Giants vs. Dolphins final score: New York falls, 20-9, to Miami

The New York Giants fell to the Miami Dolphins, 20-9, at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Giants dropped to 4-8 on the season while the Dolphins improved to 6-7 and extended their winning streak to five straight games.

The offensive struggles continued as the Giants are one of just three teams in the league to not score 30 or more points in a game.

On the Giants’ second possession of the game, backup quarterback Mike Glennon (in for Daniel Jones, who has a neck injury) was in tercepted throwing a deep ball to a double covered Darius Slayton. The ball was intercepted by Xavien Howard at the Miami 3-yard line. Glennon had started out the game 8-for-8, and the interception was his first misfire of the game.

But the Dolphins were unable to capitalize on the turnover as the surging Giants defense forced a three-and-out after a big sack by Quincy Roche that pushed the Dolphins back 6.5 yards to set the Giants up with good field position on their following drive. New York managed to advance just 16 yards to set up a 39-yard field goal by Graham Gano to make it 3-0 at 13:17 in the first quarter.

The Dolphins tied the score at three when Jason Sanders converted a 48-yard field at 7:12 in the second quarter.

Miami added to its lead when Tua Tagovailoa connected with Mack Hollins for a 5-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left to play in the first half. The Dolphins took a 10-3 lead into the locker room. Tagovailoa was 11 of 12 on his passes on the Dolphins’ 14-play, 89-yard scoring drive.

The Giants established their ground game on their first drive of the second half when Saquon Barkley rushed for a 23-yard run and Devontae Booker ran for 16 yards down the left sideline. New York drove down to the Miami 16-yard line but came up short in the red zone again. The Giants were forced to settle for a 34-yard field goal by Graham Gano, which made it 10-6 at 10:33 in the third quarter. The scoring drive was 69 yards - the Giants’ longest of the day up until that point.

Faced with fourth-and-two at the Miami 46-yard line with 4:54 left to play in the third quarter, Joe Judge elected to send out the field goal unit. Riley Dixon’s punt went into the end zone though. Judge’s confidence clearly rested with the defense throughout the game, but a lackluster special teams performance did not give the Giants a major advantage in the field position battle.

In the final minutes of the third quarter, Glennon was sacked on back-to-back plays by Jaelan Phillips to force a third-and-30 situation. The Giants were unable to convert and Miami was quickly back on the field.

The Dolphins increased their lead when Tagovailoa connected with Isaiah Ford for a two-yard touchdown to make it 17-6 at 11:13 in the fourth quarter.

On fourth-and-2 on the Miami 38-yard line at 6:40 in the fourth quarter, Judge elected to go for it on fourth down for the the first time in the game. The Giants extended their drive long enough to set up a 51-yard field goal by Gano that made the score 17-9 at 5:04.

Sanders converted a 48-yard field goal for the Dolphins with 1:16 left to play to give Miami a 20-9 advantage. The Dolphins maintained that lead to close out the game.

Stats

• Mike Glennon was 23 of 44 for 187 yards and one interception.
• Saquon Barkley had 11 rushing attempts for 55 yards.
• Evan Engram recorded four receptions for 61 yards.
• Tae Crowder led the defense with nine tackles, including six solo.

Halftime score and stats

The Giants trailed at the half, 10-3. Glennon was 13 of 18 for 97 yards and one interception. Tagovailoa was 21 of 25 for 137 yards and one touchdown.

The Giants had six first downs and the Dolphins has 12. New York recorded 118 yards in the half while Miami recorded 159 yards. The Dolphins forced one turnover in the half.

The Dolphins controlled the time of possession battle as they held the ball for 15:38 while the Giants had possession for 14:22.

Other first-half takeaways

On fourth-and-3 on the Giants’ opening drive, Joe Judge elected not to go for it, establishing his emphasis on the field position game from the start.

The Giants did not have a single turnover last week against the Philadelphia Eagles and recorded their first on just the second possession of Sunday’s game.

The time management issues continued as Joe Judge used a timeout with 12 seconds left in the first quarter.

Barkley recorded two drops in the half and had just 17 yards on five attempts.

Giants inactives

QB Daniel Jones
CB Adoree’ Jackson
WR Kadarius Toney
WR Sterling Shepard
OLB Oshane Ximines
G Wes Martin

What’s next?

The Giants will travel across the country to play the Los Angeles Chargers next Sunday at SoFi Stadium at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FOX.