Dolphins Get Their First Win, Beating the Jets 28–25 at MetLife

The Miami Dolphins won for the first time this season on Sunday, holding off the New York Jets 28–25 at MetLife Stadium behind two touchdown passes and a touchdown run from Malik Willis, then ran out the clock after the Jets cut a 14-point halftime deficit to three.

By Davies Daily Staff Reports · Sunday, October 25, 2026

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Miami Dolphins will not go winless this season. Malik Willis threw two touchdown passes to rookie Caleb Douglas and ran for another score Sunday, and Miami held off a second-half rally to beat the New York Jets 28–25 at MetLife Stadium for its first victory of the season.

Miami (1–5), which entered the game 0–5, scored touchdowns on its first two drives for the first time this season and led a game for the first time all year. Willis opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Douglas in the first quarter. After Geno Smith answered with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mason Taylor, the Dolphins went 60 yards in 14 plays and Ollie Gordon II dove in from 1 yard out for a 14–7 lead.

Willis ran for a 2-yard touchdown with 12 seconds left in the half to make it 21–7, and the Dolphins carried a 14-point lead into the break. Willis finished 14 of 21 for 208 yards with no interceptions, and ran for 37 yards on eight carries. Gordon rushed for 103 yards on 25 carries as Miami ran for 156 yards as a team.

Douglas caught only two passes all game, and both of them went for touchdowns. The rookie had returned Sunday after missing Miami’s previous three games with an ankle injury.

The Jets (2–5) climbed back in the second half. Smith hit Omar Cooper Jr. for a 60-yard gain to set up a 3-yard touchdown pass to Cooper, cutting the lead to 21–14 in the third quarter. In the fourth, New York drove to the Miami 1-yard line but came away with only Jason Sanders’ 33-yard field goal after three straight plays lost yardage, making it 21–17.

Willis answered with the game’s longest play, finding Douglas on a short pass that the rookie turned into a 63-yard touchdown and a 28–17 lead with 4:55 to play. The Jets drove right back: on fourth-and-4, Smith completed a short pass to Isaiah Davis, who ran 41 yards to the Miami 18, and three plays later Smith found Taylor in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown, Taylor’s second of the game. After penalties wiped out New York’s first two two-point tries, Smith threw to Taylor again to convert, cutting the lead to 28–25 with 3:24 left.

The Jets never got the ball back. Gordon opened Miami’s final possession with a 14-yard run, and with under two minutes left Willis kept the ball himself on a quarterback sneak, pushing forward for 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Jets’ 49 to convert. New York was out of timeouts, and Miami knelt out the remaining clock.

Smith completed 23 of 30 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns for the Jets, but he also threw an interception — safety Michael Taaffe picked him off with New York at the Miami 21 in the first half — that cost the Jets a scoring chance. Taylor caught five passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns, Cooper caught five for 115 yards and a score, and Braelon Allen, starting again for the injured Breece Hall, rushed for 104 yards on 17 carries and caught six passes for 30 yards.

The loss was the Jets’ fifth in six games and their eighth straight against an AFC East opponent; coach Aaron Glenn fell to 0–8 against division opponents since taking the Jets job. For Miami, the win was its third on the road since the start of the 2025 season — two of them over Glenn’s Jets — and the first of head coach Jeff Hafley’s tenure, coming off the Dolphins’ bye week. Miami avoided its first 0–6 start since 2019.

Sources: Reuters (Field Level Media), NBC Sports, Sportsnet, NorthJersey.com (The Record), the Palm Beach Post and Sportradar, October 25, 2026.