The Miami Dolphins with Sunday’s 16-13 overtime win over the Washington Commanders in Madrid, Spain, have finally won back-to-back games, the first step in putting together a real winning streak and getting back into the AFC playoff picture.

Things are looking up for the Dolphins (4-7), who unsuccessfully tried to muscle their way a victory late in the game, heading into their bye week.

Washington (3-8) entered Sunday riding a five-game losing streak but the Commanders turned out to be a tough opponent by running the ball effectively and limiting the Dolphins’ big plays on offense.

But hey, a win is a win. There’s no style points.

Here’s what we learned in Sunday’s game:

Dolphins in prime time

The Dolphins are now 5-12 (.294) in “prime time” national television games under coach Mike McDaniel, who took over in 2022. The Dolphins were 3-10 in those games under McDaniel entering the season. This season they’ve lost to Buffalo on a Thursday, 31-21, defeated the New York Jets on a Monday, 27-21, and lost to Baltimore on a Thursday’s 28-6, making them 4-12 going into Sunday morning’s Washington game in Madrid, Spain.

The Dolphins have two prime time games remaining, Monday night at Pittsburgh on Dec. 15, and Sunday night against Cincinnati on Dec. 21. — Chris Perkins

McDaniel strikes out trying to win with force

McDaniel tried to be a bully late in the fourth quarter and win it on a touchdown instead of a 20-some yard field goal. It didn’t work. Running back Ollie Gordon II was stuffed on fourth-and-goal from the Washington 1-yard line with the game tied at 13. Fortunately for McDaniel and the Dolphins it turned into a victory because Washington missed a 56-yard field goal attempt wide right at the end of regulation. But, wow, it would have been an ugly way to lose for McDaniel, whose job could still be in jeopardy.

Only turnovers earn victory

Cornerback Jack Jones’ interception in overtime gave the Dolphins their game-winning possession after fellow cornerback Ethan Bonner’s recovery on a muffed punt in the fourth quarter appeared to give the Dolphins their a game-winning possession. Don’t discount the turnovers.

Miami, which didn’t have a giveaway against Washington, entered the game tied for 29th in the league at minus-7 in the turnover margin. Washington was minus-6, 28th in the league. The Dolphins were plus-2 on Sunday.

Dolphins second OT game under McDaniel

This was the Dolphins’ second overtime game under McDaniel, the only previous game being a 32-26 victory over the New York jets last season. The Dolphins won that game on a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to tight end Jonnu Smith after kicker Jason Sanders tied the game at 26 on a 52-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation.

McDaniel, Tua records

McDaniel is now 32-30 (.516) in the regular season with the Washington win. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has a 42-31 (.575) regular-season record. Tagovailoa, who was 6-5 as a starter in 2024, is now 10-12 (.455) in his past 22 starts.

Tagovailoa ended Sunday’s game 14 of 20 for 171 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions for a 96.0 passer rating. He was sacked three times. 

Achane gets it done from scrimmage

Running back De’Von Achane’s 165 yards from scrimmage (120 yards rushing, 45 yards receiving), his sixth game this season with at least 100 yards from scrimmage, once again highlights his impressive versatility. Achane, a third-year player who will likely want to negotiate a contract extension after this season, has had more than 90 yards from scrimmage in nine games, all but the season-opening loss against Indianapolis and the Carolina loss. He’s had one game with more than 200 yards from scrimmage.

Achane had 75 yards from scrimmage against the Colts (55 rushing, 20 receiving). But since then he’s had 122 vs. New England (30 rushing, 92 receiving), 91 at Buffalo (62 rushing, 29 receiving), 101 vs. the New York Jets (99 rushing, two receiving), 46 at Carolina (16 rushing, 30 receiving), 150 against the Los Angeles Chargers (128 rushing, 22 receiving), 98 at Cleveland (82 rushing, 16 receiving), 91 at Atlanta (67 rushing, 24 receiving), 106 vs. Baltimore (67 rushing, 39 receiving) and 225 against Buffalo (174 rushing, 51 receiving).

Waddle still on pace for 1,000 yards

Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (three receptions, 52 yards) entered the game having totaled at least 80 yards receiving in five of his past six games, tying the best stretch of his career. He didn’t extend that streak Sunday, and he had two notable drops. But he’s still having a good season with 47 receptions for 670 yards. At an average of 61 yards per game he remains on pace for a 1,000-yard season (1,037 yards), which would be his fourth in five seasons.

Opposing QBs

The Dolphins entered Sunday’s game having lost to quarterbacks such as Cleveland’s Dillon Gabriel and Carolina’s Bryce Young. They couldn’t absorb a loss to Washington’s Marcus Mariota, another suspect quarterback.

The way the season has gone, you could understand the Dolphins losing to Indianapolis’ Daniel Jones, New England’s Drake Maye, Buffalo’s Josh Allen, the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson. But the Mariota loss would have been tough to take.

Dolphins handling prosperity OK under McDaniel

Last week’s win over Buffalo was one of the top wins in the McDaniel era along with wins over Baltimore (2022), Buffalo (2022), the New York Jets (2022), the Los Angeles Chargers (2023), Denver (2023), Dallas (2023) and the Los Angeles Rams (2024).

The Dolphins are 4-3 after those games, indicating they’re so-so- at handling prosperity.

With Sunday’s win, the Dolphins are now 5-3 after some of the biggest wins in the McDaniel era.

Dolphins utilize three RBs

Running backs De’Von Achane (120 yards rushing), Ollie Gordon II (45 yards) and Jaylen Wright (four yards) combined to rush for 169 yards, showing the Dolphins have strength in numbers with their running game. Achane, Wright and Gordon all had carries in the first half as McDaniel got back to using his three running backs such as he did in the 34-10 win at Atlanta. Gordon’s fourth-quarter touchdown tied the game at 13.

The trio of running backs combined for 65 yards on nine carries in the first half with Achane (53 yards on seven caries) leading the way followed by Gordon (eight yards on one carry) and Wright (four yards on one carry). Things picked up in the second half led by Gordon’s 20-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Brooks gets sixth double-digits tackles game

Linebacker Jordyn Brooks, who began play Sunday as the NFL leader in tackles with 105, had 20 tackles in the game, 13 in the first half, six of those being solo tackles. Brooks has had six games of double-digit tackles. His previous season best was 18 tackles against the New York Jets.

Run defense allows another team to rush for more than 100 yards

Washington ended with 172 yards rushing, making the Commanders the ninth of 11 Dolphins opponents to rush for more than 100 yards against Miami’s run defense. Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota had a 44-yard gain in the fourth quarter. The Dolphins have allowed every team except Atlanta and Buffalo to rush for more than 100 yards. Commanders running back Chris Rodriguez led the way Sunday with 79 yards on 15 attempts.

Brooks’ production profile has dramatically changed with his move to Miami

In the 3,301 snaps he took while with the Seattle Seahawks, linebacker Jordyn Brooks collected 23 tackles for loss, or 143.5 snaps per TFL. He has taken that rate into the stratosphere at Miami. Through the NFL’s Week 10, Brooks was at 1,639 snaps with the Dolphins, so just slightly less than half of his Seattle total. In that timeframe, he had piled up 19 TFLs, or 86.3 snaps per tackle behind the line of scrimmage. That is a 40% reduction in the snaps per TFL. Incredible. — Steve Svekis

Could De’Von Achane threaten 2,000 yards?

Last week, the third-year rising-star running back became the first Miami Dolphins player with multiple games of at least 225 total yards (his 225 against the Bills joining his 233-yard outburst in 2023 against the Denver Broncos). With 165 more yards gained in Spain on Sunday, Achane is on pace for 1,963 total yards in 2025. Ricky Williams remains the standard-bearer for most yards in a season with 2,216. But in second place is Tyreek Hill with his 1,814 yards in 2023.

Tua Tagovailoa’s lack of athleticism can be a rough hang

Both of the first-half sacks by the Commanders were nice plays by the Washington defenders, but a dozen quarterbacks, at least, would have gained more yards on those plays, either by getting the ball thrown, or by getting past the tackler, at least to some degree. Then, the defense’s utter disregard for Tagovailoa as a run threat (he has one rushing first down in his past 18 starts) helped pack the box and lead to two second-half debacles where the Dolphins had a first-and-goals got zero points out of it, leaving Washington with a 13-6 lead. But, again, these shortcomings were knowns before the 2020 draft.

That was a ridiculous pass interference call against Jack Jones

A second-quarter flag bailed out an awful, airmailed Marcus Mariota pass that should have brought up a third-and-11 at the Washington 5. It was an amateurish call on multiple fronts, as Jones didn’t restrict Deebo Samuel’s movement as he broke inward. But, most inarguably, the ball couldn’t have been reached if the target had been Victor Wembayama sitting on Shaquille O’Neal’s shoulders.

Another game, yet another example of Dolphins being poor with the small details

First … slamming this to the top: KICK THE FIELD GOAL TO TAKE THE LEAD. Why are you acting like a Mariota-led Commanders offense will rull down for a winning TD in the final two minutes? The past four seasons under the stewardship of Mike McDaniel have been peppered with early-in-the-half timeouts, sometimes before long-distance third-down plays on offense, putrid use of the NFL challenge system and then, in Madrid on Sunday morning, a penalty that raised uncomfortable memories of the playoff game in Buffalo in 2023, when the Dolphins had a fourth-and-1 near midfield, down 34-31 with 2:27 left, when a delay-of game penalty basically ended Miami’s chances. Against the Commanders, the Dolphins were breezing on their first possession when a 1-yard De’Von Achane dive brought up a fourth-and-1 at the Commanders 23. Somehow, the Dolphins seemingly weren’t prepared for a short-yardage situation, with Miami flagged for a delay, and the Dolphins had to settle for a field goal.

How do Dolphins stack up in home games lost to international sites?

The game against the Commanders in Madrid marked the fourth home contest lost by the Miami Dolphins to a foreign country. Some teams have played more such games (the Jaguars, Bills and Raiders all have given up at least five such games). What is truly incredible, though, has been that over the 19 years the international games have been played, a full quarter of the league has not sacrificed even a single home game: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers, Washington Commanders, Detroit Lions, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. Say what?

Progressive has mined some ex-Dolphins for acting work

It is cool seeing three South Florida high school products — and former Dolphins — in Jacoby Brissett (Dwyer High School graduate), Teddy Bridgewater (Miami Northwestern) and Tyler Huntley (Hallandale) get some ride in the fun Progressive “backup” commercials. Brissett is revealed as a “backup tax preparer”, Bridgewater is couched as a “backup listener” in a cafe and Huntley is a “backup parent” speaking to a young man in his bedroom. Among other “backups” revealed so far have been Mitch Trubisky, Case Keenum, Colt McCoy and Tommy DeVito.

On deck: New Orleans Saints, Hard Rock Stadium, Sunday, Nov. 30, 1 p.m.

The last time the Dolphins faced the New Orleans Saints, it was at the Superdome against a quarterback, Ian Book, making what ended up as his only NFL start. Miami got a Nik Needham pick-six and won 20-3. Assuming he stays upright, Tyler Shough will be making his fourth career NFL start at Hard Rock Stadium. After some injury-affected seasons, receiver Chris Olave is on pace for an 1,100-yard year.