Can the Miami Dolphins get back to their winning ways in Week 12? The bad taste of a defeat in Week 11 to the Denver Broncos will likely have this team hungry to get after it again on Sunday but the Dolphins do need to tread carefully against a New York Jets team that will be playing with nothing to lose. The Jets, who are winless on the season, have already fallen to the Dolphins once this season and will certainly be out for revenge after Miami pounced on them early to create a 21-0 first half deficit that they never relinquished.
How can the Dolphins best replicate their defensive success from the first meeting between these two teams? Here are a few key points to focus on this Sunday:
Heat up Sam Darnold early on
The Dolphins didn’t have the pleasure of squaring off with Sam Darnold the first time these two teams met and as a result Miami was able to get a lot of pressure on an immobile quarterback in Joe Flacco. Miami is likely to find themselves more pressed to finish pressures and convert them into sacks against Darnold — but the young quarterback is not immune to mistakes. As a matter of fact, the Dolphins have intercepted Darnold (8 times) more than any other team in the NFL thus far in his career. Let’s shoot for some more turnovers prompted by pressure.
Stay the course with odd fronts
The Broncos had success running to the edges on the Dolphins’ defense last week but that doesn’t mean Miami ought to flip the switch and drastically change anything up front. The Dolphins were playing without Christian Wilkins and, more importantly, face a Jets team that doesn’t have the speed in the backfield that the Broncos were able to tout between Phillip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon. Frank Gore is an ageless wonder but the Dolphins don’t need to be concerned with him getting the edge on them with consistency on Sunday.
Shadow Jamison Crowder with Byron Jones
The Jets are a team that don’t really have a single receiver that commands one on one attention on the outside — their best option is Breshad Perriman on the outside. And while Perriman has scored three times over the last two weeks, those touchdowns have come with Joe Flacco playing quarterback. And remember, the Jets’ backup is returning back to the bench in Week 12 against the Dolphins. The quarterback shift in New York may not be a bad thing for the Dolphins and Miami should at least be wary of the shift in target distribution. Expect more looks for Crowder this weekend with Darnold back in the lineup. The Dolphins can counter accordingly on third downs by putting Jones over top of Crowder in coverage.
