The Dolphins fell to the Bengals 31-24 Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami fought back with a pair of second half touchdown drives after trailing 28-10 late in the third quarter. Aiding the effort was a 217-yard rushing effort from the offense, while the defense limited the production of some of the game's most dangerous offensive weapons.
**Ground control**
------------------
The Dolphins continue to boast one of the league's most efficient run games on both sides of the football. With 217 rushing yards Sunday, the Dolphins have now run for 457 yards in the last three games, nearly all of that coming without Pro Bowl running back De'Von Achane, who suffered a season-ending injury in the opening drive of Miami's Week 3 game vs. Kansas City.
In Achane's place, second-year running back Ollie Gordon II has run for 229 yards on his 44 attempts (5.2 yards per rushing attempt). He ran for 88 yards on 18 carries Sunday and scored a touchdown in a third consecutive game.
Quarterback Malik Willis, who scored a rushing touchdown and threw for another, added a franchise record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 74. He now ranks third among NFL quarterbacks with 186 rushing yards on the season.
On defense, the Dolphins held the Bengals to just 117 yards on 31 rushing attempts (3.7 avg.). Miami has held opponents to under four rushing yards per attempt in all five games this year.
The Dolphins run defense ranks sixth in the NFL, allowing only 3.7 yards per attempt.
**Rodriguez reaches the top of the leaderboard**
------------------------------------------------
Rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez racked up 11 more tackles in Sunday's game vs. the Bengals. He now leads the NFL with 57 tackles on the season.
Jordyn Brooks added eight tackles, vaulting him into the top 10 in tackles this season with 43.
**Secondary answers the bell**
------------------------------
Rookie cornerback Chris Johnson created the first turnover of his career Sunday when he forced a fumble on Bengals running back Samaje Perine. The fumble was recovered by edge Chop Robinson, who fumbled the return, with the ball being recovered by fellow edge Josh Uche.
First-year safety Michael Taaffe also forced the first fumble of his career, making him and Johnson the first Dolphins rookie duo to each force a fumble in a game since Lorenzo Bromell and Kenny Mixon against New Orleans in 1998.
Johnson and Taaffe, along with cornerbacks Jason Marshall and Juju Brents, helped limit one of the NFL's best receiving tandems, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, to just 99 receiving yards. It was part of an effort that led to just 190 passing yards on the day for Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
Johnson, Taaffe, Brents and Marshall combined to make 20 tackles in the game.
**All-purpose Washington**
--------------------------
Wide receiver Malik Washington totaled a season-high 134 all-purpose yards on Sunday. He caught six passes for 43 yards, had one carry for 18 yards, returned two kicks for 45 yards and added a 28-yard punt return. The performance put Washington over 3,000 career all-purpose yards (3,033). He is the 42nd Dolphins player to hit that landmark and the 11th player to do so in his first 36 career games.
He became only the 10th NFL player in the last decade to record at least 15 yards in each metric in a single game and the only player to do so this year.
**Notables**
------------
Rookie wide receiver Kevin Coleman caught the first touchdown pass of his career, a fourth quarter strike from Willis. Coleman caught three passes for 30 yards in the game. Fellow rookie wide receiver Chris Bell received his first carry of his career, running for 22 yards on an end around.