Dolphins: Instant analysis vs Jets
By Sean Denison
Once again, for the third consecutive week, the Miami Dolphins have been embarrassed. The Dolphins lost to another division rival, the New York Jets, 27-14 at Wembley Stadium in London. The Jets out-gained the Dolphins 425 to 226, with 207 of those yards coming on the ground. The Jets Chris Ivory made the Dolphins defense look the same they have all year: terrible. Ivory ran mean, punishing any weak tackler that got in his way and compiled 166 yards on 29 carries. It’s official: the Dolphins are soft.
On game day, the Dolphins have preached the importance to getting off to a fast start. And yet again, the Dolphins failed to do just that today in London. Historically, Joe Philbin’s squad is one of the worst first quarter teams in the NFL—and today was no different.
The Dolphins went three and out on their first possession, and gave up a 59-yard strike from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Brandon Marshall on the Jets first play of the game. A few plays later, Chris Ivory ran through tackles on his way into the end zone—and thus, the tone was set for the day.
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It was no surprise that the Jets game plan included a heavy dose of Chris Ivory. Coming into this game, everyone knew what the Jets were going to do—try to control the line of scrimmage, pound the ball, and take over the game and time of possession. Today was Miami’s chance to silence the haters and fight back. Instead, the exact opposite happened. The Jets took the old-school approach of running right down their opponent’s throats and it worked to perfection on the Dolphins defense.
Like all year, the Dolphins defense couldn’t endure the physicality of their opponent. The defense couldn’t get pressure on Fitzpatrick and, once again, were held without a sack. This season, Miami has only recorded one sack in four games. Somehow, despite the acquisition of Suh, the Dolphins defense is worse than they were last year.
On offense, arguably the Dolphins worst unit, Ryan Tannehill was under duress all game and resembled a deer caught in headlights. Tannehill looked uncomfortable, scared, and even confused at times. The Jets, known for blitzing, terrorized Miami’s offensive line and completely controlled the line of scrimmage. The precedent was set early and the Dolphins knew they couldn’t run on the Jets, making the Dolphins one-dimensional.
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It’s understood that Ryan Tannehill and this offense can’t be successful just chucking the ball down the field all game. Opposing defenses are asking the Dolphins to beat them through the air and Miami can’t deliver. Tannehill doesn’t have time, the receivers are dropping passes, and Tannehill is having a lot of trouble hitting wide-open targets downfield—today was no different. Here’s a something scary: after today, Tannehill’s passer rating is 77.1 on the season, which is his lowest since his rookie year where he had a 76.1 rating.
Surely, they’ll be a lot of tension on the Dolphins team plane as they make their 9-hour flight back to South Florida. The Dolphins aren’t happy, and they shouldn’t be. They certainly are the bottom dwellers of the AFC East. They’ll have plenty of time on the plane to let that reality sink in.