FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Miami Dolphins opened a two-score lead over the New England Patriots in the second quarter of Sunday night’s prime-time matchup, but their offense was set up by a strong defensive effort.

Linebacker Bradley Chubb caught up to Patriots wide receiver Demario Davis and stripped the ball to give the Dolphins possession at their own 27-yard line. Facing second-and-19 on the ninth play of the ensuing drive, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa hit receiver Jaylen Waddle for a 28-yard gain, and running back Raheem Mostert finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown two plays later.

Raheem Mostert quick with it! The @Dolphins 11 play, 73-yard drive ends in a TD ?

?: #MIAvsNE on NBC
?: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/VlrHPwJY7H

— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2023

Miami sent running back Salvon Ahmed in motion toward the wide area of the field pre-snap before running to the opposite side with Mostert, who high-stepped away from linebacker Jahlani Tavai and outran cornerback Christian Gonzalez to the corner of the end zone.

After rushing for three touchdowns in 16 games last season, Mostert already has two this season.

Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill, who combined for two touchdowns in Miami’s opening 36-34 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, hooked up for a 2-yard touchdown with 11 seconds before halftime as the Dolphins led 17-3 at the break.

Tagovailoa completed all seven of his passes on the eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive, including an impressive tight-window throw to Braxton Berrios to set up the touchdown on the next play. Tagovailoa completed 15 of 20 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown in the first half, even as New England’s defense sought to take away the deep ball threat with three deep safeties on the field frequently throughout the half.

Tua. Cheetah. TD.

?: #MIAvsNE on NBC
?: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/QwaPXzL0FH

— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2023

FRISCO, Texas — Since training camp started, the Dallas Cowboys have signed cornerback Trevon Diggs, safety Malik Hooker and right tackle Terence Steele to extensions and reworked the contract of right guard Zack Martin, and they would still like to work on deals with quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

Prescott and Lamb are under contract through 2024 with Prescott set to count $59.4 million against the salary cap next year.

“Those types of numbers, especially the big ones, you live with constantly. That’s always on your mind,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday. “There’s never a time where it goes away because you’ve got to make the entire thing fit. And so, it’s on the mind on a player decision in the middle of the year. It’s just a fundamental. We expect Dak to be with us a long time. And, yeah, we’ll always [be] working around it with several machinations of numbers that would work.”

Jones has continually expressed the desire to sign Prescott to an extension, but getting one completed would actually chew into salary cap room this year. In 2024, Prescott is scheduled to make $29 million in salary and has a $5 million roster bonus.

The Cowboys put the fifth-year option on Lamb for 2024 at a cost of $17.99 million but have had talks this offseason with his agent regarding an extension that would make him among the higher-paid receivers in the NFL.

In the past, some players have used Week 1 of a season as a deadline of sorts in terms of wanting to get a deal done. It’s not clear if either player has said such a thing to the Cowboys, but Jones said the team would be willing to let the talks continue into the season.

“And it may be a better time for them to get to the point where they can make a decision,” Jones said. “We all, I know I do, have times that I get up and I feel like locking something down that may be a loose end. If I get a chance to, well, I’ll do it. That should sound flexible because it is. It’s a moving part. Of course, the real-life situation that we deal with is injury, and we deal with appreciating and depreciating talent levels. It goes up and down. And it happens there right before your eyes. It can happen during a season, so how you start a season off is not how you end up a season with a short-term and long-term look either.”

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — New York Jets coach Robert Saleh believes it’s in the best interest of the team to play quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the final preseason game, bad history and injury risk be damned.

“You can’t coach scared, you can’t play scared,” Saleh said Tuesday, confirming that Rodgers will start Saturday against the New York Giants. “You can slip out of your car and have something happen to you. Knock on wood, everyone will be fine.”

Rodgers, 39, who sat out the first three games and hasn’t played in the preseason since 2018, said he was in favor of playing even before Saleh broached the idea.

“There wasn’t much of a conversation with Robert,” Rodgers said. “I think he was a little more nervous I might have said no, but I was already leaning toward asking him to play. So, it was an easy conversation.”

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