luckadjusted

Week 11 2025 · November 16, 2025

Commanders vs Dolphins, Week 11 2025: who deserved to win?

The Dolphins beat the Commanders 16–13, but it was a coin flip: replayed with the way both teams played, the Dolphins win 5 of 10. Luck ran their way: kicks alone were worth 7.1 points to the Dolphins.

Before kickoff the Dolphins were 57% favorites. The biggest swing (Q4, 0:10 left): J. Waddle dropped a catchable pass, worth 39 points of win probability to the Commanders.

Final (OT)

Washington Commanders 13
Miami Dolphins 16

November 16, 2025 · Hard Rock Stadium · Closing line: Dolphins −2.5

Luck index +47 Dolphins lucky · −47 Commanders

Each team’s own plays from this game, resampled into new drives 4,000 times: with the way both teams actually played, how often does this performance win? How the replay works

Ten replays. Commanders win 5, Dolphins win 5.

  1. 1 WAS 27 MIA 3
  2. 2 WAS 24 MIA 10
  3. 3 WAS 16 MIA 6
  4. 4 WAS 26 MIA 21
  5. 5 WAS 19 MIA 17
  6. 6 WAS 14 MIA 16
  7. 7 WAS 13 MIA 19
  8. 8 WAS 3 MIA 13
  9. 9 WAS 13 MIA 27
  10. 10 WAS 13 MIA 34

Three other ways to ask

Each answers a different question, so none of them replaces the replay above.

The closing betting line, turned into a probability. What everyone knew before the game.

The line plus what this game showed, weighted by how much one game can tell. It stays close to the line because one game says little.

Every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call redrawn; everything else fixed. The narrowest view of luck.

How 4,000 replays ended

Commanders win 47% of them, Dolphins 53%, counting the 7% still level after regulation as half each. The line is what actually happened: Dolphins by 3.

Show as a table
Final margin in the replaysShare of replays
Commanders by 17+8.7%
Commanders by 9–1612.6%
Commanders by 1–823.6%
Level after regulation6.9%
Dolphins by 1–823.3%
Dolphins by 9–1615.3%
Dolphins by 17+9.6%

Where the luck was

Take the luck out

The final margin was Dolphins by 3. Remove the luck, one kind at a time, and it becomes Commanders by 1.7.

Each row takes one kind of luck out of the margin. Color shows which team it helped. Luck shares are the fitted ones (how much of each component is luck).

The kicks

How likely each kicker was to make that kick (his own record, the distance and the weather), and what happened.

  • R. Patterson, 46 yds made · 78% expected
  • M. Gay, 26 yds made · 98% expected
  • R. Patterson, 39 yds made · 88% expected
  • M. Gay, 51 yds missed · 68% expected
  • M. Gay, 30 yds made · 96% expected
  • M. Gay, 56 yds missed · 59% expected
  • R. Patterson, 29 yds made · 97% expected
Bar: expected chance of a make. Filled dot: made. Open dot: missed or blocked.

When it happened

Dolphins’ chance of winning

As low as 24% and as high as 100%. Numbers mark the biggest luck moments, listed below.

nflfastR’s in-game win probability. It ignores the betting line, so it starts near even. Shaded above the middle while the Dolphins were ahead in it, below while the Commanders were.
#WhenWhat happenedWin probability forNext drive
1 Q4 12:38 The Dolphins converted 3rd & 13rd & 4th downs · 68% expected +14% MIA MIA: Touchdown
2 Q4 10:49 The Commanders converted 3rd & 93rd & 4th downs · 30% expected +18% WAS WAS: Turnover on downs
3 Q4 6:06 The Commanders were stopped on 4th & 13rd & 4th downs · 67% expected +16% MIA WAS: Missed field goal
4 Q4 4:34 J. Waddle dropped a catchable passDrops · 17 drops on 295 catchable balls before this +12% WAS MIA: Punt
5 Q4 1:44 The Dolphins were stopped on 4th & 13rd & 4th downs · 67% expected +21% WAS MIA: End of game
6 Q4 1:05 The Commanders converted 3rd & 63rd & 4th downs · 38% expected +16% WAS WAS: Missed field goal
7 Q4 0:15 M. Gay missed 56-yard field goalKicks · 59% expected for him, 54 of 80 from 45+ before +34% MIA WAS: Turnover
8 Q4 0:10 J. Waddle dropped a catchable passDrops · 18 drops on 296 catchable balls before this +39% WAS MIA: End of game

Missing players

Key players (usually on the field for half the snaps or more) who missed this game or part of it, valued by position and quality. The same players are missing in every replay, so this counts as luck in points only.

  • Tyreek Hill (MIA WR), out (IR) · 1.2 pts
  • Rasul Douglas (MIA CB), out · 0.6 pts
  • Jayden Daniels (WAS QB), out, replaced by m.mariota · 3.0 pts
  • Marshon Lattimore (WAS CB), out (IR) · 1.0 pts
  • Terry McLaurin (WAS WR), out · 0.7 pts
  • Daron Payne (WAS DT), out (IR) · 0.5 pts
  • Trey Amos (WAS CB), out (IR) · 0.4 pts

Adjust the assumptions

Disagree with how much of a fumble bounce or a pass interference call is luck? Change it and the coin-flip replay reruns in your browser.

Only coin-flips re-rolled

Commanders 36% · Dolphins 64%

Final margin
Dolphins by 3
Luck in points
4.7 for the Dolphins
Luck-adjusted margin
Commanders by 1.7
Replay with same day's form
Commanders 47% · Dolphins 53% unchanged: why
How much of each is luck?

0% treats it as skill, 100% as pure luck. The tick is our fit.

What counts

We tested momentum on 19,000 lucky breaks and found none, so it's off by default. Why

Flip a play

Force the other outcome, in this game and in every replay: a made kick becomes a miss, a stop becomes a conversion, a flag goes the other way.

About these numbers

Play-by-play and win probability from nflfastR via nflverse; kicks valued against each kicker’s own record; drops and interception-worthy throws from FTN charting; injuries from snap counts and injury reports.

Methodology and validation · All Week 11 2025 games · Commanders · Dolphins

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