Dan Marino ended the Jets season in November 22 years ago.
Jets are on the edge of another failed season.
The Miami Dolphins and New York Jets will face off Sunday for the first of their two contests this season. Both teams are fiercely desperate to keep their playoff hopes alive, even though most football fans aren’t giving either team much of a chance to make the playoffs.
However, there is a chance — slim as it may be — so Miami must win this week to keep that chance alive.
Since there can’t be two winners, the reality is that the loser of this contest will find their 2016 season placed on a deathbed…
So why shouldn’t it be the Jest!
The best pay per head sites in the world opened the game with the Dolphins as -4 point favorite. The line quickly got hit and went to -3.5. For most of the week, the line has stayed steady at -3.5 with only slightly more action coming in on the underdog New York Jets. As of Saturday, the line has made a small move back to -4 for the Dolphins.
How Coach Adam Gase handles the offensive blocking schemes as they match up with a tough Jets front that’s prepared for Jay Ajayi will be crucial. The run game has become the lifeblood of the Miami’s turnaround and the Dolphins are going to look to continue to play their new found smash mouth style of football. The Jets will often load the box against Ajayi just as the last two defenses did, so they must continue to get excellent play from both their offensive and defensive lines.
Miami and Jets know each other very well, so it’ll likely to end up a close contest.
While the Jets ‘D’ has not played that well this year, allowing 26 points per game, they do have a talented front. Mike Pouncey will be the pin feather to the Dolphins run game. At the second level he is devastating, but at the point of impact against Defensive Tackles he often struggles. Opposing DTs find success when they line head up in the 0 or 1 technique. This often forces Pouncey to need support and weakens the blocking scheme. Gase has done a masterful job in his play design with counters, traps and pulling linemen as the counters to this. It needs to continue.
On Defense, the Dolphins need to once again stop the run, which will then allow them to tee off on Fitzpatrick when it’s time for the Jets to throw the ball. Nick Mangold is out and Ryan Clady hasn’t practiced all week, so he will likely be a scratch as well.These injuries will make it even harder of the Jets, who have not played well on offense this season, only scoring 18.8 points per game, which ranks them 28th worst in the league.
However, the Jets have some very good pass catchers in Marshall, Decker, and Enunwa, which means Miami’s secondary must bring their A-game, because this is definitely where the Jets can take advantage and steal a victory from Miami.
Miami should win this. Most of the keys point in their favor. The question is can Miami end the Jets season in November like Dan Marino did over twenty-two years ago? Wouldn’t that be something! Go Fins!!!