Three Takeaways: Fins Show Fight, Ultimately Fall in Philly

The Dolphins had an opportunity to face off with one of the league's best teams on the road in prime time, but a dominant fourth quarter helped the defending NFC champions pull away on their home turf.

Here are the takeaways from Miami's 31-17 loss in Philadelphia.

Tests like this during the regular season provides quality prep-work for important games when the calendar turns to the new year. Everything Miami wishes to achieve remains in front of them. We'll get to that shortly, because for the Dolphins to capitalize on those future opportunities, they must first look inward.

There were several things the Dolphins would like to clean up, like a delay of game on the first play of the game, a timeout to open a critical drive late in the third quarter, pre-snap infractions and an interception in the end zone. On balance, the Dolphins have flipped the script on many of those issues compared to 2022, but they crept up again on Sunday night and played a factor in the loss.

The 10 penalties issued against Miami consistently put the offense behind the chains and wiped out a go-ahead touchdown in the first quarter. Against a team as good as the Eagles, in that environment, the Dolphins must play with fewer mistakes to secure a big victory.

Miami trailed 17-3 with 2:03 to play in the first half, facing a third-and-18. Tua Tagovailoa delivered a 30-yard strike to Cedrick Wilson Jr. to extend the drive and keep Jalen Hurts and the Eagles on the sideline. Five plays later, facing third-and-long again, Tagovailoa threw a beautiful pass to the back pylon for his favorite target, Tyreek Hill. Hill caught his seventh touchdown in as many games after splitting a double team to bring Miami back to within a touchdown.

Then, late in the third quarter, after a potentially devastating turnover on downs, the defense barked back with an interception returned for six by Jerome Baker.