Time to play harder

Miami Dolphins (0-4) at New York Jets (2-3)
08:30 PM ET, October 17th, 2011
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ

Miami Dolphins visit the New York Jets this Monday Night coming from losing their 4 games this season but at least they had a bye week to try to fix those little huge mistakes that have kept them away from winning, besides they will be starting Matt Moore this week at the quarterback position, and on Monday they are heading to a hard defensive game against their AFC East rivals, the Jets who return home after three road games which let them three consecutive losses against Oakland, Baltimore and New England.

Miami is having a rough start on the season, not finding their offensive game and being overwhelmed on defense on each of the games, with Reggie Bush (119 rushing yards and no touchdowns) not performing as good as expected being only a small shadow of the dominant running back he was with the New Orleans Saints years ago. Brandon Marshall (313 receiving yards and 1 touchdown) also is falling short to expectations about his game, but the biggest deception for the Dolphins come out the quarterback position, where Chad Henne (868 passing yards, 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions) is being more than shaky running the Dolphins offense, and the hardest part of the story for Henne is that he hurt his shoulder so bad that it could be a season ending injury for him, letting the starting quarterback job to former Carolina Panthers quarterback Matt Moore (2640 yards, 16 touchdowns, 17 interceptions and 7 fumbles with the Dolphins since 2007 through 2010) who doesn’t make Miami’s future much brighter than what has been this season.

The Jets are having a struggling season this year, not even compared to last years’ performance which made them to aim high with a scary defense and a consistent game from Mark Sanchez, but this year, even falling short in their division behind the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills, and if they win this game will be their chance to cut a bit of the gap that separates them from the playoff hunt. Mark Sanchez (1171 passing yards with 8 touchdowns) is falling down his numbers this year, not finding Santonio Holmes (224 yards with 2 touchdowns) so easily as he did last years, and adding that their defense is not as ferocious as it has being past years makes their future more uncertain and difficult. Don’t forget about LaDainian Tomlinson (72 rushing yards with no touchdowns), and don’t fool yourself, he is still solid but getting a little slower with the years but you can expect him to put still very respectable performances this season, even more against Miami’s weak defense.

Miami is averaging more yards than the Jets, both achieved and allowed. Miami has accomplished 353 yards per game and allowed 414.5, scored 17.3 points per game and allowing 26. The New York Jets have an average of 297 yards per game and 337.8 allowed, scoring 24.2 points per game while their opponents score an average of 25 points per game.

All stats look so tight that a prediction here on who’s going to win is playing way to risky, but remember that those numbers were achieved with Chad Henne on the field and this Monday Matt Moore has the ball in his hands, we have a line of Miami favorite by 7 points the total set on 43½, and I will recommend to take the New York Jets here, and if you want to take something else look for the total to go under.

WiseCat