The New York Jets have a chance to play spoiler in their regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins. If the Jets pull the upset, Miami is out of the playoffs. In fact, the Jets can climb out of the AFC East basement and send the Dolphins to last place if they can win in Miami. The question is: will it actually happen?
For starters, Joe Flacco is the quarterback, which doesn’t exactly heighten anyone’s hopes. Then there’s the offensive line situation. With Duane Brown, George Fant and Nate Herbig all out, the Jets will be starting Cedric Ogbuehi, Mike Remmers and either Dan Feeney or Laurent Duvernay-Tardif along with Connor McGovern and Laken Tomlinson. That’s not exactly a strong group and the Jets have very little depth behind those six with two practice squad call-ups in Eric Smith and Adam Pankey.
Of course, the Dolphins have their own issues at those positions. Rookie Skylar Thompson will get the start. Teddy Bridgewater is active but will be the backup as he deals with a broken finger. Tua Tagovailoa remains out with a concussion.
On the offensive line, Terron Armstead is out once again with a number of injuries and Kendall Lamm, a depth piece for Miami, is also out.
Miami is also without one of their slot wide receivers Cedrick Wilson, who is out with a hip injury. The Dolphins have Trent Sherfield, River Cracraft and rookie Erik Ezukanma behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
This feels like one of the classic scenes from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, visiting the Island of Misfit Toys. Which group of toys will actually be played with Sunday?
Neither team looks confident and neither pick feels all that confident, but we’ll go with Miami to get after Flacco and the Jets’ nearly second-string offensive line. We’ll also predict Miami to reach the postseason with the Patriots losing to the Bills, setting up Miami at Buffalo next week.
Prediction: Dolphins 17, Jets 10