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Inside The Numbers: The Miami Miracle

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As we look back on the thrilling victory against the New England Patriots, it's only fitting that we start with the final play.

  • As most Dolphins fans know by now, the 69-yard touchdown finished off by **Kenyan Drake** marked the first time the team had won a game with a touchdown on the final play of regulation. It also was the longest game-winning touchdown any NFL game on the final play of regulation since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
  • The Dolphins' win probability before the last play, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com's chart, was 0.07 percent.
  • It also was the longest walk-off touchdown in any Dolphins victory, topping the 64-yard pass from Cleo Lemon to Greg Camarillo in overtime against the Baltimore Ravens in December 2007.
  • The 69-yard play was broken down this way in terms of individual stats: **Ryan Tannehill** gets a completion, 69 passing yards and a touchdown pass; **Kenny Stills** get a reception for making the initial catch and 14 receiving yards; **DeVante Parker** gets no reception but 3 receiving yards for advancing the ball; Drake gets no reception but 52 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.
  • In an interesting twist, this now shows up as Drake's longest receiving play of the season even though he didn't have a catch on the play. So his stat line for that one play will read: 0 catches, 52 yards, 1 touchdown.
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  • The play was the 14th touchdown pass of 20 yards or longer by the Dolphins this season, a figure that tops the NFL.
  • It was the Dolphins' sixth touchdown pass of at least 50 yards and, amazingly, five of them came in the fourth quarter. There previously was a 75-yard pass from Tannehill to Stills against Tennessee; a 75-yard pass from **Brock Osweiler** to **Albert Wilson** against Chicago; a 74-yard pass from Tannehill to Wilson against Oakland; and a 52-yard pass from Wilson to **Jakeem Grant** against Oakland. The one exception was Tannehill's 74-yard pass to **Leonte Carroo** against Indianapolis, which came in the second quarter.
  • The Drake touchdown wasn't the only long score of the game for the Dolphins, as running back **Brandon Bolden** earlier had a 54-yard touchdown run. It matched Drake's run against the Detroit Lions in Week 7 as the longest of the season for the Dolphins.
  • Bolden also became the sixth different Dolphins player with a touchdown of 50 yards or longer this season. It's the second time in three seasons the Dolphins have done that.
  • Bolden became the first player in Dolphins history to score two rushing touchdowns on his only two carries of the game.
  • Fullback Ron Davenport had come closest before Sunday, scoring twice on three carries in the famous Monday night victory against the Chicago Bears in 1985.
  • The last time an NFL player had scored two touchdowns on his only two rushing attempts was Dec. 17 of last year when Jacksonville fullback Tommy Bohanon did it against Houston. His were two 1-yard runs.
  • Bolden's 54-yard run was the second-longest by a Dolphins running back with five or fewer carries in a game, behind only a 71-yard gain by Jerris McPhail in 1997 against the Chicago Bears.
  • With their matching 54-yard runs, Bolden and Drake are the first pair of Dolphins running backs with touchdown runs of 50 yards or more in the same season since 2008 when Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams did it.
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  • With the miracle finish, Tannehill ended up with three touchdown passes against the Patriots, the 14th time in his career he reached that mark. The Dolphins are 11-3 in those games, but a perfect 6-0 when the three touchdowns come with no picks—as was the case Sunday.
  • Tannehill averaged 13.95 yards on his 19 pass attempts against New England, the second-highest figure of his career. He averaged 14.84 in a 44-26 victory against the Houston Texans in October 2015.
  • Tannehill posted a passer rating of 155.2 against New England, giving him three consecutive 100-plus passer ratings for the first time in his career.
  • In eight games this season, Tannehill has posted a passer rating of at least 100 five times, one short of his career high of six in 2014 when he played all 16 games.
  • Lastly, we end by pointing out the 34-33 score was the first in Dolphins history.

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