JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Sometimes it is better to give than to receive.

Luckily for the Miami Dolphins, the Jacksonville Jaguars were in a giving mood Sunday.

The Dolphins used two interception returns for touchdowns to power their way past the Jaguars 27-13.

The Jaguars held an advantage in total yards, first downs and time of possession, but the two key pick-six returns more than offset those categories. Jacksonville rookie quarterback Blake Bortles has now thrown 12 interceptions in the six games he’s played since coming in at halftime of the game against the Indianapolis Colts. Four of the interceptions have been returned for touchdowns.

But while Bortles suffered through another rough outing, the Dolphins offense also struggled. Miami went three-and-out on its first three possessions and didn’t pick up its initial first down until there was less than four minutes remaining in the first half.

The second half was better as the Dolphins accumulated 270 yards of offense and scored 17 points, including one of their two interception returns.

“You have to give Jacksonville’s defense credit, they were playing fast, they were playing well,” Miami coach Joe Philbin said. “We didn’t talk about this team’s record this week, we talked about watching their film the last three weeks. They’re averaging giving up 13 points the last three weeks.

“It’s not easy to win on the road. It’s our third win in a row. I thought our guys hung tough. Let’s face it, it wasn’t overly pretty, especially on offense. It was a little bit of a struggle. I’m not going to say it wasn’t, but at the end of the day, our defense gave up one touchdown and offensively, we made a couple of plays in the second half. We have to do better without a doubt.”

After a scoreless first quarter, safety Louis Delmas stepped in front of a pass intended for Jaguars tight end Nick Jacobs at the 19-yard line. Delmas had nothing but an open field ahead of him and, accompanied by three teammates, covered the 81 yards for the touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.

Both teams added a field goal later in the quarter to give the Dolphins a 10-3 halftime lead.

Jacksonville had multiple opportunities to put up more points in the half. The Jaguars reached the Miami 30 on their first possession, but a Josh Scobee field goal was blocked. On their next possession, the Jaguars advanced to the Dolphins 28 where a 46-yard field goal by Scobee was good, but the Jaguars were called for holding, nullifying the kick.

Jacksonville then marched to the Miami 23 when Bortles threw the costly interception. After a Scobee 30-yard field goal produced their first points, the Jaguars got inside the Dolphins’ 30 for a fifth consecutive series, but Bortles fumbled on a scramble and Delmas recovered at the 23.

Bortles made another costly mistake in the opening series of the second half. He underthrew wide receiver Cecil Shorts, with cornerback Brent Grimes making the interception and going untouched to the end zone from 22 yards out for the score.

It marked the first time that the Dolphins returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the same game since December 6, 1998, against Oakland when Zach Thomas and Robert Jones had pick-sixes.

What the Dolphins are saying:

“Ryan’s (quarterback Ryan Tannehill) game was kind of like the whole offense. There’s some good there, some room for improvement. I didn’t think, offensively, we were in great rhythm throughout the entire day, more in the second half than the first. We did some good things, but we have to be better.” – Head coach Joe Philbin

What the Jaguars are saying:

“Defensively it was another good game points-wise, playing hard. Specials teams had some errors but we felt like thet played hard. But it’s these little things, and that’s the difference. That’s just going to keep us where we’re at to where we want to go. We have to learn to do those things Gus Bradley. I’ll take responsibility on what took place here and we have to come back and practice and truly attack these things because we can’t continue in this fashion.” – Head coach Gus Bradley

What we learned about the Dolphins:

1. Miami’s offensive line needs to play well from the opening whistle. The Dolphins looked anemic in their first three possession, gaining a total of 4 yards in nine plays. It wasn’t until their fourth series that Miami was able to pick up its first first down of the game. “We just came out too flat the first half and couldn’t start fast like we had planned to do,” said guard Mike Pouncey. “When we don’t play well in the first half, we have these types of game and we can’t afford to have that take place down the road.” The Dolphins had just 56 yards of offense in the first half, but totaled 270 yards in the final two quarters.

2. The Dolphins made the most of an experienced secondary to put Jaguars rookie quarterback Blake Bortles through another rough day. The secondary picked off two passes — two bad throws by Bortles — and raced untouched to the end zone for scores. With the offense only scoring one touchdown and adding a pair of field goals, the defense needed to come up big in this game. Safety Louis Delmas, who had one of the pick-six thefts resulting in an 81-yard return, said he did it by focusing on Bortles’ eyes. “I was latched on to the receiver on the play,” Delmas said. “I turned and looked into the eyes of the quarterback and he was looking our way. When I saw that he was under pressure I came off the receiver and went for the ball. It was easy to score from there.”

–S Cortland Finnegan likes what he’s seeing in the Dolphins secondary. He’s one of the more experienced members of the group that came up with three turnovers on Sunday. “As a veteran, I’m trying to help the younger players because everyone is one play away,” he said. “Learning from coach [Kevin] Coyle and playing in a secondary with a defensive line and front seven that we have, it can be opportunistic at times.”

–OG Mike Pouncey knew he and his offensive line mates would have to be at their best to hold out the Jaguars pass rush. Jacksonville came into the game with 22 sacks, second most in the NFL through week seven. The Jaguars added to that total with three more, a feat that didn’t sit well with Pouncey. “They do a really good job getting to the quarterback and they did a really good job today,” he said. “That’s something we have to look at on film and see what went wrong. Our effort today won’t win too many games in this league.”

–DE Cameron Wake led a Dolphins defense that did a better job of shutting down the Jaguars offense in the second half than in the first 30 minutes. Jacksonville totaled 219 yards of offense in the first two periods but was held to 158 in the second half, 68 of which came on Jacksonville’s final possession of the game and resulted in the Jaguars’ only touchdown of the game. “We just went out there [and played like] every time the ball is on the field, we felt like we could get out there and get a stop,” Wake said. It was one of those games that we had to play to a level that they weren’t used to and a level that we expect from ourselves.”

What we learned about the Jaguars:

1. Quarterback Blake Bortles has to learn when he can and can’t throw the ball into tight coverage. Bortles threw his 11th and 12th interceptions of the season, and both were costly as the Dolphins returned both for scores. That’s now four Bortles passes that have ended in opposing end zones this year. The rookie quarterback says he’s trying to take something positive from the negative throws. “Obviously you don’t want to turn the ball over, but it’s going to happen and there’s no reason to think about it or dwell on it or do anything — you can’t do anything. It’s over with. It’s done, so try and move on and not let it happen again.”

2. Running back Denard Robinson may be better than the Jaguars thought. Robinson went over the 100-yard mark for a second straight game, the first time a Jacksonville back has done that since 2011 when Maurice Jones-Drew did it. It was another strong start for Robinson who had 90 of his 108 yards by halftime. He was held to 18 yards in seven carries in the second half. His best effort came on the second play of the game when he turned the corner on the right side and raced 41 yards down the sideline before he was stopped. “Denard is playing very well right now,” Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said.

–DE Ryan Davis had a two-sack afternoon against the Dolphins and led a defense that held a fourth consecutive opponent to less than 375 yards of offense. The Jaguars also held opposing offenses to 17 points or fewer for a fourth straight week. Despite the strong showing by the defense, the Jaguars are only 1-3 during that stretch, primarily because their offense has only scored 60 points, 24 of which came in the win against Cleveland last week. But Davis isn’t about to cast any blame toward his teammates on the other side of the ball. “We don’t want to point fingers,” he said. “This is a team sport, 11 on 11. Everybody’s out there trying to get a W so we were just on the other side of it today.”

–WR Cecil Shorts has played with a pair of rookie quarterbacks in two of his four years in the NFL. He knows the tough times that a team, and receivers in particular, can go through with a first-year quarterback. Shorts had three catches for 41 yards on Sunday against the Dolphins and now has 23 receptions for 216 yards in five games this year. Shorts is on target to finish with his lowest numbers since his rookie season when he had just two catches. But he hasn’t lost any confidence in Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles. “If you’re Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, you’re going to have days like this, so it’s just adversity. To have success, you’re going to go through adversity. Blake will do a great job of bouncing back. I don’t want to just put the blame on him, as an offense, we have to do better — everybody. We have to go out and make plays.”

–QB Blake Bortles continues to learn on the job in his rookie season with the Jaguars. In his six games, five as a starter, Bortles has had his ups and downs. He’s had a passer rating in the 80s in three games, but has also had three games of less than 60.0. The Jaguars had hoped to have him watch and learn from the sidelines this year, but inserted him in the third game of the season and he’s played every snap since then. He finished 18-of-34 for 221 yards, but threw two costly interceptions that were returned for touchdowns, bringing his passer rating down to 58.6. “It’s been a big learning experience,” he said. “There’s been a lot of different situations, a lot of different looks that I’m now seeing multiple times. I make different decisions rather than the decision I made the first time. That’s something that I guess is a positive. So I’ve just got to try and continue to do things like that.”