New York Jets 27 Miami Dolphins 14
The first divisional match-up in the nine-year history of NFL International Series games at Wembley ended with AFC East bragging rights going decisively to the New York Jets, whose 27-14 victory felt more convincing than the score suggests. They Led 27-7 at the half and their lead was never seriously threatened.
The home-team Dolphins were always likely to struggle, with only one win from their previous three games and head coach Joe Philbin thought to be under pressure. They could not cope with the Jets either on the ground or in the air, and gave up a series of costly penalties.
And the Jets took full advantage. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 218 yards and a touchdown, running back Chris Ivory rushed for 166 yards and another touchdown, and wide receiver Brandon Marshall caught seven passes for 128 yards.
It was a memorable Wembley debut for the Gang Green, who became the 18th different team to feature in International Series games in the UK. The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs will become numbers 19 and 20 later this autumn.
The Dolphins, who played in the inaugural International Series game in 2007, losing 13-10 to the Jets' city rivals, the Giants – the eventual Super Bowl Champions – were playing at Wembley for the third time. That 2007 season was a disastrous year in which they won only one game, and it looks, on yesterday's evidence, as if the football fans of South Florida are in for another long campaign.
Ndamukong Suh, the supposedly fearsome defensive lineman who was the team's major free-agent signing of the off-season, was unable to threaten Fitzpatrick, and was overshadowed by the Jets' Muhammad Wilkerson, who sacked Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill twice.
After a coin-toss attended by Dolphin quarterback legends Bob Griese and Dan Marino, the game kicked off at breakfast time on the East Coast of the USA. Miami's opening drive included a dropped pass by wide receiver Jarvis Landry and a false-start penalty, which set the tone for their afternoon.
In contrast, as soon as Fitzpatrick got his hands on the ball he found receiver Marshall with a 58-yard pass and two plays later Ivory charged into the endzone for a touchdown.
Fitzpatrick, the Harvard-educated veteran with a hipster beard who is playing for his sixth NFL team, got the Jets into the red zone again on their next possession and only three last-ditch defensive plays by the Dolphins' linebackers and secondary prevented another touchdown instead of the field goal and a 10-0 lead that the Jets settled for.
A spectacular one-handed catch by Eric Decker, a pre-game injury doubt, helped set up another field goal, Nick Folk converting from 48 yards to extend the Jets' lead to 13-0. But the New York team must have felt that they should have been further ahead after failing to take advantage of good field positions.
The Dolphins were in desperate need of a turnaround in their fortunes and it arrived as the Jets' defence suddenly lost its discipline, conceding two penalties for pass interference on successive plays. That took Miami 58 yards upfield and allowed Ryan Tannehill to throw an 8-yard touchdown pass to backup tight end Jake Stoneburner and reduce the arrears to 13-7.
But the Jets were in no mood to be so generous again. And they restored their 13-point lead late in the second quarter when Fitzpatrick charged 19 yards himself to set up a touchdown pass to Decker. Then third-string running back Zac Stacy ran in to make it 27-7 by half-time.
The Dolphins hit back in the fourth quarter with Tannehill's ten-yard pass to Kenny Stills. But when they threatened to make the later stages of the game interesting by fighting their way to the Jets' two-yard line, they shot themselves in the foot with yet another penalty as Jarvis Landry's endzone catch was ruled out.