The Sports Xchange
Aug 12, 2016
The Miami Dolphins scored 27 straight points, 24 of which came off turnovers, to top the New York Giants 27-10 on Friday night in a preseason game at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants, who sat starting quarterback Eli Manning, gave fourth-year quarterback Ryan Nassib a chance to showcase his progress.
After getting the Giants to a 10-0 lead that included an impressive nine-play, 74-yard opening drive that saw running back Rashad Jennings score on a 3-yard run, the Giants' offense, who also got a 20-yard field goal from kicker Josh Brown, saw the bottom drop out under Nassib's watch.
The former Syracuse signal-caller completed 7 of 15 passes for 75 yards and no touchdowns and was sacked four times. He also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble during a scramble, all of which were converted into points by the Dolphins for a 17-10 halftime lead.
On the first of those turnovers, Nassib underthrew rookie receiver Sterling Shepard, the pass picked off by cornerback Bobby McCain to set up Andrew Franks' 49-yard field goal.
On the Giants' ensuing drive, Nassib tucked the ball down and tried to scramble forward. He was sacked and stripped of the ball by safety Walt Aikens, with former Giants linebacker Spencer Paysinger coming up with the recovery to set up a 5-yard touchdown run by running back Damien Williams to tie the score at 10.
Nassib turned the ball over again on his next opportunity, this time on another underthrown pass that was intended for receiver Myles White. Safety A.J. Hendy came up with the interception and five plays and 61 yards later, quarterback Matt Moore, who finished his night 9 of 11 for 11 yards, one touchdown and one interception, found receiver Matt Hazel on a 51-yard touchdown pass.
Miami, who in the first half had six penalties and didn't get their first first-down conversion until 6:58 left in the second quarter, rounded out their night with a 28-yard field goal by Marshall Koehn to make it 20-10.
The Dolphins capitalized on yet another Giants turnover, this one committed by former Miami quarterback Logan Thomas, whose fumble was recovered by defensive tackle Deandre Coleman. Four plays and 25 yards later, quarterback Zac Dysert connected with tight end Thomas Duarte for a 16-yard touchdown.
Both sides came out with some injury concerns.
The Giants saw their top two draft picks, cornerback Eli Apple and receiver Sterling Shepard, leave the game in the second quarter with a lower left leg strain and a groin strain, respectively. Last year's sixth-round pick, receiver Geremy Davis, left the game in the third quarter with a hamstring injury.
The Dolphins had safety Shamiel Gary (neck), defensive end Julius Warmsley (concussion) and receiver Jakeem Grant (ribs) get nicked.
The game, scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff, was delayed 49 minutes at the start because of severe weather that included lightning, which caused the stadium to move the fans and field personnel inside.