The Miami Dolphins stayed in the playoff conversation with their thrilling 32-26 overtime win over the New York Jets on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

We evaluate and analyze the game’s five biggest and most important plays.

Yes, Kendall Fuller allowed a 14-yard completion that turned the Jets’ go-ahead field goal from a 56-yard attempt to a 42-yard attempt, but his ability to get Davante Adams off the field allowed the Dolphins to receive the ensuing kickoff with 52 seconds left instead of less than 15 seconds because timeouts had expired. It’s hard to imagine the Dolphins being able to tie the game with time remaining.

Jason Sanders didn’t get off to a particularly good start when he missed the extra point after the Dolphins’ opening touchdown, but he came back and showed the form that earned him the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month, culminating with his clutch 52-yard -Field goal to send the game into overtime.

Chances are the Dolphins wouldn’t get a shot at that 52-yard field goal if not for Washington’s long kickoff return, Miami’s longest since the 2020 season. This was a brilliant return by Washington to break tackles while running near the right sideline.

This was perfect execution from start to finish on the second-and-7 from the 10-yard line, with the offensive line giving Tua Tagovailoa the time he needed to find Jonnu Smith running across the end zone and a perfect pass dropped into the end zone by tight end.

Pretty amazingly, Smith didn’t have a single catch in regulation time and only targeted one, and that was on a no-look shovel pass that went incomplete. But the Dolphins corrected that in the second offensive moment of overtime with a tight end play where Smith showed off his great running in the open field, converting the short completion into a 20-yard gain. By the time the Dolphins immediately ran the same play again for a 14-yard gain, the Dolphins had already gotten to the Jets’ 36 yards and it seemed like a matter of time before they reached the end zone for the win.