Is this a Trap game for Miami? – Jets at Dolphins

Is there a game or two that come to mind over the last 20 years that you know that the Miami Dolphins had to win a game and they didn’t?

I can. After the Miami Dolphins got a big win against the New England Patriots in 2013(the Michael Thomas INT game), they needed to win a road game in Buffalo and home against the Jets, in full control of their destiny, and they lost.

Another is 2018 after the Dolphins miraculously beat New England in week 14, lost 3 games in a row to end the season.

In 2019, the New York Jets made a trip to Miami in Week 9. The Dolphins at the time were 0-7 while the Jets were 1-6 coming into that game. The Jets one win in that stretch came from a home game against the Dallas Cowboys. They were in fact missing Sam Darnold for a good portion of the 2019 season due to mono. So many thought at the time of New York’s 1-6 start, that if they had their QB playing, their record would be better. Others were blaming the coach, former Dolphins HC Adam Gase. So there were many questions at the time. On paper, it looked like the Jets were supposed to beat the Dolphins, that’s why we play the game. The final score was 26-18, where each team had a safety, Sam Darnold’s safety came on a miscommunication with his OL. Darnold had yet another INT, Fitzpatrick threw for 288, 3 TD, 0 INT’s. The Jets were embarrassed, letting a winless team get their first win of the season.

But that was not the only winless team that the Jets let get their first win. In week 13, The Jets were facing the 0-11 Cincinnati Bengals, and they also let Cincy get their first win of the season with a final score of 22-6. Embarrassing if you’re a Jet fan. You ask yourself “How can we allow two winless teams to get their first win?” The easy answer is coaching, Adam Gase. Not getting his team prepared mentally more than anything to not look down on their opponent. I know the Jets don’t have the best talent, but you can’t get one win against a winless team?

There was also a bit of drama in the middle of last season where they were entertaining calls on a potential Jamal Adams trade, which Adams took very personally. However, there was a little optimism for the Jets at the end of the 2019 season(if you want to call it that), where the Jets won 6 of their last 8 games of the season to finish at 7-9. However, it’s a little deceiving. One of those losses in that stretch as mentioned earlier was against the winless Bengals, 3 of those wins were against 3 teams picking in the top 12 of the draft(Giants, Washington, Miami, Raiders), and a Buffalo team who rested their starters in week 17 because they already locked up their playoff seed.

To say 7-9 was deceiving for the Jets is an understatement. Let’s talk about all the players that have played better since Adam Gase no longer coached them: Jarvis Landry, Damien Williams, Jordan Phillips, Ryan Tannehill, DeVante Parker, Mike Gesicki, Kenyan Drake. Those were just the Dolphins. How about the players he let in NY? Robby Anderson, their best receiver signed with the Carolina Panthers, Le’Veon Bell, who just got released. Most importantly, Jamal Adams. Yes, they were able to get 2 first-round picks for him, but think about the number of players who left a Gase-coached team. Most of them are very consistent with how Adam Gase goes about his business behind closed doors. It’s a bit obvious when he speaks to the media as well, especially with his lack of accountability after a loss.

My most frustrating moment with Adam Gase was in 2018, a road game loss against Indianapolis where the Dolphins had control of the game, played conservatively(in other words, coaching not to lose), and Andrew Luck and the Colts were able to come back and win the game. In Gase’s presser, zero accountability. I wanted to run through a wall. Seeing him do this on the Jets shows that he has not learned from his mistakes and thinks he knows it all. His team is 7-14 since he took the job in NY. What it’s going to take for him to finally get down to earth? Getting fired most likely, maybe not. I could be wrong.

Going into the 2020 season, many had the Jets finishing in the top 5 of the NFL Draft based on their lack of talent, but nobody thought that they would be 0-5 bad, all of their losses were by 9 points or more. So more than one score is what they’ve lost by in every single game this season. Not even giving themselves a chance to win.

Now let’s see where they land in offensive rankings, shield your eyes if you’re a Jets fan hopping on this Dolphins site.

No way to sugarcoat this, the Jets stink! Remember a time where Adam Gase was considered a QB whisperer? That didn’t age well. He was supposed to “fix” Tannehill. Take Darnold to that next level, none of those happened.

Now let’s look at the Dolphins in their wins and losses. In both of their wins, their average point differential is +22. In their 3 losses, the average point differential in those losses is -7. The total point differential for the season is +23.

So we have one team(the Jets), who can’t even get within a touchdown in any of their losses, let alone can’t buy a win. Then we have Miami, coming off an offseason with 3 first-round picks, a QB in Tua Tagovailoa waiting in the wings while Fitzpatrick is playing well(for now), and an offensive line whose sacks allowed are down from a year before. A defense, who has been able to get to the QB more after struggling to do so in the first 2 weeks of the season. These teams are trending in opposite directions.

So the question is, is this a trap game? I’m going to say, no.

There’s no reason for Miami to lose Sunday, zero excuses. With the emergence of DeVante Parker and Mike Gesicki, Myles Gaskin coming on the scene, the secondary being healthy with Jones being back and Xavien Howard continuing to get INT’s(the most INT’s since December 2017). Let’s not forget that the Jets just released Le’veon Bell, Sam Darnold will not be playing due to a shoulder injury, Joe Flacco will be starting in place. Jamal Adams is gone. This game on paper looks like a game the Dolphins not only should win but win enough to officially end the Adam Gase era in New York.

I know there’s the “any given Sunday” and any Dolphins team can show up, and we could have Fitztragic. I do think with Brian Flores’ coaching style, how he keeps players accountable and how laser-focused he is on the current opponent at the time, helping his team keep the foot on the gas pedal, I don’t see how there will be a letdown in this game. If we lose though, get ready for some not so pleasant podcasts, articles, or tweets. Whether it’s Mike and Tom on DolphinsTalk.com Daily, Josh and Aaron on The Same Old Dolphins Show, and the other contributors on this site like myself. It won’t be a pleasant tone, but I don’t anticipate it because many of us believe that The Dolphins will beat the Jets easily this Sunday.

Possibly by this time next week, The Miami Dolphins could be a game back of the division, heading into their bye, with the Buffalo Bills playing the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs next week.

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