There is a feeling athletes chase as kids, when the game was pure and joyful, before contracts and pressure. Darren Waller said he lost that feeling. “I feel like when I started playing football as a kid, I feel like I lost that sh*t sometimes,” he said, his voice trailing off for just a beat after the Dolphins’ chaotic 27-21 win over the Jets.

“But yeah, tonight was pretty cool.” It was more than cool; it was a resurrection staged in the middle of a beautiful disaster. Coming back to the league is one thing. Coming back with the weight of expectation is another. Waller felt it all day Monday. “Yeah, a little bit of fear, a little bit of everything,” he admitted, “cause I haven’t really been practicing a ton.”

He hadn’t done much with the team, and the internal monologue was screaming at him to “be somebody that this team can rely on and give the team a return on their investment.” He delivered that return early, a stunning TD grab over Sauce Gardner where he threaded the needle and tapped both feet inbounds. It was a perfect throw from Tua Tagovailoa, a statement from a guy just trying to find his rhythm again.

The Dolphins got their first win, but it felt like a Pyrrhic victory. The entire stadium held its breath when Tyreek Hill was carted off,. The replays were grim, showing his leg bending in a way it never should.

He smiled and waved on his way out, a stoic gesture in the face of catastrophe. And then, mere seconds later, as the shock still hung in the humid Florida air, Tua found Waller again. A simple rollout, a lofted pass to a wide-open man. It was Waller’s second TD on just 3 catches for 27 yds.

There was no wild celebration. For Waller, it was about shutting out the noise. “Just trying to be as present as possible,” he explained. “I feel like I know what to do… to when a play is to be made, I can make it.”

The thing is, the Jets had every opportunity to take this game. They outgained the Dolphins on paper, but they couldn’t stop fumbling.

A win is a win, even when it’s this ugly

Jets’ night? A masterclass in self-sabotage. Braelon Allen coughed it up at the goal line. Justin Fields, despite some electric scrambling that netted him 81 rushing yds and a dazzling 43-yd TD run, lost the ball on a sack. Then Isaiah Williams fumbled away the second-half kickoff. 3 turnovers. You can’t spot a division rival 3 extra possessions and expect to walk out with a win. It’s just not how this league works.

Every time a little grace appeared, chaos followed. Garrett Wilson made an acrobatic, would-be TD catch, only to have it wiped away by a questionable OPI flag. Tua took off for a rare scramble and took a launching hit from Jets linebacker Kiko Mauigoa that looked horrifying in real-time but drew a crucial penalty. It was sloppy, desperate football played by two 0-3 teams clawing for their first taste of victory.

In the end, Miami walked away with the win, but the mood was hardly jubilant. The questions now pivot to a future without Hill. But for one night, in the wreckage of a brutal game, Darren Waller found what he was looking for.  He was a guy finding a little piece of that kid-like joy he thought he’d lost for good.