Week 6 NFL Preview: New York Jets at the Miami Dolphins
Alain Poupart is a veteran NFL reporter who covers the Miami Dolphins. In an exchange of questions between Jets Country and All Dolphins, he helps preview this Sunday’s match-up between the two teams.
Here are three questions thrown to Poupart about the Dolphins, including their former head coach, Adam Gase.
JC: Are you surprised to see that Miami is so much further along in their rebuild than the Jets?
Poupart: I'm not sure how to compare the Dolphins and the Jets because the Dolphins completely rebooted last year to a degree not seen in New York. I'm a little surprised at how quickly things have gone downhill for the Jets, though the hiring of Adam Gase truthfully was odd, coming so soon after he and the Dolphins parted ways. From a Dolphins standpoint, I'd say the rebuilding is right on track. They added a lot of pieces as free agents in the offseason, then took advantage of their crazy draft capital to improve even more. Maybe the biggest key in the big picture will be whether they hit big with the selection of Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback.
JC: Fitzpatrick was fantastic last week at the Niners. Is this the best quarterback play Miami has seen in a decade?
Poupart: Quarterback excellence has been rather rare in Miami since [Dan] Marino retired, that's for sure. Fitzpatrick is playing really, really well this season, with three very good games and two not so good, though not nearly as bad as some fans would have you believe. Ryan Tannehill had a couple of spurts where he played really well, such as 2014 and 2016 when he helped the Dolphins make the playoffs. The best season by a Dolphins quarterback post-Marino actually was delivered by a former Jets starter, Chad Pennington, who was absolutely lights out in 2008.
JC: New York Jets head coach Adam Gase is on the hot seat up here, at least according to the media. Was he treated fairly by Miami? His struggles here a bit of a surprise?
Poupart: He absolutely was treated fairly by Miami. You have to remember he regressed in Miami after helping the team make the playoffs his first season. The biggest problem he had in Miami (along with the fact he was so consumed by the offense that it felt he neglected the defense) was his ability to get along with all his players. And that's surfaced again in New York. It's not good business to get rid of good players, and the Dolphins ended up letting go of Jay Ajayi and Jarvis Landry at a time when both were really productive. It also doesn't necessarily look great for Gase to watch Ryan Tannehill have great success in Tennessee after what was a mediocre 2018 season with the Dolphins.
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