INGLEWOOD, Calif. — On his first defensive snap in two weeks, Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler stuffed a screen pass to Los Angeles Rams running back Kyren Williams for a 10-yard loss.
Sieler had missed Miami’s previous two games with an orbital bone injury he suffered in practice in Week 8, but he returned for Monday night’s 23-15 win over the surging Rams. The tackle for a loss ultimately led to a three-and-out Rams drive and helped set the tone defensively for the remainder of the night.
“[As] you go through the week, you are correcting some stuff from the previous game, and I think the guys felt a lot of confidence in terms of where they were building,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “Then getting a couple key guys back … Sieler is such an important part of what we do.
“So it was absolutely a momentum-capturing moment where guys were fired up to have one of the most important pieces of the unit back on the field to make plays immediately.”
The Dolphins allowed 327 yards but held the Rams to five field goals Monday night — Miami’s first time this season keeping an opponent out of the end zone.
In a spectacular defensive effort, the Dolphins pressured Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford on 15 of his 49 dropbacks and recorded a season-high four sacks, while also limiting their opponent to just three third-down conversions in 12 attempts.
“I think our defense really galvanized the whole team, and I think it’s very, very difficult to keep that offense out of the end zone,” McDaniel said. “I think that the jump-off point was third down. I thought that the coaching staff led by [defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver] did a great job with having a way to attack the guys, and I thought collectively it was the best execution of what we were trying to get done.
“So it was a very, very important game for our team just to be on the heels of three losses, two on the final moments of the game, and I think that’s something that we can build upon moving forward.”
Miami snapped a three-game losing streak and won a prime-time game on the road for the first time since Week 2 of the 2023 season.
After consecutive losses on last-second field goals over the past two weeks, Dolphins players felt they had been building toward a performance like this, when they led from start to finish.
“We had our ups and downs, and you work through that stuff,” Sieler said. “You have the endurance to kind of figure it out without certain pieces there. Then when it clicks, it clicks, and I think tonight was a great example of that.”
Miami recorded 238 yards of offense, its second fewest in a win under McDaniel, and snapped a four-game streak of rushing for at least 149 yards. But the Dolphins did enough to stay ahead throughout the game — particularly quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who completed passes to convert six third downs Monday.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill snapped a career-long seven-game scoreless streak with a 1-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter. He was listed as questionable after a wrist injury kept him out of multiple practices during the week.
Monday’s win left the Dolphins 1½ games behind the Denver Broncos for the AFC’s seventh and final playoff seed. Three teams in NFL history have rebounded from a 2-6 start to make the playoffs, and Hill said the Dolphins must treat every game the same if they’re to become the fourth.
“The mindset is still going to be the same: win every game, dog. It doesn’t matter,” Hill said. “I’m preaching to our guys in this locker room, every game matters. It doesn’t matter if we’re 1-6, 2-6, 3-6 — it doesn’t matter. The mindset is to win every game.”
The Dolphins have home games against the Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots over the next two weeks before traveling to Green Bay to face the Packers on Thanksgiving night.