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Miami Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders (7) celebrates with punter Jake Bailey (16) after scoring the game-winning field goal against the Dallas Cowboys during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Dolphins finally deliver signature win after beating Cowboys

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/24/23

The Miami Dolphins were tired of hearing about how they had not beaten a team with a winning record this season, and they finally did something about it on Sunday.

Jason Sanders' 29-yard field goal, as time expired, lifted them to a 22-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys and kept them in the running for the top spot in the AFC.

It is a huge win for Miami for two reasons.

The most important of them is that it keeps some distance between the Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills for the top spot in the AFC East.

The Dolphins have a two-game lead with two games to play, and one more Buffalo loss or Miami win will secure the AFC East crown and give them the all-important home playoff game to open the postseason.

The second is it finally gave them a chance to silence the critics that have kept pointing out how they were winless against teams with a winning record this season.

While the Dolphins offense did not exactly light up the scoreboard, they were not in a position to worry about style points. They just needed a big win against a top team to start changing the narrative about them. They got that.

Now they have two more opportunities over the next two weeks against the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo to close out the season before the playoffs begin.

There were two huge plays on Sunday that helped swing the game in Miami's favor.

The first was a controversial roughing the passer penalty on superstar edge rusher Micah Parsons late in the first half.

Micah Parsons got hit with a roughing the passer penalty after this hit on Tua Tagovailoa.

Good call or bad call? pic.twitter.com/Dh5MQo0Q7A
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 24, 2023

That set up Miami with a first-and-goal with less than 20 seconds to play in the half and resulted in a touchdown one play later. Had it not been for that penalty, Miami would have likely had to settle for a field goal at the end of the half.

Before that, Dallas' opening 15-play drive ended with a fumble at the one-yard line on first-and-goal that was recovered by Miami. Not getting points there was a huge turning point even on the first series of the game.

While the Dolphins scored a big win to silence their critics, Dallas still has to answer for the fact it is a completely different team on the road.

With Sunday's loss the Cowboys are just 3-5 away from AT&T Stadium this season and are now looking at a situation where they will have to open the playoffs on the road as a wild-card team.

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