Brendan Pignataro and Mark Morales-Smith will be debating a different topic each Sunday. This week will be a heated battle about two AFC East Rivals. Are the Jets or Dolphins more likely to make the playoffs?
This week’s installment of our Sunday Debate will be a cake walk. Mark has decided to argue that the Miami Dolphins are more likely to make it the playoffs than the New York Jets in 2016 (please hold your laughter until the end of the article). I am here, as always, to put a kibosh on Mark’s insane theories.
Related Story: Sunday Debate: Dolphins More Likely to Make Playoffs Than Jets
I’m sure Mark’s article will mostly consist of old butt fumble jokes or about how Ryan Fitzpatrick won’t signed back. While he is doing that, I will provide reasons why the Jets are more likely to make the playoffs with facts, recent history and roster moves. There will also be a Ryan Tannehill jab or two.
Let’s first start with recent history between the two franchises. The Dolphins are losers of three straight versus the Jets, and four of the last five. The Jets absolutely dismantled the Dolphins last year, beating them by a total of 31 points in the two contests. Both teams have gone thru some changes on the roster that I will touch on, but it can’t be dismissed how much better the Jets were last year (10-6), than the Dolphins (6-10).
These division match ups are crucial to advancing to the playoffs, and the Jets have the Dolphins number recently. The last time the Dolphins beat the Jets was two years ago when Rex Ryan literally wouldn’t allow Geno Smith to pass the ball in a Monday night prime time match up. The Dolphins barely pulled out that win 16-13.
Since this is a debate on the likelihood of each team making the playoffs, let’s look at playoff appearances for each franchise this century. Since 2000, the Jets have played in 12 playoff games (6-6 record), compared to the Dolphins atrocious four games (1-3). The Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since President Clinton was in office. Ouch.
Miami was a disaster last year and they needed a great offseason to have any shot of seriously contending for a playoff spot this year. Mike Tannenbaum made some headline grabbing moves like usual, but they failed to add more talent to the roster than they had last year. Their major acquisitions of Byron Maxwell, Mario Williams, Kiko Alonso, Isa Abdul Quddus and Laremy Tunsil aren’t bad, but I don’t believe they offset the losses of Olivier Vernon, Lamar Miller, Derrick Shelby, Rishard Matthews, and Brent Grimes.
It is now the fifth season for Tannehill, and I’m still waiting to see evidence of him growing as a leader on the field and off. Last year he was complaining about his own practice squad players. Have you ever heard of a “franchise” quarterback doing that? A healthy DeVante Parker will help him, but his wide receivers aren’t the problem. For the fourth straight year we will be bombarded with articles on why this is the year Tannehill will break out into a superstar. Can the fourth time be a charm? Probably not.
New head coach Adam Gase was brought in as a last ditch effort to try and make Tannehill a franchise quarterback. Gase is highly regarded by some, but in Denver it was Peyton Manning running the show. Then in Chicago he was able to help cut down Jay Cutler‘s turnover’s, but that didn’t translate to wins. Dolphin fans are sick of hearing excuses, and this could be Tannehill’s last shot before they start looking for his successor.
As for the Jets, offensive coordinator Chan Gailey will look to improve on his stellar first season of running the offense. Make no bones about it, Fitzpatrick will be back this year. He threw for a franchise record 31 touchdowns last year, and will only grow more chemistry with arguably the best wide receiver duo in the league, Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. Fitzpatrick will actually have a receiving tight end to throw to this year with Jace Amaro returning from injury. The Jets have also added one of the best receiving running backs in the history of the NFL with Matt Forte, and four time Pro-Bowl left tackle Ryan Clady.
On defense the Jets got younger, faster, and better suited to attack the quarterback in this offseason. Rookies Darron Lee and Jordan Jenkins will revitalize the linebacker corps. Leonard Williams has the chance to be a breakout player of the year candidate in his second year. Losing Antonio Cromartie and Demario Davis from the starting lineup will be addition by subtraction. Todd Bowles has the players to improve on their fourth overall defense in 2015.
On Friday they came to a long term agreement with Muhammad Wilkerson, much to the pleasant surprise of his teammates. Wilkerson is a team leader, and the rest of the locker room was eagerly awaiting for him to get the contract he deserved. The confidence in the locker room will get another boost shortly when Fitzpatrick signs.
Getting @mowilkerson locked in was huge for our locker room. Congrats bro!! Thank you @nyjets
— BEAST (@BMarshall) July 15, 2016
Both the Jets and Dolphins have very tough schedules in the first half of the season. But with the announcement on Friday that Tom Brady will accept his four game suspension, this gives the rest of the AFC East an added boost of confidence. The Jets again will be team with the best shot at dethroning the Patriots and making the playoffs. I also see the Bills finishing ahead of the Dolphins again for third place. In fact, it might not even be close.
Looks like another easy debate victory for the good guys…
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Please check out Mark’s opposing article, and feel free to join in on the debate in the comments! Don’t bash Mark and his fellow Dolphins fans too much tho, that’s what the regular season is for.