Miami Dolphins vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: predictions

When the Miami Dolphins take on the Jacksonville Jaguars later today, expectations for an improvement over last week will be high. The Dolphins simply didn’t look crisp despite the win. Stats can be deceiving sometimes and that was the case for Ryan Tannehill who posted a better than 93% rating but also threw four passes that could have and probably should have been intercepted.

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This week Tannehill and the rest of his offense will have a chance to improve on the 93% and improve not only in the scoring department, one touchdown last week, but also in the red-zone where they squandered more attempts at points. Defensively the Dolphins need to improve as well, specifically in the running game. It’s not always easy to predict stats for a game but here are my predictions for what we can see from the Dolphins in week two.

Ryan Tannehill

Forget about last week and let’s call it first week jitters or a shaking off of the rust that accumulated over the off-season. The Jaguars don’t have the same defensive unit that the Redskins have which is not to say the Redskins are a great defensive team. Just better. I expect Tannehill to throw three touchdowns and no interceptions and I don’t think he fumbles this week either. Due to the fact that he tends to hold the ball longer than he should at times, I believe he will be sacked once which will be down two from week one. I also expect more time in the pocket this week and that should lead to more deep ball attempts.

Predicted stats: 5 rushes for 33 yards, 22 completions on 29 attempts, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 1 sack.

Lamar Miller

Miller was largely ineffective in week one but that wasn’t his fault as much as the choices made by the coaches. He carried the ball two times in the first half before getting the running game going in the 2nd half. Miller can be explosive and the Jaguars don’t have a great defensive run stopping front. Last week the Jaguars gave up a combined 105 yards which is not bad but Carolina struggled all game long and have some offensive line issues.

Predicted stats: 22 rushes for 114 yards, 4 receptions for 23 yards, 1 touchdown.

Jarvis Landry

Landry is the go-to receiver for the Dolphins and he will be again this week as well. Landry is explosive off the line and will likely see coverage from Paul Posluszny who isn’t known for his coverage skills. Landry could be in line for another good stat line this week.

Predicted stats – 9 receptions for 87 yards.

Jordan Cameron

Cameron was the big yard winner in week one and the Jaguars gave up a surprising one catch to Greg Olsen last week. Olsen however, unlike Cameron, is the go-to receiver for the Panthers and the Jaguars game planned for him. They likely won’t pay as much attention to Cameron this week. At least not to the degree they did Olsen.

Predicted stats: 7 receptions 73 yards, 1 touchdown

DeVante Parker

Parker played one snap last week and wasn’t targeted. I don’t expect him to get a lot of work today but if he is going to see more playing time this game would be a good start. I suspect that while he isn’t an integral part of the offensive game plan, he will see a couple of balls thrown his way.

Predicted stats: 3 receptions for 22 yards, 1 touchdown.

Cameron Wake

Wake is nursing a hamstring so his playing time will be limited. Or at least it should be. If he can stay in the game he will face a very good right tackle in Jermey Purnell but he should be able to force Blake Bortles into bad decisions.

Predicted stats: 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble

Overall predicitions

I look for the Dolphins to come out strong early and try and gain control of the game from the start. If the Dolphins can jump out to a quick lead and build on that lead, which I think they will, they will turn the second half into a clock control offense and get out of Jacksonville with a win. I believe that special teams will be good but I don’t think we will see a repeat performance from Landry on punt returns.

Defensively I think the Dolphins will hold Jacksonville to around 75-80 yards rushing combined most coming in the first half and hold Blake Bortles to around 200 yards passing but I think most of those yards will come as a result of playing from behind being forced to pass.

I also believe that we will see another strong week from the rookie kickers with Matt Darr averaging around 44 yards per punt and Andrew Franks making 3 of 4 field goal attempts.