Dolphins 30 Jets 0: Back to the standard for the Dolphins

admin | December 18, 2023 | NFL | No Comments

The Jets follow their best game of the season with their worst game of the season.

The Jets vs. Dolphins game today would have ended in an early round knockout if it were a boxing fight. A game can sometimes just get away from you after a few big plays. The Dolphins jumped off to an early 17-0 lead thanks to a strip sack, a poor fake punt, and a long score to Jaylen Waddle.

A pleasant aspect of boxing is that it terminates with an early round knockout. In football, you must endure two more hours of seeing the losing team get hauled around the field.

It was nice to defeat the Houston Texans last week. I told Jets supporters to cherish the moment after the game. It was a brief but enjoyable diversion in an otherwise gloomy season.

Naturally, the media in New York rarely maintains a balanced viewpoint. We heard a lot of ludicrous talk during the week about how the Jets’ victory put them back in the running for the playoffs. Even though the Jets would almost surely miss the postseason even if they won their final four games, some analysts continued to go overboard despite this information. Tyreek Hill’s injury and the Dolphins’ embarrassing loss on Monday night generated a lot of chatter among the media about how difficult it would be for the team to defeat the Jets.

There is, of course, the factor of any given Sunday. The Jets offense’s 30-point halftime performance against Houston just a week ago serves as the finest evidence of this. The Jets appeared determined to explore new limits of offensive inefficiency every week in the fifteen days building up to that encounter.

However, the sum of the 12 games that came before it still reveals more about a team than does a single game.

The Dolphins are a top-tier squad. What a terrible team the Jets are. The fact that Miami defeated New York at home with relative ease should come as no surprise.

The Jets are 5-9. They have the second worst point differential in their conference. They have trailed for more than 70 percent of game time this season. Three of their five victories came in games where their opponent had at least 80 percent odds of winning in the fourth quarter.

There are several really good parts of this team, such as the defense. On a poor offensive, there are certain guys with exceptional talent, such as Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson.

You have to admit when a team simply isn’t that good.

It shouldn’t be this bad, even though the Dolphins are more talented.

I may have watched the worst half of football I have ever seen an offensive line play throughout the first two quarters of this game. Zach Wilson’s awful blocking made it almost miraculous that he finished the first half.

Injury responsibility is simple to assign. This season, the Jets have had more than their fair share of forwards. Even yet, it’s difficult to entirely attribute the game’s five starters on injuries, given that they featured two first-round draft picks, a costly free agent, and a free agent who was acquired to serve as a primary backup. As opposed to previous weeks this season, this wasn’t a group of practice squad players thrust into action. Rather, the front office added a number of players who were, to put it mildly, mistakes.

The receivers were unhelpful as usual. The Jets are depending on receivers who are either too inexperienced or not talented enough (or both) aside from Garrett Wilson.

As usual, the coaching staff isn’t offering any assistance. Although I am aware that schemes have their limitations, it was impressive to watch Mike McDaniel set up so many simple, high-percentage passes for his quarterback. The Jets failed to plan a single target for Wilson, their top receiver, during the first half when their offense was limited to single digits in yardage.

Regretfully, even with a strong defense, the Jets have difficulty winning. When this squad has a bad day, which it did today, it is not even able to stay in striking distance. Given that a fumble and a botched fake punt gave up the first 10 points, it’s difficult to hold the team accountable. However, two of touchdowns made the score 24-0 at halftime, and led many non-local CBS affiliates to switch to a new game.

Despite what many in the press tried to sell this week, Playoff hopes have been long gone for the Jets for some time. This loss coupled with the rest of the afternoon action across the league made it official. The Jets will be out of the postseason for a 13th consecutive year.

It’s easy enough to point to bad luck when we consider the reasons. Frankly, most teams would struggle to make the tournament in a season where their starting quarterback participates in four snap

Nonetheless, the Jets managed to sell their supporters on the idea that Aaron Rodgers was the last missing piece of the Super Bowl puzzle. If you need a future Hall of Fame quarterback to be playing football in Week 16, is that truly a roster worthy of the Super Bowl? It’s a clue, in my opinion, that the roster was not put together properly. Even under these restricted conditions, Rodgers’ offensive potential is probably limited, particularly when the game is on the line.

It should give them a lot to ponder as the Jets get ready to play out the string once more.