The Green Bay Packers squashed a Miami Dolphins comeback, scoring a touchdown with six seconds left to come out of Sun Life Stadium with a 27-24 win. Rodgers threw three touchdowns to help the Packers improve to 4-2 while the Dolphins fall to 2-3.
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Miami’s comeback started with three-straight touchdowns in the second half, but they couldn’t stop Rodgers in the end.
The Packers started strong, with Rodgers taking his team down the field for a quick nine-play drive capped off by a nine-yard touchdown throw to Jordy Nelson to take a 7-0 lead. Meanwhile, Ryan Tannehill overthrew Dion Sims on the next drive and the Dolphins had to settle for a field goal.
Green Bay couldn’t find its rhythm and, following a Cameron Wake sack on third-and-11, Miami’s Jonathan Freeney blocked the punt to put the Dolphins in scoring position. However, Miami couldn’t punch it in after going for it on fourth down, and the Packers forced a turnover on downs.
Both defenses played well for the rest of the half. Green Bay dominated time of possession but was only able to add a field goal to make it 10-3 at halftime.
The Dolphins came back in the second half, scoringn three touchdowns on its first three drives. It started with a 40-yard rush by Tannehill on a read-option on an opening drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis Landry.
The Packers got back to dominating the clock, with Rodgers answering with a five-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb to cap off a 13 play, 80 yard drive that took eight minutes off the clock.
The Dolphins scored on their next two drives. First, on a Lamar Miller run and the next on Mike Wallace catch.
That’s when the Dolphins took their first lead of the game, going up 24-17. The Packers answered with a field goal to bring it to 24-20.
With the ball back with just four minutes left in the game, the Dolphins called a run on third-and-nine and failed to convert, giving the ball back to Rodgers with a little more than two minutes left. That’s when Rodgers went to work.
Despite constant pressure by Miami defensive ends Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon, Rodgers found a way to extend plays and find his targets. He led the Packers down the field, including a key 18-yard pass to Jordy Nelson on fourth-and-10. With 26 seconds left following a couple on completions, it looked like Rodgers was going to stop the clock with a spike. Instead, he went with the fake spike in the building it was invented, and hit Davante Adams who went out of bounds at Miami’s five-yard line.
Rodgers found Andrew Quarless with six seconds left for the go-ahead touchdown. Miami couldn’t do anything but attempt a lateral-induced miracle at the end of the game.
After a rough first half, Tannehill was much more accurate in the second half and helped lead the Dolphins to what was almost a great win. Rodgers was bothered by Wake and Vernon all afternoon, and was sacked three times. But he was just too good in the end.
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