Week 15 Game Thoughts: Jets at Dolphins

Monday night’s loss to the Titans was a kick in the gut to the Dolphins, really deflating what had been an amazing season to that point. How would the Dolphins respond in the next game, against a suddenly-dangerous Jets team?

With a list of injured players as long as my arm, with “out” designations for Tyreek Hill, Jevon Holland, Xavien Howard and Deshon Elliott, things did not look good and the cries of “same old Dolphins’ December slide” were gaining steam.

And then, the game started.

No, this is not the same ol’ Dolphins. The Dolphins thoroughly demolished the Jets today, to the tune of 30-0. Led by a dominant shut-down defense and an efficient offense, the Dolphins won in what was a laugher of a game.

I have to start with the defense. They held the Jets to 4 total yards in the first half, and just 103 for the game. In addition to pitching a shutout, the D allowed a mind-blowing 1.9 yards per play, racked up 6 sacks, and forced 4 turnovers. You’re really not going to see a much better defensive performance. Zach Sieler hit a trifecta in the first half, with a fumble recovery (leading to the Dolphins’ first score), sack and batted pass. Christian Wilkins was relentless and had pressure on the QB all day. But today was about Bradley Chubb. Coming off a game where he committed a VERY costly unsportsmanlike penalty, Chubb played like a man possessed – collecting 3 sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. If you ever want to see what “unblockable” means, watch Chubb’s performance today. Just outstanding. And really, everyone on D was outstanding. Brandon Jones, less than a week after playing the worst game of his career, had 2 INTs and played amazing. Jalen Ramsey, Kader Kohou, Elijah Campbell, Duke Riley, David Long, Cameron Goode, Raekwon Davis, even practice squad rookie Ethan Bonner – everybody made big plays today.

The defense set the tone early: on the opening Jets drive, Chubb forced a fumble recovered by Sieler at the Jets 1 yard line, and then on the second Jets’ drive, they ran a fake punt that was stuffed by Wilkins. It doesn’t get much better.

The offense, playing without the best player in football, put forth a solid, efficient effort. Tua Tagovailoa completed 88% of his passes, including his first 14 throws of the game. He hit Jaylen Waddle for a 60-yard bomb on a gorgeous pass to give the Phins an early 17-0 lead. I’ve been calling for Waddle to step up all season – and today he did. He was amazing today, with 142 yards on 8 catches (9 targets), including the 60-yard TD. Just an excellent performance. The run game didn’t do much, but Raheem Mostert did have 2 TD runs – giving him 20 TDs on the season and putting him in the record books as the Dolphins’ all-time single-season TD leader. Durham Smythe delivered some fantastic blocking and had a couple of key catches. The OL, with three backups starting, wasn’t great today but got the job done.

Overall, the offense did what they had to do. But I do have to point out the negatives: too many penalties (false starts and holds), trouble getting the plays in on time, and head-scratching playcalling (endzone fade to the #3 RB, multiple passes behind the line of scrimmage that resulted in lost yardage, and an ill-timed end-around for a big loss). That said, on a day when we won 30-0, I can live with that. But these things need to be cleaned up moving forward.

Special teams was great today, too, with Jason Sanders nailing 3 FGs, Jake Bailey downing 3 of his 4 punts inside the 15, and Braxton Berrios with a couple of good returns.

For what it’s worth, the Dolphins’ magic number for winning the division is now 2. Any combination of Bills losses and Dolphins wins that add up to 2 will give the Dolphins the AFC East.

This week, Coach McDaniel said that “adversity is an opportunity”. The team took that message to heart, playing inspired football and getting back on track heading into a do-or-die final stretch’

This was a win the Dolphins needed, and they got it in spectacular fashion. The real work starts now, as the Dolphins finish up against some of the top teams in the league. Next up, a home game against the surging Cowboys. It’s going to be a wild ride. LET’S GO DOLPHINS!!! FINS UP!!!


Hero of the Game: I could have given it to the whole team, and in particular the defense, but Bradley Chubb gets the honor for his one-man wrecking crew performance.

Goat of the Game: We won 30-0. 'Nuff said.

BTW - Tua remains undefeated against both the Jets and Patriots.

We did make it to a bar for the first half and made it home to watch the end. Hoping last weeks kick in the teeth was a wake up call and they make a strong run in the Postseason. After so many years of coming up short I was truly deflated last week.

I thought I noticed Lamm playing RT in the second half today, but didn't think ,much of it. Turns out, Austin Jackson has an oblique injury and could miss time.

I've never seen an offensive line sustain so many injuries. It's really unbelievable.

Alright, I think McDaniel read the forum. I loved we went to the short passing game and the run. Then threw a bomb. This is the type of offense we need more of. I think Miami was trying to much to be a kill shot offense going for the constant deep play.  Today was the exact way we should handle our business. Basic football played at a high level! 

I love angry Miami. Let's keep it going into cowboy week!

Big shout out to Eich. He worked his ass off to get on the field today, and had a good, solid game against a top DL. Great job.

Well said, Carson. Against good defenses, sometimes you have to take what they give you and not force anything. That's exactly what they did today. Smart, efficient, effective football.

i am elated to admit i got this game completely wrong. i thought with the deflating Titans loss and all the injuries that Miami would curl up and wither. i underestimated two things. the Dolphins' will to fight under McDaniel and the ineptness of the Jets.

in light of the Chargers booting Staley with his star QB on IR, i gotta think a normal team would dismiss Saleh after that lay down and quit performance. but i suppose Aaron Rodgers has other plans.

the dline's harassment of Jets QBs today was stellar. Both Bradley Chubb and Jaylen Waddle put this team on their backs and carried them not only to victory, but to a crushing, lopsided humiliation of the gang green. i also think Elijah Campbell acquitted himself particularly well for a 2nd string safety.

again, i am not willing to look too far ahead. enjoy this victory. keep the Titans debacle in the back of my mind. think about beating Dallas... who laid down for Buffalo, damn it.

so i guess Garrett Wilson knows who has the real power in the NYJ organization.

https://x.com/NFLonCBS/status/1736483515393261579?s=20

Rodgers is not a coach. he is not the play caller. he's not even on the active roster.

what could Wilson possibly have to say to him during the middle of a game in which he is not even involved in - while the HC (at least on paper) stands by uninvolved. why would Wilson be appealing to Rodgers unless he knows he has some sort of influence?

The Jets are awful.

The fact that the Phins with four (and then five) backup Olinemen were able to do that to the vaunted Jets Defense all the while without having Tyreek Hill means maybe the Jets D AINT so tough?!!

That said...

Lester Cotton stinks to high heaven. He and most of the other guys were getting their arses handed to them alot of the time. Credit Mostert and the others for getting 3 and 4 yards when the zone blocking just was not working!

Does this mean there is HOPE this bad Oline full of backups MIGHT stand a chance versus the Cowboys?

Maybe? I saw a stat showing that the Cowboys are 7-0 at home and like 3-4 on the road and they score less and give up more points on the road. A lot less and alot more.
So... there is that.

I think to beat the Cowboys, the Phins D is going to have to have the same sort of game they had against the Jets, but the Cowboys offense is worlds better than the Jets Offenseless offense!

It would be incredibly nice to see Mostert and Achane (and or Wilson or Brooks or anybody!!!) have a game like Buffalo's Cook had against the Cowboys.

A few peaves I must address:

ONE - On the first sack, fumble on Zach Wilson, Wilkins jumped up and went to doing his dumbarsed dance INSTEAD of trying to get the @#$#% Ball or blocking so Seiler could score!! Effin Dumbarse!! Stop celebrating and play the @#$% game untilt he whistle blows, you dimwit!!! Still, a nice job was done by Wilkins. If doing that idiotic dance helps him, so be it; but wait until after the play is over!!

TWO - CBS needs to be beaten with a wiffle ball bat! They switched the game in the 3rd when it was 27 - 0 to "take you to a more competitive game." Maybe I didn't want to see a more competitive game. Maybe I wanted to see the Phins lay an absolute shellacking on the hated Jets?!! Uuughh!

THREE - Robbie Chosen needs to be beaten with a Wiffle Ball bat!! How stupid is it to line up offsides when the line judge is signaling you to back up??!! What a dumbarse!!

Anyway... the Phins have officially reached the 10 wins I predicted before the season. If they lose out, I have to say it might be the most incrfedibly disappointing season since that epic collapse when they went from 9-3 to out of the playoffs? What season was that? The Steve Deburg season wasn't it? (Where is DF316 when you need him? )

AVG broke his nose in the first quarter yesterday, yet still played on 51 of 58 snaps. That's a football player.

AVG got some stones! tough as nails.

and to think, the Phins almost lost him this offseason. thank you Fangio for realizing his value when you did.

AVG should be the next guy to get paid.

Lock him up.

Only Negative I have was All the Holding Calls especially Hill who seems to get one a Game. I would Love to see more Traditional Handoffs instead of all these Pitches and Flips. Everything Else was Great especially the Bomb to Waddle which was 46 Yards in Air of Beauty.

Players had a Team only Meeting Last Tuesday after Monday Debacle whatever was said Worked. Love see Ramsey basically Cover Wilson everywhere he went.

I didn’t notice any celebration performances either.

Mostert "surfed" by himself in the endzone after his first TD I think.

And of course, Wilkins went to dancing after he sacked WiIlson instead of going after the fumble, so...

But yeah... the orchestrated team endzone choreographed celebrations were absent.

I think Tyreek is the orchestrator of most of those things anyway. If he gets back and scores a few long TDs I would be fine with a few more celebrations!!

finfanatic wrote:The Jets are awful.  

The fact that the Phins with four (and then five) backup Olinemen were able to do that to the vaunted Jets Defense all the while without having Tyreek Hill means maybe the Jets D AINT so tough?!!

That said...

Lester Cotton stinks to high heaven. He and most of the other guys were getting their arses handed to them alot of the time. Credit Mostert and the others for getting 3 and 4 yards when the zone blocking just was not working!

Does this mean there is HOPE this bad Oline full of backups MIGHT stand a chance versus the Cowboys?

Maybe?  I saw a stat showing that the Cowboys are 7-0 at home and like 3-4 on the road and they score less and give up more points on the road. A lot less and alot more.
So... there is that.

I think to beat the Cowboys, the Phins D is going to have to have the same sort of game they had against the Jets, but the Cowboys offense is worlds better than the Jets Offenseless offense!

It would be incredibly nice to see Mostert and Achane (and or Wilson or Brooks or anybody!!!) have a game like Buffalo's Cook had against the Cowboys.

A few peaves I must address:

ONE - On the first sack, fumble on Zach Wilson, Wilkins jumped up and went to doing his dumbarsed dance INSTEAD of trying to get the @#$#% Ball or blocking so Seiler could score!! Effin Dumbarse!! Stop celebrating and play the @#$% game untilt he whistle blows, you dimwit!!!   Still, a nice job was done by Wilkins. If doing that idiotic dance helps him, so be it; but wait until after the play is over!!  

TWO - CBS needs to be beaten with a wiffle ball bat! They switched the game in the 3rd when it was 27 - 0 to "take you to a more competitive game." Maybe I didn't want to see a more competitive game. Maybe I wanted to see the Phins lay an absolute shellacking on the hated Jets?!!  Uuughh!  

THREE - Robbie Chosen needs to be beaten with a Wiffle Ball bat!!  How stupid is it to line up offsides when the line judge is signaling you to back up??!! What a dumbarse!!

Anyway... the Phins have officially reached the 10 wins I predicted before the season. If they lose out, I have to say it might be the most incrfedibly disappointing season since that epic collapse when they went from 9-3 to out of the playoffs? What season was that? The Steve Deburg season wasn't it? (Where is DF316 when you need him?    )

Good stuff, FF.

Really strange performance from the Jets, coming off such a convincing win the week before against a Texans team fighting for the playoffs...I don't know that anyone could've predicted how poorly they'd play in Miami. That Jets team is just a complete disaster.'

The Chosen penalty was very frustrating. I'm starting to see that "offensive offsides" penalty getting called all the time now - clearly it's a point of emphasis for the league. But when the ref is trying to help you out, maybe you should listen???

Anyway, I don't know how the rest of the season will play out, but I do expect a win over the Cowboys. I think our defense is set up well to limit their passing game, and they don't have much of a running game. Their D has not been great on the road, and their weaknesses seem to match our strengths. If we can contain the Dallas pass rush, I think we win.

After the humble pie on Monday Night. I dont want to give any team the chance. Dallas is 10-4 for a reason. They just may have had a humble pie like we did. It will boil down to guts and common sense. None of which either team displayed in their respecvtive losses to inferior talent.

Against the Jets, Miami displayed unit cohesion, teamwork, and harmony in all facets of the game. Its hard to beat any team that plays that way. Regardless of your opponent. The final score only reflects the contrast of talent when comparing the 2 teams. And I dont mean just the players on the field. I mean there was superior level of coaching on the sidelines as well.

Bottom line: We have three chances in a row to face a contender and show we belong in the playoffs. I'm excited to see the games play out!

white1 wrote:Bottom line:  We have three chances in a row to face a contender and show we belong in the playoffs.  I'm excited to see the games play out!

Yeah, this is a great opportunity for the Dolphins - and they will certainly be battle-tested heading into the playoffs. Just have to play Dolphins football, and we can beat anyone.

JMP wrote:

white1 wrote:Bottom line:  We have three chances in a row to face a contender and show we belong in the playoffs.  I'm excited to see the games play out!

Yeah, this is a great opportunity for the Dolphins - and they will certainly be battle-tested heading into the playoffs.  Just have to play Dolphins football, and we can beat anyone.

I love it. I feel the competitive juices coming out. I think I may pass out from the adrenaline rush because at 52 and watching paint dry for the dolphins to get into serious contention is overwhelming.  

The way through these teams or any team for that matter is understanding how the team composition translates to execution and play success. WE CANNOT, win by passing the ball. Ridiculous I know but the effectiveness of the RPO is based on the actual R in the Rpo.  Running and controlling the clock puts our team in a position to dictate the game.  Tua is what Tua is but there is a reason why he is near last in pressured passes. But under 2 seconds #1 or near #1 in every statistical category.  49ers are not better. Talent Wise?  Oh Hell no.  But they have a better offensive line that can block for at least 3 seconds. Schemed or Unschemed.

Think about this logically ranked 31st in 2021 offensively.  20.1 per game, 92.2 yds rushing, 231.5 passing. and sacked 40 times. The OL? LT Jackson, LG Kindley, C Deiter, Rg Hunt, RT Davis. Eich was the backup RT.  So esssentially we take Armstead and Williams plug them in and all of sudden 2 years later we have the #1 offense. I understand the acquistion of Tyreek Hill but we have a resigned RT that was drafted to be a LT.  His money he just resigned for isnt cheap if you think about it.  We signed him to $36m but you have to add Armstead's money because he couldn't play LT we had to go after Armstead.  This is Laremy Tunsil Karma biting us in the ass. We basically outsmarted ourselves and paid double but we cant block longer than 2 seconds. How fucken funny is that?

Sorry I am at work and this training is boring the hell out of me. Thank god for Microsoft Teams

Umix10 wrote:

JMP wrote:

white1 wrote:Bottom line:  We have three chances in a row to face a contender and show we belong in the playoffs.  I'm excited to see the games play out!

Yeah, this is a great opportunity for the Dolphins - and they will certainly be battle-tested heading into the playoffs.  Just have to play Dolphins football, and we can beat anyone.

I love it. I feel the competitive juices coming out. I think I may pass out from the adrenaline rush because at 52 and watching paint dry for the dolphins to get into serious contention is overwhelming.  

The way through these teams or any team for that matter is understanding how the team composition translates to execution and play success. WE CANNOT, win by passing the ball. Ridiculous I know but the effectiveness of the RPO is based on the actual R in the Rpo.  Running and controlling the clock puts our team in a position to dictate the game.  Tua is what Tua is but there is a reason why he is near last in pressured passes. But under 2 seconds #1 or near #1 in every statistical category.  49ers are not better. Talent Wise?  Oh Hell no.  But they have a better offensive line that can block for at least 3 seconds. Schemed or Unschemed.

Think about this logically ranked 31st in 2021 offensively.  20.1 per game, 92.2 yds rushing, 231.5 passing. and sacked 40 times. The OL? LT Jackson, LG Kindley, C Deiter, Rg Hunt, RT Davis. Eich was the backup RT.  So esssentially we take Armstead and Williams plug them in and all of sudden 2 years later we have the #1 offense. I understand the acquistion of Tyreek Hill but we have a resigned RT that was drafted to be a LT.  His money he just resigned for isnt cheap if you think about it.  We signed him to $36m but you have to add Armstead's money because he couldn't play LT we had to go after Armstead.  This is Laremy Tunsil Karma biting us in the ass. We basically outsmarted ourselves and paid double but we cant block longer than 2 seconds. How fucken funny is that?

Sorry I am at work and this training is boring the hell out of me.  Thank god for Microsoft Teams

Great post! I agree completely - RUN THE BALL! Especially this game - we saw what the Bills did to the Cowboys on the ground, and we have a much better run game than the Bills. The Bills destroyed them with off-tackle runs, and that's our specialty. Dallas will be prepared for that, but if our OL can sustain blocks then Mostert and Achane can get to the next level and beat up on a weak Cowboys LB corps. Dallas does have a good secondary, but once those DBs start to cheat up to stop the run - and they will - Tua can feast with RPO and play-action. (This is tuyrning into the Cowboys preview thread LOL)

Interesting thoughts on the OL. I think we were in great shape when everyone was healthy. The line of Armstead/Lamm, Wynn, Williams, Hunt and Jackson was borderline-dominant, and they were getting better as Wynn got more comfortable. And then Wynn got injured. That's when things started to slip. Since then we've had guys coming in and out of the lineup, and it's been a mess. To their credit, and Butch Barry's credit, they've still been better than expected - but it hasn't been perfect by any means. One thing I do know: we can run the ball with this OL, even when backups are in. Maybe it is scheme-based, but it doesn't matter - the running game works. Let's ride it to victory.

Really funny photo from the Jets game:

Chubb named AFC Defensive Player of the Week. Well earned!