Miami Dolphins: Charting the 3 biggest plays from the 2020 season

Looking back on the three biggest plays from the Miami Dolphins in the 2020 season and charting what made them successful. 

This is a crucial offseason for the Miami Dolphins. But before it begins, we’re going to take a look at some of the biggest and most important plays of their 2020 season and chart them to see how the offense found success in each instance.

To determine which plays we’re looking at, we’ll be utilizing Win Probability Added (WPA). WPA takes a play and all of its components, including time left in the game, score differential, number of yards gained and more and uses these values to provide a percentage figure that determine how much that single play contributed towards increasing the offense team’s win percentage. Typically, long plays in tight games have a higher WPA given the circumstances and results.

It should be noted that the Dolphins’ three biggest plays in terms of WPA all came in Week 16 against the Raiders. To avoid too much repetition, the first play discussed at No. 3 is another hugely important play from outside of the Raiders game that deserves recognition.

Miami Dolphins No. 3 best play: Week 9 at Arizona

For Dolphins fans, this has to be one of the best games of the season. A back-and-forth battle between two young quarterbacks, with Tagovailoa eventually pulling away and delivering the W for Miami.

In the build up to this play, Miami was trailing, 31-24, with just over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. They were in the red zone and now-departed offensive coordinator Chan Gailey dialed up a max protection play with two receivers running along the sidelines. Tagovailoa took three steps back and lobbed a perfect floater to Mack Hollins over his back shoulder.

The ball was placed in exactly the right spot away from the cornerback and all Hollins had to do was turn and make the catch. That grab brought the score level and, after a few key defensive stops, Jason Sanders’ 50-yard field goal with three minutes remaining ultimately sealed the game.

Miami Dolphins No. 2 best play: Week 16 at Las Vegas

This play was all about Myles Gaskin. The Dolphins needed a miracle and Gaskin happily obliged. In the fourth quarter with 3:08 left on the clock. Miami was down 22-16 and in desperate need of a some magic.

Ryan Fitzpatrick was subbed in earlier in the quarter and, seeing a lot of green space to the right side of the formation, he spotted Gaskin for what appeared to be a solid 10-yard gain. Gaskin bounced off a defender, however, and immediately took off in the opposite direction, heading toward the sidelines into the open field.

The safety was too far away to catch him and Gaskin had a free run into the end zone. This play put Miami up 23-22 and they would ultimately go on to win, courtesy of another Jason Sanders field goal and some late game Fitzmagic heroics.

Miami Dolphins No. 1 best play: Week 16 at Las Vegas

The fourth quarter against the Raiders was full of big, game-changing plays. Fitzpatrick reeled off one heroic pass after another to lead his team to what once looked like an impossible victory.

However, the play that goes down as the best of the 2020 season for the Dolphins was the pass to Mack Hollins for 34 yards desperately late in the final period. They play actually went for 49 yards after a roughing the passer penalty moved them 15 yards further. This was ultimately the play that gave Miami a glimmer of hope that they could get the win as it set up a 44-yard field goal for the win.

Without question, this was Fitzpatrick’s best pass of the season. As you can see on the charting, the Dolphins ran four verticals in a desperate moment and their veteran quarterback stepped up and delivered a huge throw exactly when he was needed.