Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had 139 passing yards and a touchdown pass when cornerback Brandin Echols picked off the former Alabama All-American with 58 seconds left in the first half and put the New York Jets back in the NFL’s first Black Friday game.

Echols returned his third career interception 30 yards for a touchdown. Echols had returned his first NFL interception 20 yards for a touchdown against Tagovailoa on Dec. 19, 2021.

Jets cornerback D.J. Reed then intercepted Tagovailoa with two seconds left in the first half at the New York 49-yard line. The Jets had one first down to show for the first half, but quarterback Tim Boyle had a Hail Mary’s chance of giving New York a halftime lead. Instead, safety Jevon Holland intercepted the heave and ran it back 99 points for a touchdown and an 11-point Miami advantage.

In the second half, Tagovailoa put the two interceptions – and an ugly gash on his right arm — behind him and finished off the Dolphins’ 34-13 victory on Friday.

“Very, very disappointed in how I conducted those two drives at the ending of the half,” Tagovailoa said. “Just can’t do that. …

“It’s doing much more than what is asked, trying to be a little too aggressive on certain things. Just can’t do that. With that pick six, I basically, if you want to look at it this way, kind of kept them in the game.”

How Tagovailoa played after that is what bodes well for the Dolphins as they approach the final six games on their regular-season schedule, Miami coach Mike McDaniel said.

“One of the biggest obstacles he’s had to climb is frustration within his own game within a game and making sure that doesn’t linger,” McDaniel said. “What I did see was him bounce back. That takes a lot of training, especially when he’s as accountable a player as he is. He is absolutely, positively so anger with himself in those moments. But to be able to come back and lead with authority and do all the things that we ask him to do. To execute on a down-by-down basis for the rest of the game, I thought was very encouraging.

“I also thought that he probably had his best third-down game against a really good third-down defense. That’s a very good defense in general, but in third down, it’s not easy to move the chains.”

Tagovailoa passed only seven times in the second half. He completed six of them for 62 yards. Four of the completions picked up first downs as Miami converted six of its seven third-downs snaps in the second half, which included a 15-play, 92-yard touchdown drive that took 9:03.

“Needless to say coming into the second half, I was very proud of how we were operating offensively when we did get opportunities from the defense,” Tagovailoa said. “We sustained a long drive and ended that with points. Very proud of our O-line, very proud of our run game and very proud of this team. It’s hard to win road games, especially against a team like this, a division game. …

“We just went back to what we said we wanted to do at the beginning of the game. We wanted to establish our run game. We wanted to get those guys moving lateral in the back end and then when we had opportunities to take our shots, we tried to take our shots. I think our O-line, our receivers, our running backs, I think they did a phenomenal job on third down understanding what needed to be done in those situations and converting.”

By ending a third-game road losing streak, Miami improved to 8-3, which moved the Dolphins into a tie with the Baltimore Ravens for the best record in the AFC. The Ravens visit the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night, and the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs enter their Sunday games with 7-3 records.

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The Dolphins play the Jets again on Dec. 17 and face the Ravens on Dec. 31. Miami also has the Washington Commanders, Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills left to play. Four of the games are at home.

“The sky’s the limit for us,” Tagovailoa said. “Whatever we want to accomplish, everything’s right there in front of us. We basically determine our own fate here in this league, so just got to continue stacking those wins.”

Tagovailoa completed 21-of-30 passes for 243 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. For the season, Tagovailoa has completed 263-of-377 passes for 3,177 yards with 22 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

“I feel good about my game,” Tagovailoa said. “I’m not satisfied whatsoever about what I’m doing right now. I know I can continue to get better with that. Throughout these late stretches of having these games, going to need better ball from me. I need to do that.”

Tagovailoa wasn’t feeling so good about the gash on his arm. He didn’t know he had it until he came to the sideline during the first half, but it’s on the arm that he got tattooed in the offseason.

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“Yeah, it did,” Tagovailoa said when asked if the injury had messed up his tattoo. “Going to have to get it retouched.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.