Behind Enemy Lines: Embedded Reporter Dishes on Dolphins, NFL Black Friday Matchup
The New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins are guaranteed to make history on November 24. The two AFC East rivals will clash in the first-ever NFL Black Friday Game at 3:00 pm ET on Prime Video.
A loss on Friday would all but eliminate the Jets (4-6) from any playoff consideration, so the stakes are high when the first-place Dolphins (7-3) visit MetLife Stadium.
The Jets will have to contend with the NFL's top-ranked offense this week. The visiting Dolphins rank first in yards per game (434.0) and yards per play (6.99). Gang Green's defense is limiting opponents to 4.71 yards per play, the third-lowest average on the circuit.
To learn more about the Jets' Week 12 opponent, I've connected with All Dolphins publisher Alain Poupart for a five-question interview.
Poupart has covered South Florida's NFL team for various outlets since 1989. He offered a scouting report on Dolphins' dynamic receiver Tyreek Hill and also assessed Miami's defense under Vic Fangio's leadership.
After the inaugural Black Friday affair, the Jets and the Dolphins will meet again on Sunday, December 17 at Hard Rock Stadium.
All Dolphins Reporter Answers Five Questions
RV: Have the Dolphins shown any on-field shortcomings that the Jets should try to exploit on Friday?
AP: It might hard to believe after the way they started the season, but the Dolphins probably are more vulnerable on offense than defense these days. They're coming a pretty sloppy performance against the Raiders where they did get 422 total yards (guessing that might be a number hard to fathom for Jets fans) but also committed three turnovers and came up short on fourth down near the Vegas goal line. They're also dealing with a lot of injuries on the offensive line (Jets fans surely can relate on that one) and that hasn't helped.
RV: With all three losses coming away from Hard Rock Stadium, have you noticed any difference in the Dolphins' performance on the road as opposed to home?
AP: Here's the thing about the three losses, it's not just that they were on the road, it's that they were against three really good teams (Buffalo at its peak, Philadelphia and Kansas City). The Dolphins, on the flip side, have handled all the inferior teams on their schedule. That said, they absolutely have looked different on the road and a lot of it is they simply can't do quite the same things offensively with their vast amount of motion as they do on the road, and Tua Tagovailoa said this week his cadence is different home or away.
RV: There was a lot of hype surrounding the hiring of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in the offseason. How has the defense performed under his leadership?
AP: The defense got off to a slow start, starting with a really bad performance against the Chargers in Week 1, but it progressively has gotten better and right now is borderline elite. I even wrote a column on AllDolphins.com last week making the point that it won't be long before the defense is the strength of the team — if it's not already there. It also helps that the Dolphins are completely healthy on defense and have all their pieces — as in, not one single player on their injury report last week was on the defensive side of the ball and it was the same with the first injury report of this week.
RV: What has been the most successful tactic used to contain Tyreek Hill this season? Has anyone been able to slow down the elite playmaker?
AP: A lot of prayer and holding your breath. Just kidding. The most successful tactic to contain Hill and limit the damage he does is to get physical with him at the line of scrimmage. The Patriots, in Week 2, and the Chiefs, in Week 7, were the two teams that had the most success against him. If you give Hill a free release, he's simply too fast to not eventually get free in the secondary and it could be deep. There really is nothing like him in the NFL because of the speed he possesses, and you just have to watch two plays last week against the Raiders where he cut outside about 20-25 yards downfield and the DB was so afraid of his deep speed that he kept backpedaling and Tyreek ended up open by literally 7 yards near the sideline.
RV: Outside of Tua Tagovailoa and Hill, who is the Dolphins' most-important player?
AP: This is a team with a lot of high-end talent, so maybe this has to be examined from a positional depth standpoint and that's why I'd go with Christian Wilkins. The Dolphins have been tremendous against the run pretty much all season (after Week 1) and they completely shut down Josh Jacobs on Sunday. Wilkins, who is playing elite-level football, is a big reason for that and he's become a factor as a pass rusher as well. He's just a really important player for that defense, particularly since the Dolphins are pretty thin when it comes to interior defensive linemen.
READ MORE:
Slumping Jets Sink to Season Low in NFL Power Rankings
Jets Get Smart Back In Building
Jets Promote Veteran QB, Welcome Familiar Face Back to P-Squad
