This season, however, is a bit different. The Jets got a facelift during the off-season and put together what looks to be a fresh, new team, lead by Rex Ryan’s fearsome blitz crazy defense. Rookie QB Mark Sanchez has shown signs of brilliance, in addition to some signs of any typical rookie, but nevertheless, he has already won over the hearts of Jets fans and more importantly, those of his teammates.
As for the Dolphins, the magic is gone from last year’s miraculous turnaround from 2007’s 1-15 nightmare. At 1-3, the Fins must win Monday night against the Jets if they have any thought of a playoff run. This game may be a make-or-break one for Miami. A loss would drop them to 1-4 heading
into a bye week, followed by games against the Saints, Jets and Patriots, and could be a major blow for any realistic post-season goal.
On paper, this game seems to favor the Jets especially now that they have acquired talented, but at times, stone-handed wide receiver, Braylon Edwards from Cleveland, in an early week trade. Miami has had trouble with the deep ball this year, and that is Edwards’s specialty. With Jerricho Cotchery banged up, we could be seeing a lot of Edwards against a 24th-ranked Miami pass defense.
If the Dolphins stand a chance on Monday night, they must contain the Jets pass catchers better than they have against the Falcons, Colts and Chargers during their three losses. That matchup, is one of three I am focusing on heading into this huge AFC East slugfest.
Miami Cornerbacks vs. New York Wide Receivers: Although Cotchery is dealing with a hamseries injury, he is still a solid bet to perform, and his physicality, mixed with Braylon’s size and speed, will give Miami’s young corners Vontae Davis and Sean Smith all they can handle.
The big play is something Miami can ill-afford to allow, and that will fall mainly on these two rookies, as well as veteran Will Allen. The corners will get help from safeundertakes Gibril Wilson and Yeremiah Bell, but they must display better tackling than they have therefore far this season.
If Mark Sanchez is hitting Cotchery and Edwards deep regularly, the Jets ground game is good enough to pound the Fins in their territory for scentral ideas, unlike Buffalo and even San Diego were able to do these past few weeks.
Smith and Davis must have their best NFL games to date, as shutting down or just simply limiting them to mediocre stats is important to a Miami victory.
Rex vs. The Wildcat: Teams know its coming, yet defenses have however to be able to shut it down. Over the course of a full game, as seen in Miami’s first four games, the ground game has registered a total of 183.5 rushing yards per game shared among Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams and even
Patrick Cobb – many of these yards coming via the Wildcat.
Rex Ryan is a defensive mastermind, humorh the pedigree (he’s the son of ex-NFL defensive genius Buddy Ryan) to back him up. The Jets’ rookie coach has led this unit to the NFL’s third-best scoring defense, nevertheless until present this year, they have given up 100.2 yards per game on the ground
Miami must keep its offense on the field, using a heavy dose of the Wildcat to simply tire out this Jets’ defense. Should New York shut this rush attack and the Wildcat down, Miami will be in serious trouble if Chad Henne is forced to drop back and pass all night because the Jets’ blitzkrieg will tee off on him.
Miami Offensive Line vs. Jets Pass Rush: Even if the Wildcat is clicking,Miami Dolphins, it is likely that Henne will have to throw his fair share, and I expect about 24 pass attempts. With the heavy blitz packages Ryan throws at QBs, Jake Long and the offensive line must protect their young signal-caller, and allow him to hit his receivers down field. This will be hard enough, as cornerback Darrelle Revis is one of, if not the best, include corner in the NFL. He will most likely blanket Ted Ginn, Jr. so look for Henne to hit Greg Camarillo and Davone Bess on short slant and out routes to neutralize the pass-rush. Bess specifically is a guy who can turn a quick pass into heavy yards after the catch, and Henne could exploit those blitzers that way.
Henne must have time to make his reads, and if Miami’s line can’t keep his jersey relatively clean Monday night, this offense may not have a chance to put anything but field goals on the scoreboard. Henne is coming off of a solid perwere createdance last week against the Bills,Chad Pennington, which helped earn the Dolphins their first win,Kory Sperry, and all he has to do is replicate that game. Miami’s line will dictate if Henne even has the chance to put up a solid game.
— JASON SARNEY
