The Miami Dolphins were stunned by the Tennessee Titans on Monday night, as they blew a 14-point lead late to lose 28-27.
While the defense had played well early in the game, there was a point where the Dolphins felt like they were taking momentum before a dumb mistake changed everything.
In the second quarter, Miami was leading Tennessee 7-0 when, on third-and-10 play, quarterback Will Levis slipped out of a would-be sack by Bradley Chubb and picked up five more yards before being brought down by Chubb and cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
The play was going to set the Titans up with a 42-yard field goal attempt from Nick Folk, who has been exceptional this year, making every 26 of his 27 attempts.
However, at the conclusion of the play, Chubb, frustrated with his missed sack opportunity, took his helmet off and threw it on the ground in the field of play. The referees immediately tossed their flags, and Chubb was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct call that gave the Titans a first down. Just two plays later, running back Derrick Henry found the end zone.
The play essentially gave Tennessee at least four points, expecting that Folk would make the field goal.
Instead, the game was tied, and it felt like the Titans took all of the momentum right back.
After the game, Chubb addressed the moment.
“Just being frustrated with myself and I let my problems be bigger than the team’s problems and hurt the team in a way that I don’t want to do that,” Chubb said. “Looking back on it now, just two more steps and I would’ve been perfectly fine, so it’s just frustrating when I let my emotions get the best of me, but at the end of the day, I tried to do everything I could to combat that in the second half and after the second quarter so just got to find ways to be better as a player, as a person, as a leader, as a teammate and I will be and it’s just one of those things that lapse judgment got the best of me and I will be better next time for sure in that situation. But hopefully that situation won’t happen again and I’ll make the sack instead of falling off of it.”
These types of mistakes can’t happen down the stretch. It’s something that needs to be cleaned up to give the Dolphins the best chance to make a run in the playoffs.