The Miami Dolphins square off with the New York Jets Sunday, needing a win that is a necessity to protect their spot in the postseason. The Dolphins can't completely control their destiny for clinching the last playoff wildcard spot, needing to surpass the Baltimore Ravens and the San Diego Chargers for the final spot. A loss Sunday will eliminate the Dolphins from playoff contention.
Miami will stumble into this week's matchup after their unarguably worst offensive performance of the year in a 19-0, shutout-loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Dolphins allowed Quarterback Ryan Tannehill to be sacked seven times. Four of the seven sacks came on third downs that ended drives. The Bills engineered a defensive scheme that was chaotic to Tannehill and the Dolphins' offensive line. Buffalo bottlenecked Miami to a lowly 89-yards through the air and made things even worse for the Dolphins only allowing 14-yards on the ground.
The formula for winning for the Dolphins this year has been simple: Ryan Tannehill must throw the ball well and must have time to do so.
Up until last week's embarrassment in Buffalo, the Dolphins had produced four wins in their last five games. Tannehill played well in each of the five games, and he exceeded 300-passing yards in three of those games. It's a guarantee that Jets' Head Coach Rex Ryan will look at the defensive scheme Buffalo used to completely disrupt Miami's offense. Another guarantee is that the Jets will be coming after Tannehill full-throttle on third-downs, as the Bills only allowed the Dolphins to convert on 2-14 third-downs. Rex Ryan is also notorious for his blitz packages and schemes.
Miami Dolphins' Head Coach Joe Philbin and Offensive Coordinator Mike Sherman will have to be creative in finding ways to allow Tannehill to get the ball to Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline, and Charles Clay to sustain drives and score points. The Dolphins can't afford to be as stagnant on offense as they were in Buffalo last week.
The Dolphins playoff future is still blurry going into Sunday, but a win can definitely grab the Dolphins the final wildcard spot and make that future a reality.
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