Steelers knock Dolphins out of playoff race, and keep a one game lead in the division

By: Cristopher Avello

With the Wild Card hungry Dolphins victorious in six of their last seven games, the Steelers needed to win to keep their divisional lead.

And Aaron Rodgers played like the former MVP, rolling back the clocks in a 28-15 win over the Dolphins.

Before the Dolphins (6-8) versus Steelers (8-6) battle commenced at Heinz Field, the Dolphins knew it was win or out of the wild card hunt. Unfortunately, former MVP Aaron Rodgers went 13-14 for105 yards in the first half, and led a scoring drive that was capped off by a Connor Heyward touchdown on the Steelers first third down conversion of the night after driving the ball for over five minutes.

Rogers’ hot hand continued in the third quarter with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdez-Scantling to make it a 14-3 game early in the third quarter. Rodgers threw a second touchdown on a dart to Metcalf, from 28-yards out. He finished the game with a completion percentage of 85%, completing 23-27 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns.

Rodgers after the game said, “We had a lot of pressure coming into the game, the dolphins played show coverage throughout the game. We got the run game going, and then great play’s to Marquez and then DK scored on a great run after catching a ball in the middle. Its tough to play in cold weather and we want to host a first round game.”

The Steelers earned their second win in a row and kept their one game lead over the Ravens as they head to Detroit.

The Dolphins defense was exposed by a Steelers offense that spread the ball to eight different receivers, and their offense is clearly missing the dynamic ability it had back in 2023. Next, Miami’s defense struggled to get off the field, and by the end of the third quarter they had been on the field for 30 minutes of the total 45 minutes played. By the fourth quarter, the Dolphins looked tired and showed it on a Jonnu Smith 14-yard touchdown. 

McDaniel after the game said, “If we don’t get first downs on our early downs, then we will be faced with long third down conversions. The plan was to run the ball as many times as last week, but it didn’t happen. It is important to put forth an effort we could be proud of, and it fitted this team to put that effort. ”

The Dolphins, nevertheless, kept playing hard and drove the ball down the field in over three minutes on their first scoring drive in the fourth quarter, it was a 6-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Darren Waller with over nine minutes in the fourth quarter. Tagavailoa and Waller hooked up again with 2:30 in the game for a 13-yard touchdown.

Tagovailoa finished the game with 214 yards in the 28-15 defeat.

Devon Achane combined on the ground and in the air for 128-yards.

Tagovailoa was sacked twice by the Steelers defense and threw an interception in the first half near the endzone on a pass to Waddle.