Week 16 of the NFL 2023 season: the Dolphins win a playoff spot, and the Cowboys lose the lead in the NFC East.
It had been 15 weeks since the Miami Dolphins beat a team with a good record. As the clock ran out, Sanders made his fourth field goal on the day, giving Miami a 22–20 win over Dallas.
With a lot of help from kicker Jason Sanders, their bodies beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday to get their first win over a team with a winning record this season and lock up a spot in the playoffs.
“I don’t think we’d be where we are now if we thought about any of the stories,” he told Fox’s Erin Andrews on the field after the game.
These last few games of the NFL season are likely to be ones we’ll remember. With Christmas coming up soon, the playoff contests are as crazy and confusing as ever.
With an 11-4 record, the Dolphins now have a two-game lead over the Buffalo Bills for first place in the AFC East.
While the Eagles took over the NFC East lead on Monday, the Cowboys dropped to 10-5, making it possible for them to keep it.
It also meant that the Cowboys lost three of their last five games away from home. They were 7-0 at home. Neither team played as well as they could have on offense.
The Jacksonville Dolphins missed all four red zone opportunities, while Dallas scored a touchdown on one of three trips.
After choosing to receive, the Cowboys got off to a good start. They moved the football easily, covering 73 yards on the 15 plays over 7:43. CeeDee Lamb, a wide receiver, ran up and down the field and attacked on the sides and in the middle. He also caught passes.
On third-and-1, fullback Hunter Luepke ran the ball down the field and caught it. On fourth-and-1, Prescott used a wheel route to find tight end Jake Ferguson for 19 yards.
In the red zone, though, the Cowboys’ season-long comedy of mistakes came back. Tony Pollard, a running back, got his body over the goal line without receiving the ball.
Tagovailoa soon beat veteran cornerback Stephen Gilmore with a dart down the right sideline that went forty yards and was caught by Jaylen Waddle.
The Cowboys came back with first-and-goal and tried to take advantage of Luepke’s good shot.
Instead, there seemed to be a misunderstanding that caused Prescott to mess up the handoff to Luepke. Dolphins corner Brandon Jones got it back.
The Cowboys like to start with a lead, which has helped them go 6-0 this season, but the fast Miami offense could make that impossible. In the end, Miami could only try a field goal, which Sanders scored from a distance of 57 yards out thanks to Dallas’s defense.
As of Week 16, nine teams in the AFC had winning records and four teams had 8–6 records. These four teams were tied for the last playoff spot. As Week 16 began, three NFC teams were tied at 7-7.
Because of how crazy the playoff rankings are, we’ll no longer use divisions but instead use conferences from now on. We’ll talk about the ways that each team broke ties below.
The 2023 NFL season is almost over. There are only three weeks left. Then we can look through the playoff rankings and make predictions, even though we know it’s impossible to do so.
At this point, only the Baltimore Ravens, the Miami Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys, the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the San Francisco 49ers have “punched their playoff tickets.” San Francisco or Detroit have already won their divisions.
The 2023 NFL season is almost over. There are only three weeks left. Then we can look over the playoff rankings and make predictions, even though we know it’s impossible to do so.
At this point, only the Baltimore Ravens, the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the San Francisco 49ers have “punched their playoff tickets.” The 49ers have already won the NFC West.
In Week 16, wins by both the Detroit Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs would secure first place in their divisions.
Another thing that can happen is that the Miami Dolphins may advance to the playoffs if they beat the Dallas Cowboys.