On Sunday afternoon, the Miami Dolphins hit the road to take on the Atlanta Falcons, searching for their second win of what has been a disastrous 2025 NFL season after a recent road loss to the lowly Cleveland Browns. There was some late question as to whether quarterback Tua Tagovailoa would be able to play in this one after a late illness flared up, causing his eye to become swollen, but he ended up taking the field on the same turf where he won the 2017 national championship game with Alabama.
Tagovailoa and the Dolphins got off to a hot start in this one, taking a 17-3 lead into the locker room in a performance that had to feel refreshing for long-suffering Miami fans, and the onslaught continued into the third quarter with a 40-plus yard strike to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to make the score 24-3 in favor of the Dolphins.
The epic moment drew a great call from CBS commentator Kevin Harlan, who was in town to do play by play on the game, which quickly went viral on social media (video via Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team on X, formerly Twitter).
Tua Tagovailoa to Jaylen Waddle for the TD with Kevin Harlan on the call to extend the #Dolphins lead.
Like old times. pic.twitter.com/zl7Xr0WYwJ
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 26, 2025
“What is going on?!” wondered Harlan at one point in the call, referencing the Dolphins' struggles as of late.
A big performance for the Dolphins
Some fans assumed that after last week's disaster against the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and perhaps other members of his staff would be fired.
However, they stuck around for at least another week and may have extended their coaching lifelines even further with the performance against Atlanta on Sunday.
There's one school of thought that the Dolphins would behoove themselves to lose as many games as possible this season in hopes of a better draft pick, but good luck telling that to the players, who seemed to be enjoying themselves as they demolished the Falcons on Sunday.
In any case, up next for the Dolphins is a game on a short week against the Baltimore Ravens Thursday evening at home.
