Jets Vs Dolphins Season Finale Preview

Finally, as we mark now the 12th straight season of no playoff football for the Jets, they wrap up the season with a trip down to South Florida with a chance to be playoff spoilers against the also struggling Miami Dolphins. This will be the matchup of QBs Joe Flacco and Skylar Thompson, with Thompson probably playing the biggest game of his NFL career with a chance to clinch the postseason today. For the Jets, today will conclude what some Jets fans might call an up and down season, but nonetheless, will still be loud and proud supporting their favorite team despite the fact.

For today's injury report, starting with the Dolphins, The only official player listed as out is their starting QB Tua Tagovailoa, who is dealing with yet another concussion during the 2022-23 season. OTs Terron Armstead (toe/pec/knee/hip) and Kendell Lamm (ankle) are both listed as doubtful along with WR Cedrick Wilson Jr (hip). It seems more than likely that they will not be playing in this one. The Dolphins also have five players listed as questionable, with four of the five being starters. For the Jets, five players are listed as out, four of which also are starting players, and two of them being OTs (Duane Brown and George Fant). Ultimately, both of these teams have hit the injury bug, especially come the last weekend of the regular season. 

Jets QB Joe Flacco will make his 4th start this
season for the Jets, and is 1-2 in his previous 3 starts this season

For today's Dolphins preview, their offense has had its moments of success this year, but without starting QB Tua Tagovailoa, they have run into some struggles as of recent. Originally, they were sticking with QB Teddy Bridgewater, but after his injury last week, his status for this week wasn't certain, so they had to go back to rookie 7th-round pick QB Skylar Thompson, who the Jets already faced back in week 5 earlier this season. Ultimately, Thompson is a rookie, and it shows in his play. He has thrown for slightly over 400 yards throughout multiple appearances, but only has one TD pass to his three INTs, one of which being rookie CB "Sauce" Gardner's first career INT. The Jets will have a great opportunity to attack the young and vulnerable rookie QB today. 

In the backfield, the Dolphins will more than likely split time between RBs Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr, who both have the ability to catch out of the backfield and make big impact plays while running the ball as well. At WR, this is probably the strength of their offense, where WRs Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle have proven that they are threats to any opposing secondary. However, with Thompson at the helm last time, the Jets were able to keep them in check and would hope to do something similar today. At TE, the Dolphins have two red zone targets in Durham Smythe and Mike Gesicki who also round out this interesting, but streaky offense. 

Defensively, while the Dolphins have improved, injuries have hindered them from being a better defensive unit this year. They have had issues stopping offenses consistently, but with how inconsistent the Jets offense has been in recent games, they will still have to find a way to produce yards and points on the board, especially with Flacco under center. Up front, DT Raekwon Davis leads the charge with DEs Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler. At LB, the Dolphins have three of the top LBs in the league with Bradley Chubb (if he plays), Jerome Baker, and Jaelen Phillips. This is where the Dolphins will typically send blitzes from and do like to rush the QB with a solid set of LBs. These guys also play in drop-back coverage very well. In the secondary, If CB Xavien Howard ends up playing, he is their top gun, and has proven in the past of his abilities to cover top-tier WRs. Along with Howard, Safeties Eric Rowe and Javon Holland round out a young secondary group, who is still learning to gel and play with one another as well. This should be another good test for the Jets offense this week.

It should be a good matchup between the Dolphins WRs
(Hill on Left and Waddle on Right)
against Jets rookie CB "Sauce" Gardner
and the Jets secondary

For the Jets to find a way to win today (although some fans might just be ready to end the season), HC Robert Saleh shouldn't hesitate to pull QB Joe Flacco in a meaningless game if the offense isn't productive enough, and with QB Zach Wilson now active with Mike White out,  In a harmless game for the Jets, I can't see why taking some chances would be a huge risk, and since QBs Mike White and Chris Streveler are inactive, that leaves Flacco with Zach Wilson. Ultimately, If Flacco does play well, the Jets need to find a good balance between the pass and run game and to protect Flacco at all costs knowing his mobility has slowed down significantly. With nothing to play for, that's sometimes when the Jets end up playing their best football, but who knows what today will bring us. Defensively, the Jets can win this game by putting pressure on Dolphins QB Skylar Thompson and forcing him into mistakes and poor decision-making. With an inexperienced rookie, this usually deems to be the most effective strategy, and why not make it that much more difficult for them if possible? 

For today's prediction, this game means plenty to the Dolphins while it has little to no significance for the Jets. Ultimately, I could see today being played as a throw-away game as many games have been played before in Jets football. However, I do believe this will stay competitive even with a Jets loss. It's hard to believe that the Jets will stand a chance to win with QB Joe Flacco playing, but we won't know till the game is played. I'll take the Dolphins in a low scoring, but competitive game winning against the Jets by a score of 17-10. 

-Miles Chamberlain 

Dolphins rookie QB Skylar Thompson is set to start against the Jets today,
and this will mark his 2nd appearance this season against Gang Green as well