This past Sunday, the Dolphins shut out the New York Jets, beating them 30-0. It went as expected, as Miami was a seven-point favorite, and the game wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated. The Dolphins sat Tua Tagovailoa for most of the fourth quarter, as the Dolphins swept the season series and eliminated the Jets from the postseason; their 13-year postseason drought is now the longest active streak in US professional sports.
Miami has dominated this storied rivalry of late; the Jets have only beaten Miami twice since the Obama administration. This win was a little different, as it put to rest some panicked speculation, overreaction and predictions of doom for the Dolphins; there was a cloud hanging over the fanbase after the tragic collapse against the Titans the previous week. And that was a tragic loss, awakening memories of December swoons from Miami’s past that scarred every one of us.
The Dolphins rebounded against the Jets with a performance that left no doubt which team was superior. Miami still controls their own destiny in the AFC and can earn the #1 overall seed and a bye by winning out. After Sunday, even the most pessimistic Dolphins fan would be hard-pressed to deny a fairly evident conclusion: The Miami Dolphins are a good football team.
Can they become a great team? The next several weeks will tell us. For now, let’s take a look back at the Jets game and then look ahead to Sunday’s game against the Cowboys.
What Went Right Against the Jets?
Playing with a banged-up offensive line and without Tyreek Hill, the Dolphins offense wasn’t the same explosive unit. Instead, it was a methodical and patient offense that took advantage of opportunities and played a clean, efficient game. Without the one long play to Jaylen Waddle, one might call it boring. What you can definitely call it is winning football; the ability to play this way will be complementary when Hill returns.
Defensively, it was a spectacle. The Jets don’t scare anyone on offense, but this was an epic throttling. The Jets had four yards of offense in the first half, and barely broke 100 total yards by the end of the game. Led by Bradley Chubb, the defense tallied six sacks, two fumble recoveries and two interceptions, while holding the Jets to under two yards per play. That’s a heck of a day at the office.
What Went Wrong Against the Jets?
Very little. Tua was sacked three times and pressured several more by a solid Jets D, but the offense kept its rhythm. Even Special Teams played a solid game, playing error-free and stopping a bizarre Jets fake punt attempt early in the game.
If there was one blemish, it was a few penalties that could be cleaned up, but that’s nitpicking. This was an outstanding performance against an overmatched Jets team in every facet of the game. After the Titans debacle, this is exactly what they needed.
Up Next: The Dallas Cowboys
The 10-4 Miami Dolphins host the 10-4 Dallas Cowboys in a game that has talking heads everywhere buzzing about “good teams that can’t beat good teams.” Apparently, the narrative is that neither the Dolphins nor the Cowboys can beat good teams, so when they collide on Sunday, it will open some sort of mediocrity improbability vortex that will consume the NFL.
Or maybe not. The interesting thing about narratives is that they don’t affect standings or playoff seeding or team performance or the time-space continuum. All narratives do is keep football media personalities employed.
So, what do the Cowboys bring to Miami next week? Make no mistake, despite last week’s performance, Dallas is a good team. They have a lethal passing attack with Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson and Brandin Cooks. Their running game is solid, if not spectacular. And their defense, prior to last week, was solid.
But last week, Buffalo exposed the Cowboys run defense by running the ball down their throats all game long, to the tune of 266 yards on the ground in a 31-10 demolition.
The Dolphins can certainly run the ball. Does this mean that Miami will be able to do the exact same thing that Buffalo did last week? That’s unlikely; there were probably some very unpleasant team meetings in Dallas. However, the Bills exposed a weakness that Mike McDaniel should certainly try to exploit. Miami’s run game should be able to sustain a balanced attack, even if they don’t duplicate the Bills performance last week.
Defensively, the Dolphins are going up a considerably better O-Line than the catastrophe they faced against the Jets, but the Zack Martin injury bears watching. If Martin can’t play, the Cowboys will start an undrafted rookie across from Christian Wilkins, which figures to be the equivalent of slathering an ice dancer in honey and placing them in front of a grizzly bear. If Miami can pressure Prescott with their front four, it figures to be a long day for Dallas.
And if Tyreek Hill plays, as expected, it might be even longer. It’s time to put the narratives to rest.All Posts
Prediction: Miami 35, Dallas 21
