http://www.jetsdaily.com/2009/10/jets-dolphins-critical-game-for-both.html For both New York and Miami, Sunday's showdown is as close to a must-win as a game in October can be. If the Jets win, it makes up for the loss three weeks ago at Miami, and evens the Jets up at 2-2 in the division. A loss would put them at 1-3 with the last two divisional games being on the road. It would tie them with the Dolphins in the loss column, and if Buffalo wins this week, the two teams would be tied. It would put any divisional hopes away, and put the Jets behind the eight ball. The Jets talked in the offseason, they talked before the first game, and they're talking again now. They want Miami. They think they can beat them. Well, at home, they had better. Otherwise, that has to be a punch to the gut, especially heading into a bye week. The Jets have been chomping at the bit to face the Dolphins again, and three weeks seemed like forever. How about two weeks without anybody to take out their frustrations on? Then again, they lost at home to the Bills, so who knows their motivation. But on the bright side, a win would likely show that the run defense can survive without Kris Jenkins. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams gashed the Jets with their stud nose tackle; without him could spell trouble. Miami, after all, is the 2nd leading rushing team in the NFL at 170 yards-per-game. Who is the best rushing team statistically? After back-to-back 300+ yard rushing performances, the Jets are now the NFL's top rushing tea at 184 yards-per-game. While Shonn Greene made a huge impact against the Raiders, the Jets will miss Leon Washington a lot against the Dolphins who are a very good run-stopping team. The Jets ran all over weak run defenses in Oakland and Miami. Let's see how they do against a team that can stop the run, and maybe Mark Sanchez can throw a little bit on a banged up and not particularly strong secondary. Besides, a win would put them right back with New England. The Jets need to win their games at home, and their games against inferior opponents if they have any hopes of winning their division, and a win would give the Jets a chance and make the game against New England next month huge. For Miami, it's do or die right now. At 2-4 they need a win now. They can call themselves the best 2-4 team in the NFL, (though Carolina and Seattle refuse to call their seasons over yet either) but wins need to start coming now, or the season will slip away. There is a huge difference between 3-4 (and 3-0 in the division) and 2-5, especially when a road game against the Patriots follows. This is as close to a must-win as it gets. If they have any hope of making the playoffs this year, they need to at the very least split these two road games against the Jets and Patriots, and they have to think the Jets are the easier of the two opponents. After all, they did beat them just three weeks ago with Kris Jenkins. Miami just blew a 24-3 lead last week, and they have to be angry. They were mad at the Jets in the first game, and it is clear that the juice is back in this rivalry, so they'll be fired up again. This should be fun.
I don't think the Dolphins being angry about blowing the lead last sunday will matter much against the Jets. Honestly I don't see them getting up for this game like they did MNF but I still hope they win.
The Dolphins are 2 and fricking 4. If the Jets lose to them again all that it says is that this Jets team was maybe over-rated before the injuries and is clearly not very good after them. The Jets need to go out there and turn the Fins, who are reeling after the collapse last week, into the Oakland Raiders - East Coast version. If the Jets are a good team this won't be hard to do at this point. If they're not, well this was supposed to be a developmental year right up to the moment the Jets had the hot start. I'm on the fence as to which way things will go on Sunday but I doubt the game will be close either way.
So if they beat the dolphins they are good, if they don't they suck... Boy that's bias in it's purest form right there.
Amazing how a 2-4 team like miami gets so much love from the NFL... honestly they are not that great. Like kerry rhodes said, they played that MNF game like it was a superbowl. The jets will show them the business this time.
He's right. For the Jets this game is the Super Bowl of the regular season. I know this was said about the Patriots game, and I'm not excusing it, but this is definitely different. The Patriots game was about respect. The Jets earned that one. This game is about the season, the division, the playoffs, a shot at the championship. From the Jets perspective, a loss here sends them into the bye with the objective of packing up their bags and going home, because it's almost over at that point. There's been a lot of hype on the Jets, and a lot of concern. I'd say a majority of the fans here are still on board, but if the Jets lose Sunday it would be the equivelant of a truck full of people crashing into a freight train head on at 80 mph. The bandwagon will drop faster than Obama's approval ratings have lately. I understand the perspective of a Dolphins fan is different, but this is how it is for the Jets. I know this is as much a must win for the Fins as it is for the Jets, but to be honest no one here cares what it is for the Fins... it is a Jets message board after all.
Good article Mack. Jenkins and Leon are probably the two players we do not want out against Miami, as Leon always seems to have big games against the 'Fins and Jenkins is key to stopping the run. A win here would tell us a lot about this young Jets team and how the respond to adversity.
My friend, it's called being biased. if the Jets win I'd be the first one to admit they were better on that day. If they lose it means they were not better. It doesn't mean the team is mediocre, it means that on that day the dolphins were better just like the MNF. Remember everything is possible, they could win the rest of the games after the Dolphins game for all we know. What I don't like is the way that he put it. His statement makes it seem as if either way he won't give the dolphins credit win or lose. That is what I really dislike about some fans, whether they are Jet or dolphin fans.
I'll never give the dolphins credit for anything, besides maybe having the gayest team colors and organization as a whole.
I'm sorry, but the Dolphins are 2-4. Are they a solid team? Absolutely. But they're the type of team that we need to beat at home if we think we're a playoff team. The fact that they're in our division and they already beat us once only adds to it.
Shut up with this nonsense, you're barking up the wrong tree calling Br4dw4y5ux a biased fan. B'w4y gave the Phins plenty of credit when they beat the Jets on Monday night. His comment is pertaining to the Jets. You want to trash talk, we have a forum for that, go there and look for biased fans. The fact is, the Phins ARE 2 and 4. Excellent teams don't consistently lose like that. You want your team to get respect? Maybe they need to start winning football games. I remember when Herm was our HC and people would be justifying close losses to good teams. 'But we stayed in the game'. 'We stuck with an excellent team, we must be good'. The only thing that matters is the win column. All the rest is just a bunch of factors that contributed to a loss. The truth is that if the Jets can't beat Miami on Sunday, they are done for the season for all intents and purposes, and are not a good team as a result. They win, they are alive and still in contention.
I get what you are saying toto, but the fact of the matter is, that how it is everywhere. In sports (not all the time but the majority) whenever the heavy favorite is beat, it is always what they didn't do right as oppose to what the meager team did. The Dolphins have looked good for being a 2-4 team, but when they first matched up no team posted more than 2 tds against the Jets, not even the Pats and Saints. So it was a shocker to lose. If the lions beat the patriots, no one would say the lions played a great game, they'd say new england stunk. It's just how it is. It also doesnt help that the team beating you called a win less than 7 points a beatdown. If the Rams beat the saints by a field goal they don't call it a beat down. That kind of credit you want won't be given if the teams, not just the fans, gloat before and after the game. Every fan who loses is a sore loser, just some are more than others. I give the dolphins credit for doing what they do best, the wild cat and letting chad henne throw just enough to win.
The Dolphins DID play that MNF game like it was the superbowl. WTF is Rhodes' point now? My answer to that is, "So Kerry, why didn't THE JETS play that game like it was the superbowl? I don't think I'm alone when I say I'm sick of some of our guys talking a bad game and talking smack. As Carl Banks said on the Joe Beningo show this morning, "It's time for the Jets to stop talking and let the pads and the cleats do the talking on Sunday." This has to be a very physical game on Sunday, a game we can't lose. I'm sick and tired of teh talk already, we need to go out and bitch-slap this team 27-9.
