Regardless of who wins between Dolphins and Jets, both teams have questions
The Monday night showdown between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets will reveal a lot.
One team will be crowned the Least of the AFC East, an ode not only to being winless through four games but also the 0-3 start in the division. The other team could have a modicum of hope because at 1-3, the playoffs still remain a possibility — just one that’s very, very slim.
What cannot be overlooked, however, is all records are not created equal. Regardless of the outcome of the game, both teams have problems that won’t just be fixed with a victory — especially if you’re the Dolphins. The morale, however, remains high, according to coach Mike McDaniel.
“We had three games in 11 days, and it’ll be 11 days since our last game,” McDaniel said. “There’s been a lot of concrete focus on our game. We had a great team meeting today and had a great week of practice. Guys are focused on — unequivocally, I think they’re focused on 11 players playing as one and going 1-0 this week, and that when you focus on that, which is what you have to do in the National Football League, morale is pretty high because your collective focus is going in one direction.”
This much should be clear: going into Week 4 at 0-3 should not be celebrated. As the great Bill Parcells once said, you are who your record says you are. By that measure, the Dolphins — and Jets — are not good teams.
Still, the Dolphins’ and the Jets’ 0-3 cannot be any more different. The Jets get a slight pass as they are led by a rookie head coach in Aaron Glenn. It would be wrong to extrapolate an opinion about Glenn’s coaching prowess from three games.
That same grace unfortunately cannot be extended to the Dolphins. This is year four of coach Mike McDaniel. The once electric, high-scoring offense looks like a shell of itself. Miami’s rankings in various categories — 23rd in total yardage, 25th in scoring, 26th in rushing – could be a result of losing two offensive line starters or a regression of sorts.
On the flip side of the ball, the defense has looked terrible against the run. There is some hope, however, that an impassioned speech from defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver has awoken something in them.
“I’m old school,” Weaver said. “I may sit up here, I’m a nice guy. I smile, I do all those things, but all of our problems that we need to solve can be solved through violence. Yeah, they want to legislate it out of the game, but we play defensive football. Defensive football at some point you draw a line in the sand, and you say, ‘I’m going to set the edge. I’m going to stick my helmet under this guy’s chin, and I’m going to set the edge. I’m going to violently take the ball away.’ And that’s what we need to do.”
Take a step back and you can see how the Dolphins got here.
Was it wise to sign a right guard in James Daniels fresh off an Achilles tear, knowing that historically, players who suffer significant injuries don’t return to full strength until they’re two years removed? What about the investment into a comparable right tackle knowing that history has shown that Austin Jackson could miss time? What was the motivation behind waiting until late August to finalize your starting cornerback unit after trading away a potential future hall-of-famer in Jalen Ramsey? Did you expect for a 22-year-old Kenneth Grant to immediately replicate what a 19-year-veteran in Calais Campbell did for the defense? Why was a fresh-out-of-retirement Darren Waller thought of as the best option at tight end after the type of production that Jonnu Smith delivered in 2024?
These, of course, are just questions. Let the Dolphins win and the questions won’t require immediate answers. Instead, playoff hopes can be discussed as there’s a bit of precedent to 1-3 teams making the playoffs, something that a total of 35 teams have done since 1990. Jump to 2020, when the NFL expanded its postseason to 14 teams, and roughly 7%, five to be exact, of teams that have had such a start go on to the playoffs.
As previously mentioned, all records aren’t created equal. The Baltimore Ravens also sit at 1-3. Even the most delusional Dolphins fan would tell you that they had rather have the Ravens’ 1-3 record than their own.
Why is that?
Just wait until when the Ravens roll into town Week 9.
