ victory over the Jaguars in season opener

The Miami Dolphins’ surreal opening day of the 2024 NFL season began with an incident involving star wide receiver Tyreek Hill and local police hours before kickoff.

It ended with Jason Sanders booting a 52-yard game-winning field goal as time expired to lift Miami to a 20-17 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium.

After several highs and lows in between all of that, Miami is 1-0.

The Dolphins won their regular-season opener for the fourth consecutive year and erased a 14-0 first-half deficit after finding their offensive rhythm just enough in the second half.

Hours before Sanders’ heroics, the Dolphins were faced with a troubling situation outside the stadium.

Hill was handcuffed Sunday morning on his way into the stadium.

Video and photos posted to social media showed a Miami-Dade police officer with a knee on Hill’s back as he was detained adjacent to his luxury sports car, then sitting on the ground in handcuffs.

Teammate Calais Campbell said he was also handcuffed, too. Campbell said after the game he got out of his car and was trying to “de-escalate the situation” after police used what he considered “excessive force” against Hill. Campbell said it felt it “was a bit extreme” to see Hill in handcuffs.

Campbell said he was placed in handcuffs for “disobeying a direct order.”

Hill was later released, as was Campbell, and as Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus declared pregame to multiple reporters, he played in the game. Campbell also played and made an immediate impact recording a sack and a tackle-for-loss on Miami’s first two defensive plays.

With the Dolphins trailing 17-7 with 2:19 left in the third quarter, Hill would ignite Miami’s comeback when quarterback Tua Tagovailoa found Hill on a deep slant and he sped down the sidelines for an 80-yard score to cut Jacksonville’s lead to 17-14.

Hill, who finished with seven catches for 130 yards and that touchdown, would proceed to do a “handcuff touchdown celebration” with teammates following the score.

“It was a planned celebration,” Hill said after the game. “We had something else planned and this happened this morning.”

That play came one play after the Dolphins defense forced a game-changing turnover that avoided the Jaguars from taking a commanding 24-7 lead.

Running back Travis Etienne appeared ready to score a touchdown, but safety Jevon Holland stripped him of the ball just short of the goal line. Cornerback Kader Kohou recovered the fumble in the back of the end zone.

On the ensuing drive, the Jaguars took a big risk going for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 32. Etienne rushed to his left and was bottled up, he then reversed field, but the Dolphins defense contained the play and he was stopped for a 2-yard loss.

The Dolphins missed an opportunity to capitalize, however, when Jason Sanders hooked a 42-yard field-goal attempt wide left on the ensuing series.

But Sanders redeemed himself at the end of the Dolphins’ final drive, which began with 2:09 left in the fourth.

“I’m proud of the way [Sanders] responded after facing adversity. This whole team faced adversity today,” long snapper Blake Ferguson said. “We were facing adversity before we walked in the door today.”

The Dolphins’ defense set up the winning drive with a huge stop on the Jaguars’ final series as it recorded back-to-back sacks of Trevor Lawrence by Emmanuel Ogbah and Jaelan Phillips.

Tagovailoa completed 23 of 37 passes for 338 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

The Dolphins ran for 81 yards, but 52 of those came in the second half as Miami struggled in the first half. Jeff Wilson Jr. was the Dolphins’ leading rusher with 26 yards on five carries while De’Von Achane had 24 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

Achane, however, recorded a career-high seven catches for 76 yards.

“We came in at halftime and made some adjustments,” said Raheem Mostert, who finished with 9 yards on six carries. “We knew we weren’t up to our standards on the offensive side of the ball. I’m just glad we did what we needed to do to set up Jason to win the game.”

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa had some words for his teammates at halftime.

“It was a cool moment because it was genuine and it was not anything but constructive,” McDaniel said. “Details that led to execution in terms of how we ware organized and communicate with who is in the huddle.”

Another missed opportunity came early in the third quarter when Tagovailoa connected with Jaylen Waddle for a 63-yard pickup to the Jaguars 26.

The next three plays resulted in negative yardage capped by a loss of 14 yards when Tagovailoa tried to spin away from Travon Walker, who made a shoe-string takedown for the sack.

Dolphins’ special teams had a strong game not just because of Sanders’ game-winner. Jake Bailey averaged 48.8 net yards per punt and landed three of them inside the 20.

The Dolphins have opened each of their past two seasons by winning their first three games only to see those campaigns end poorly with wild-card round exits in the playoffs. Miami must quickly turn their attention to their next game coming Thursday night at home against AFC East rival Buffalo if its to build off Sunday’s win.

“I think people can sense this team is different,” Ferguson said. “This team is different. This team has higher goals than being a wild card team in the playoffs.”