On Sunday, the Jets were left dusting themselves down from a statement loss at the hands of the Miami Dolphins. The Jets were convincingly defeated 34-10, which has now officially ended their hopes or chances of any post-season for the 15th straight season, extending the streak nobody wants to have. Granted, everyone knew the playoffs weren’t happening a few weeks in this season. This week the Jets loss just sealed the mathematical portion of it.
Before the game kicked off, betting sites gave the Dolphins slightly better odds of winning. When examining esports betting at a glance, it was clear that the Dolphins had a slight upper hand, with around a 58.6% chance of winning. This decisive victory from the Miami team shows two teams heading in opposite directions, and for Jets fans, it is looking fairly bleak.
The Dolphins dominated from the opening kickoff. They played with precision and power. Tagvailoa jump-started the offense in the first drive, which ended in a touchdown strike for Waddle. Just moments later, Dolphins running back De’Von Achane broke loose to set Miami on their way to a second touchdown. Before the first quarter ended, rookie Jaylen Wright powered a 2-yard score, which gave the visitors a 21-0 lead and all but had them out of sight of the Jets.
The Dolphins pass rush and good coverage left the Jets with no real options or rhythm at all. Miami ran an impressive 239 yards on the ground, which allowed them to control the clock and pick apart the Jets defense. But the game was not without hiccups. Achane suffered a rib injury in the second quarter but was impressively replaced by Jaylen Wright, whilst the Jets faltering was fully compounded when quarterback Tyrod Taylor had to exit the game early with a groin injury. Having struggled with only one of four passes completed for six yards, the starting Jets quarterback was replaced by rookie Brady Cook, who got his first action in the regular season. The undrafted rookie free agent actually did not do a bad job all things considered. With no first team snaps, and the game out of hand already, it was an impossible situation to walk into.
Coach Aaron Glenn admitted after the game that he did not have the players read to play and said that this was obvious in his post-game interview. He had previously advised that the fans could expect a winning team that “the fans are proud of” when he took over the team in January. But things have not worked out that way at all. Tensions built after a start with 0 wins and 7 losses. This left the Jets the last team in the league to get in the win column.
Things only got worse in the short-term when the Jets traded cornerback Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. The team did manage to get two wins on the board along with their Week 9 bye, which has prompted the tank \ don’t tank debate. The defeat against the Dolphins has sealed the fate of a team that is really struggling. They now grow closer to the Saints 20-season record for the longest NFL playoff drought in the Super Bowl era, as they now make it 15 seasons in a row. Things really do need a reshuffle for some positive energy moving into next season.
There is always the NFL draft to look forward to, and the team has a lot of picks.
