Dolphins Edge Out A Win Against Rival Jets

By Byler Henry

The Dolphins and Jets have had a long rivalry and on Sunday, the Dolphins left New York with a victory, defeating the Jets 20 to 12. Since both teams are in the AFC East Division, they play each other twice a year. The Jets are leading the all time series 54-51-1; they have only met in the postseason one time which the Dolphins won 14 to 0 in the 1982 AFC Championship. This rivalry of bad blood goes back to 1966.

In the first half the Dolphins scored all of their 20 points, holding the Jets to 0 points. The Jets didn’t put any points on the board until the second half. Ryan Tannehill had a decent game completing 17 passes on 23 attempts, 168 passing yards with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions; however, he was also sacked 4 times. He also added 44 rushing yards. Tight end A.J. Derby and receiver Albert Wilson caught the two touchdown passes. A.J. Derby had one reception for 19 yards and Albert Wilson had 3 receptions for 37 yards. “I think it’s much better to learn from mistakes after you win. It’s a great feeling to come in here right now after another win and be able to go back to tape and just kind of pick apart your game, see what worked and what didn’t, and then just continue to get better,” stated tight end Mike Gesicki. Kenyan Drake had the only Dolphins rushing touchdown, while gaining 53 yards on 11 carries. This was a productive first half for the Dolphins.

The second half showed the Jets trying to catch up and nearly succeeding. Overall, this was a productive second half for the Jets. Sam Darnold made some good plays, but there is still room for growth. Darnold was drafted 3rd overall in this year’s draft, chosen by the Jets to be their future. Overall, he completed 25 passes on 41 attempts, 334 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and he was also sacked 3 times. Bilal Powell caught the only touchdown pass while contributing 74 yards with 5 receptions. Quincy Enunwa had the most receiving yards for either team with 92 yards.

Although Dolphins found a way to come away with the win, there is still some tweaking that could be done. “We can be better. We can do better. We want to be happy with 2-0, but we don’t want to be satisfied with the performance. We know that we left things out there.” Says receiver Albert Wilson. Although there was a first half shutout, they allowed the Jets to shut them out in the second half. They only won by one score, and another touchdown with a 2 pt conversion and this could be another discussion. With other teams, mistakes like that could be costly. However, it is still early in the season and there is still time to clean up mistakes. In these last two games Tannehill has looked pretty good since his injury, being able to move pretty well in the pocket. Before his injury he has thrown for over 3,000 passing yards in a season twice and over 4,000 yards twice. The defense has also looked pretty good but they could also be better. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has performed very well, he does not look like a rookie. Their next game is back home against the Raiders. 2-0 is a good start, and hopefully they will be 3-0 when they take on another division rival on the road, the New England Patriots.