Talking Miami Dolphins football with Elite Sports NY about the Jets game
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are home this weekend against the New York Jets and earlier this week we talked with Elite Sports NY about the game on Sunday.
Paul Esden also runs a New York Jets podcast and I joined him last week to talk about the game on the podcast as well. We exchanged questions about this weeks game and you can read my answers to his questions by visiting the Jets page on EliteSportsNY.com.
In the meantime here are the answers to may questions about the last game of 2018 between the two teams.
How has Sam Darnold looked so far this year? Is he showing the signs of a franchise quarterback?
Insert Terrell Owens GIF (that’s my quarterback man). In all seriousness, Sam Darnold has been everything and some for the New York Jets this season. While the stats may not necessarily indicate that, you can base some of that on typical rookie errors and the lack of weapons on this Jets squad. There are several individual moments that have been WOW throws from Darnold that have really sent the message home that Sam is going to be a special player in this league for a very long time.
What is the strength and weakness of the Jets offense?
The strength of this team is the running game (ranked 13th best in the league), but those numbers are a little inflated with that crazy Isaiah Crowell performance earlier this year. Although with Bilal Powell out for the season, it’s going to be Crowell’s backfield. Powell was such a jack of all trades kind of guy that replacing him is impossible. While Sam Darnold is so good at keeping plays alive and that has reduced the sack numbers on him this season with his mobility. Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson haven’t been officially ruled out yet at wide receiver which is promising for the Jets, if just one of them is healthy on Sunday that’ll be a huge coup for Darnold to have someone to throw the ball to. Weakness is the lack of weapons and thus inconsistency in running game.
What is the strength and weakness on the defense?
The Jets don’t have any edge rushers you have to fear, but there have been a couple of guys who have stepped up to the plate like Brandon Copeland. Also if you would’ve told me that cornerback Darryl Roberts would outplay the $72 million man in Trumaine Johnson, I would’ve laughed, but that has very much been the case this season. To answer the question what is the strength? The strength is in the secondary especially with Jamal Adams patrolling the secondary, although the big weakness I’ve noticed on tape is when they blitz Adams, they do it at bad times (more times than not) and someone is screaming wide open and the Jets get burned.
Do you see Todd Bowles coaching the Jets in 2019?
Gut feel? No. It feels like the deck is stacked against him and this may sound like hyperbole, but his future may be decided in the next two weeks. The Jets play Brock Osweiler and Nathan Peterman (projected), with all due respect, if the Jets can’t beat those two guys then who can they beat? Especially when the Jets finish the season against Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady… yikes. I’m not sure Bowles can survive another 5-11 type season.
What are you game predictions for this Sunday?
As I indicated just a moment ago, this is a game that the Jets have to win if they’re serious about this year. My ceiling prediction before the season started for the Jets was 9-7 if everything broke right and that’s still in front of this team but it all starts with winning these next two weeks and getting to 5-5 heading into their bye week. The last time these two teams played, the Dolphins got off to a 20-0 lead and the Jets couldn’t fight back, I anticipate a different game this time out, give me the Jets 21-12.