The Numbers Behind the Dolphins’ Dominance Over the NY Jets
With their recently found success in their offensive identity change, the Miami Dolphins came into MetLife Stadium on a three-game winning streak and four out of their last five. The Dolphins started fast, putting up 21 points by the end of the first quarter before stalling and adding more to their total of 34 points.
Gasps among the Dolphin community were loudly heard when star running back Achane went into the blue tent and did not return to the game in the second quarter. In stepped Jaylen Wright, and the offense did not miss a beat, totalling over 200 yards on the ground. The defense, as it has been the past few games, stood stout, created turnovers, and ultimately kept the Jets out of the endzone, offensively.
The move to a play style well-suited for harsh conditions is a step in the right direction of showing teams that they can play physically and in adverse conditions, which is a necessity towards the end of the season as well as the playoffs.
Let’s review the numbers displaying the dominating win:
41 – Miami rushed the ball 41 times, tying for the second most of the McDaniel era, further strengthening the shift to a run-first, play-physical defense game plan.
239 – Collectively, the Dolphins ran for 239 yards while averaging 5.8 yards per carry. This is the second time(with coach McD) Miami has had over 200 yards rushing in a game (first was in 2023 when they put up 70 points vs the Broncos).
13.1 – Before coming out of the game due to injury, De’Von Achane rushed seven times for 92 yards, averaging 13.1 yards per carry. It would have been something to have seen him stay on the field the entire game and how many yards he would have had.
107 – Jaylen Wright took the majority of the snaps once Achane went down and had some of his best Dolphins moments, rushing for 107 yards on 24 carries. As we’ve seen with Wright before, he appears to get stronger as the game goes on, looking as fresh and running as hard on his last carry as his first.
127 – In a pure, game manager role as of late, the 127 yards Tua passed for were the second lowest he has thrown for in a win, the lowest was in 2020 vs the Broncos, where he threw for 83 yards.
3 – Not to be left out, which was first thought to be a big problem with Sanders going down before the season, Riley Patterson has come on and made some big-time field goals, while only missing three kicks all year (2 field goals and one extra point). He is currently kicking at a 92% clip, going 23 for 25 to this point.
4 – In an unexpected turn of events, Miami is 4-0 since trading standout Jaelan Phillips to the Eagles, while his new team is 2-3. Was this somehow part of the spark that got Miami going?
88.8 – This team looks to have uncovered a true gem in tight end Greg Dulcich, who, since week 1,2 has the second-highest receiving grade among all tight ends at 88.8 (per PFF)
733 – Over the past four games, the Dolphins’ running backs have amassed 733 yards with seven touchdowns on 123 carries while averaging 5.96 yards per carry. This is also the first time since 1970 that Miami has had four consecutive games of 150+ yards rushing.
285 – With adding on five more tackles, defensive kingpin, Jordyn Brooks has eclipsed the great Zach Thomas for the most tackles by a Dolphin’s player in their first two years, currently sitting at 285 tackles, with more games to play to add to this.
