Extra points: Five more thoughts as the Dolphins’ win streak hits three games after beating Jets

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And the win streak is now at three games.

It wasn’t pretty early, but the Miami Dolphins figured things out in the second half en route to a 24-14 road win over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.

The Dolphins are now 4-7 on the season and have outscored their last three opponents 63-36.

Here are five more thoughts from the latest of those wins.

The Dolphins used a balanced attack, and it helped on Miami’s scoring drives.

Miami ran 67 plays on offense, 34 passes and 33 runs. The run game still isn’t particularly impressing, averaging just 3.5 yards per carry on Sunday and picking up 115 total yards, but it was productive enough to help open the passing game.

Look no further than the Dolphins’ longest play of the game.

After Myles Gaskin had consecutive runs of 20 and 9 yards, the Dolphins had second and 1 from their 35-yard line. Tua Tagovailoa went with a play-action pass and noticed as he was going through his progressions that both cornerback Isaiah Dunn and safety Elijah Riley bit and stayed toward the line of scrimmage Mack Hollins deep down the left sideline. Tagovailoa heaved a pass to Hollins and — while the pass was underthrown — Hollins made the catch with no one around him and raced the final 15 yards to the end zone to give Miami a 14-7 lead in the third quarter.

“What really set it up is the run game,” Hollins said. “We were able to run the ball really well, especially that series. That brings the defense down where you can hit a play action and I was able to sneak behind them and I guess the rest was history.”

Tagovailoa’s view of how the play unfolded: “It was a progression on that play. In the first progression of that play was Mike (Gesicki) and when I came off of Mike, there was about three people including the safety who were on him. Then when I turned out, Mack was wide open so I threw it down to him and he made the play.”

It was the first of three second-half scoring drives for the Dolphins and helped set the tempo for the rest of the game.

“It was definitely a big sigh [of relief] for us offensively,” Tagovailoa said, “because we really wanted to find our rhythm in the game.”

Gaskin had a season-high 89 rushing yards on 23 carries and caught three passes for 7 yards — including a 5-yard catch on Miami’s go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter. It’s the fifth consecutive game in which Gaskin has recorded at least 15 touches on offense.

“It was good for me,” Gaskin said of the extended reps but also added “I don’t think I’ve played my best in the last couple of games. ... I look at every week as its own, so just keep working. Keep your head down and keep working.”

That rhythm, however, was non-existent for most of the first half.

The Dolphins put together two solid drives during the first two quarters.

They opened the game with an 11-play, 83-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by receiver Jaylen Waddle on a reverse. Tagovailoa completed all six of his passes that drive for 61 yards and finding five different receivers.

They ended the half with a 10-play, 41-yard drive that resulted in a missed field goal.

In between? They ran just 14 plays over four drives, with one ending in an interception and the other three ending in punts. Miami never got out of its own territory on any of those four drives.

“It always comes down to execution,” Flores said.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 21: Jaylen Waddle #17 of the Miami Dolphins carries the ball for a touchdown in the first quarter in the game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on November 21, 2021 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 21: Jaylen Waddle #17 of the Miami Dolphins carries the ball for a touchdown in the first quarter in the game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on November 21, 2021 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Jaylen Waddle continues to be Jaylen Waddle.

He still doesn’t have that long, breakout catch this season, but Waddle continues to be Tagovailoa’s security blanket in the passing game.

Sunday was no different.

The rookie caught a team-high eight passes for 65 yards against the Jets in addition to his 1-yard touchdown run on a reverse to cap Miami’s opening drive.

On the season, Waddle now has 68 catches for 622 yards.

His 68 catches move him to third all-time in Dolphins history among rookies, behind only Terry Kirby (75 in 1993) and Jarvis Landry (84 in 2014). His 622 yards rank sixth.

“It’s good, just knowing that they trust me to have the ball in those type of situations and critical downs like that,” Waddle said. “It’s good. I feel good throughout the week just knowing that.”

There were plenty of individual highlights among the Dolphins’ front seven.

Christian Wilkins recovered a fumble. Rookie Jaelan Phillips recorded a sack. Emmanuel Ogbah batted down a pass for the sixth consecutive game and now has eight on the season — the most among defensive linemen this season.

“We played together,” Ogbah said. “They had some good plays on us and we didn’t go down. We just kept on fighting until the very end.”

Can the Dolphins continue the win streak, especially with the upcoming schedule?

Miami’s now plays three consecutive home games against the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants and Jets — three teams with a combined 10-20 record through Week 11 (pending the Giants’ game against the Buccaneers on Monday night). If the Dolphins somehow win all three of those games, they would be 7-7 heading into their final three games.