Giants at Dolphins final score: New York wears down Miami in Week 14 Monday Night Football

The Miami Dolphins and New York Giants played a great Week 14 Monday Night Football game, with a back-and-forth contest all night. At the end, the Giants pulled away for the win, moving them to 6-7 while Miami fell to 5-8 on the year.

Below we have observations and thoughts throughout the game as it happened, then the final score, and rapid reactions and thoughts to end the season.

First Half

• Those Dolphins throwback jerseys are amazing.
• First play of the game is a pass to Jordan Cameron. Could the tight end finally get going tonight?
• After a Lamar Miller run, a pass to Dion Sims and the Dolphins fumble away the ball. Not how the offense wanted to start. Now the Giants have a short field.
• Ndamukong Suh with the great play up the middle. The defense holds, despite the short field, and the Giants settle for a field goal. Giants 3-0.
• The Dolphins offense still has the rhythm they initially brought out on the first drive.
• Was that a second catch for Jordan Cameron? Could Miami actually be looking to get the tight ends involved?
• Jarvis Landry is ridiculous. He should be tackled, yet still fights forward for yards way too often for him to be human.
• Dolphins going for it on fourth down....and Miller picks it up!
• Ryan Tannehill picks up 7 on a read-option. Need to see more of that from the Dolphins.
• TOUCHDOWN! Lamar Miller for the 14-yard score. Dolphins 7-3.
  
  
• Dolphins run defense letting them down on this next Giants drive. They will make a stop, then allow a big run. Need to clean it up.
• Giants touchdown. Eli Manning to Rueben Randle for the score. Giants 10-7.
• TOUCHDOWN! Did not take long for Miami to respond! Tannehill is in rhythm and moved the team down field, then Miller went off for a 38-yard touchdown! Dolphins 14-10.
  
• A couple of punts back and forth.
• FUMBLE! The Giants cannot complete the handoff and Reshad Jones with the recovery! He better be heading to Hawaii at the end of the season for his first Pro Bowl.
• Field goal! Andrew Franks connects from 36-yards out. Dolphins 17-10.
• Ouch.45-yard gain on a Eli Manning to Odell Beckham, Jr. pass.
• And a bad personal foul call from the refs on Olivier Vernon. It did not look like the Dolphins' defensive end hit Manning late, and it was not a hit to the head. He even tried to keep Manning upright. Add 15 yards to the Beckham catch.
• Touchdown Giants. Tie 17-17.
• Dolphins end the half.

Second Half

• Giants get the ball to start the second half.
• That is not good. Bobby McCain is down face-first on the turf after the kickoff. Hopefully it is not serious, but it does not look good. Looked like a legal peel-back block by the Giants.
• McCain ran into the locker room during the commercial, so that is a good sign.
• Jelani Jenkins makes an impression, blowing up the run through the middle of the line.
• Koa Misi blows up the next play out in the flat.
• Giants punting. JT Thomas hurt on that play for the Giants. He does get up and walk off the field and into the locker room.
• Jarvis Landry on the sideline after looking like his knee was tweaked during the kickoff return.
• Landry back, gets the first down, but does not look 100%.
• Miller running hard still.
• Billy Turner with the flinch on 3rd-and-2 and now it's 3rd-and-7. Never good for Miami.
• ...Except this time.
• TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!! Tannehill to Kenny Stills for the 47 yard touchdown! Dolphins 24-17.
  

  Ryan Tannehill to Kenny Stills for a 47-yard Dolphins touchdown pic.twitter.com/TfIzEWji9M

  — The Comeback (@comeback_sports) December 15, 2015

• Giants taking it to the Dolphins defense right now. They look tired out there, and they just cannot keep up at this point. It's still over 70 degrees on the field right now, and there's 90% humidity.
• Beckham with the toe tapping grab in the endzone. Called incomplete, but should be overturned in the replay. And it is changed. Touchdown New York. Tie 24-24.
• Dolphins pick up eight yards on their next possession, but can't get a first down and are punting.
• Matt Darr with a 67-yard kick. The rookie does show why the Dolphins went with him over Brandon Fields.
• Brent Grimes just cannot keep up with Odell Beckham, Jr.
• WAY late hit by Jordan Phillips on Manning. Guessing he thought Manning was about to run with the ball, but he clearly hit him well after the ball was gone. Horrible penalty.
• And the Giants miss the field goal. Still a tie game.
• Dolphins punting again. Another great punt from Darr. Pins New York inside the 5.
• Reshad Jones jumped a non-existent route and the Dolphins leave Beckham wide open in the middle of the field. Seems like a bold strategy, but it did not work out so well. Touchdown. Giants 31-24.
• Great come back to help Tannehill by Landry. Solid reset and look for another option by Tannehill. Picks up 25 yards on the play.
• Dolphins move down into field goal range, but a penalty pushes them back and they have to punt.
• Darr with another great punt. Pins New York at the three this time. Of course, it took New York 2 plays to go 96 yards last time.
• Dolphins defense forces the three-and-out.
• Miami cannot do anything on offense any more. And they are punting again. Darr again puts the ball inside the five, but the Dolphins cannot down it and it is a touchback.
• Dolphins defense has to get a stop. The Giants are just running the ball and killing the clock right now. Miami using their timeouts.
• The Dolphins defense is just worn down. They cannot do anything to stop the run at this point.
• First down from Beckham on a pass just off the grass and the Giants will run out the clock.

Final Score

Giants 31 - 24 Dolphins

Rapid Reaction

This was an entertaining game to say the least. It was back-and-forth most of the night, with both offenses taking it to the opposing defense. At the end of the day, New York just wore down the Miami defense, and the Dolphins made too many mental errors. Miami committed 12 penalties for 123 yards on Monday night, compared to three penalties for 25 yards for the Giants. The loss officially ends the Dolphins' playoff chances. The Dolphins are now also locked into another non-winning season.

There was a lot to like about the game early, with the defense able to stand up and take the game to the Giants offense, while Miami's offense was fully clicking. Ryan Tannehill was sharp early and was running the ball. The team was getting the ball to Lamar Miller and he was moving it. Jarvis Landry was doing everything, just like he usually does. Even the tight ends were getting into the game, with both Jordan Cameron and Dion Sims making plays. By the end of the game, however, they were beaten down by the Giants and looked like a team that is heading to a rebuilding offseason.