3 crazy things that happened in the Dolphins-Raiders fourth quarter

Neither team is ready to call it a season between the Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins.

For those of you who fell asleep during the Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins game, it’s cool. You didn’t miss much.

That being said, if you turned the game off altogether when the final 15 minutes were on the clock, dear lord did you miss a classic. Not only did the Raiders figure things out, the Dolphins did too in just the right amount of time.

Ultimately, a late field goal from Jason Meyers kept the Dolphins playoffs hopes alive and eliminated the Raiders in a 26-25 victory.

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Miami’s gusty call saved their season. Jon Gruden’s lack on innovatie play-calling cost the Raiders’ theirs. More than any of that, fans got to enjoy an after holiday game where two teams on the rise played perhaps the best quarter of football this season.

Let’s recap the best moments, shall we?

Three insane moments from the Dolphins vs. Raiders fourth quarter

3. Another dumb pass interference call

At some point, the referees need to quit being so soft and let the players duke it out on the field. It’s why Byron Jones might be trending on Twitter with about 99.9 percent agreeing how egregious that call was.

After the Dolphins scored, Derek Carr went deep to his new vertical threat in Nelson Agholor. While Jones did put his hands on the former first-rounder, the ball was a bit overthrown and clearly out of reach.

Nope, the referees called pass interference, costing the Dolphins 49 yards on the play and eventually setting up for a Daniel Carlson field goal.

It wasn’t a good game for Jones, who was paid top dollar this offseason to pair with Xavien Howard. He allowed Agholor to win all night in man coverage and gave up a pretty hefty touchdown earlier in the game. All that said, plays like that make his stat line look worse than it was.

Simple story here. Get it right or don’t get it at all refs.

2. Big offensive plays from both teams

Neither team really did much on offense for the first 45 minutes. All that changed during the last 15.

It all started when Carr connected with Agholor for an 85-yard touchdown, the longest play of the entire night. Now down, Ryan Fitzpatrick was back in the game and connected with Mike Gesicki for a 31-yard pickup. It set up the Myers field goal.

After that, Myles Gaskins worked his way past multiple Raiders defenders, juking and jiving his way down the sideline and into the end zone with a 59-yard touchdown. And thanks to a 34-yard pass from Fitzpatrick to Mack Hollins, it set up the game-winning kick.

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Miami finished with 383 yards of offense. They had 208 yards on the final three drives. The same could be said for Las Vegas, who tallied 176 of their 418 yards in the final quarter as well.

Big plays always lead to better moments, meaning Saturday didn’t disappoint for either fanbase.

1. The Ryan Fitzmagic curtain call

Tua Tagovailoa clearly is the future of the franchise after his recent trend of wins. However, when a rookie has a bad game, it’s best to trust someone who has been there before.

Entering the last quarter, Tagovailoa had 94 passing yards. Brian Flores isn’t afraid of pulling the young gun in favor of Fitzpatrick, as evident in the team’s 20-13 loss to the Denver Broncos. And he did with nine minutes left on the clock.

This time though, Fitzmagic sparkled his way to victory.

Fitzpatrick finished 9-of-13 with 182 yards and a touchdown. His no-look connection to Hollins is the definition of magic, thus setting up the chance to win. On top of all that, when Gaskins crossed the goal line, guess who was the first person to congratulate Fitzpatrick?

The kid himself.

Fitzpatrick had Miami sitting at 3-3 when the team elected to go in favor of Tagovailoa. He didn’t complain. He didn’t question the move. Ultimately, he knew the reason he was brought in was to teach for the future, knowing his best days were in the past.

For one moment, he remained on top of the world. He was back.

Fitzpatrick could call it a career when the season ends. If so, he’ll look back at his career with fond memories as the starting quarterback for many teams. When the season began, Miami looked the part of playoff-caliber in large part due to Fitzpatrick.

As the season ends, they still look like one. Once again, in large part of Fitzpatrick.

If this is it, what a heck of a goodbye.