Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 350 yards and the Miami Dolphins erupted for 30 first-half points Sunday afternoon en route to a 43-17 demolition of the San Francisco 49ers in a game at Santa Clara, Calif., that saw the defending NFC champions bench quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
Fitzpatrick threw touchdown passes to Adam Shaheen, DeVante Parker and Preston Williams during his 14th career 350-yard game, his first since throwing for a career-best 419 against Cincinnati last December.
Myles Gaskin added a 1-yard touchdown run and Jason Sanders kicked five field goals, helping the Dolphins (2-3) run up their highest point total since 44 against Houston in October of 2015 and win for the second time in the last three games.
The loss was the second straight overall and third in a row at home for the 49ers (2-3), who welcomed back Garoppolo (ankle) and running back Raheem Mostert (knee) from injuries.
Garoppolo, who was injured in Week 2 against the New York Jets, played only the first half, going 7-for-17 for 77 yards with two interceptions.
C.J. Beathard took over for the second half and connected with Kendrick Bourne on a 19-yard touchdown pass, but it was far too little as San Francisco, down 30-7 at halftime, got no closer than 16 in the final 30 minutes.
Mostert finished as the game's leading rusher with 90 yards on 11 carries for San Francisco, which suffered its most one-sided home loss since falling 39-10 to the Los Angeles Rams in October of 2018.
Williams and tight end Mike Gesicki were Fitzpatrick's favorite receivers, Williams totaling 106 yards on four catches and Gesicki 91 on five.
Xavien Howard and Bobby McCain recorded interceptions for the Dolphins, both occurring late in the first half and prompting the 49ers' quarterback change at halftime.
The Dolphins wasted no time gaining the upper hand, scoring touchdowns on each of their first two possessions on a 3-yard pass from Fitzpatrick to Shaheen just 4:15 into the game and Gaskin's 1-yard plunge about 6 1/2 minutes later.
The 49ers cut their deficit in half on a 7-yard TD run by Kyle Juszczyk in the third minute of the second quarter, but the Dolphins dominated the rest of the half, scoring on a 22-yard, Fitzpatrick-to-Parker connection and the first three of Sanders' five field goals.
Fitzpatrick accumulated 251 of his 350 passing yards in the half.
--Field Level Media
Miami | San Francisco | |
Myles Gaskin | Player | Raheem Mostert |
16 | Attempts | 11 |
57 | Yards | 90 |
3.6 | Avg Yards | 8.2 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
21 | Long | 37 |
Miami | San Francisco | |
Preston Williams | Player | Brandon Aiyuk |
4 | Receptions | 3 |
106 | Yards | 44 |
26.5 | Avg Yards | 14.7 |
1 | Touchdowns | 0 |
47 | Long | 20 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Miami | 436 | 94 | 342 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5.0 | 2 |
San Francisco | 259 | 131 | 128 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 |