Perhaps another trip across the pond will help the Miami Dolphins prevent their season from potentially spiraling out of control.
They’ll try to avoid a third straight defeat Sunday in London against a New York Jets team that’s looking to bounce back from its first defeat.
Last season, Miami (1-2) was 1-2 and coming off two straight losses when it went to London and rolled to a 38-14 victory over Oakland. Though the Dolphins would go on to lose the game that followed, at least they are familiar with their current plight.
“We’ve been here before, so we know what we gotta do, and that’s just go back to work, find a way to get this W,” safety Michael Thomas’ told the team’s official website.
Saddled with high expectations after adding $114 million defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and confident quarterback Ryan Tannehill and running back Lamar Miller would take their play to a higher level, the Dolphins have floundered out of the gate. They needed a fourth-quarter rally to win 17-10 at Washington in Week 1, never led during a three-point loss at Jacksonville and were blown out 41-14 by Buffalo at home last Sunday.
Fourth-year coach Joe Philbin appeared to be on thin ice heading into the season, and might fall through if things don’t improve. Publicly, Philbin hasn’t shown too much concern for these early struggles or his own job security but won’t sugarcoat the team’s current state.
”This is not a time to panic,” he said. ”We’re not getting 53 new players. We’re not getting 24 new coaches. We’re either going to find solutions to these problems or not, and we’re either going to stick together or not.”
Philbin said that lineup changes could happen this week, perhaps on defense.
The addition of Suh hasn’t kept the Dolphins from yielding 435 rushing yards – second-most in the league. They’ve recorded one sack and allowed a combined 101.8 passer rating to the trio of Kirk Cousins, Blake Bortles and Tyrod Taylor.
”I’m disappointed, but I’m mostly disappointed in myself,” embattled defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle said. ”I’ve got to do a better job getting guys in the right spots.”
Offensively, Tannehill has completed 61.4 percent of his passes with five touchdowns but threw all three of his interceptions last week. He’s also been sacked seven times.
Miller set career highs with 1,099 rushing yards and eight TDs last season, but has gained 105 without a score on 30 attempts while dealing with an ankle issue.
”Guys are frustrated,” Tannehill said. ”We know we’re a better team than we’ve showed. There’s no panic, but definitely urgency to get this thing turned around.”
Tannehill’s completed only 57.6 percent of his passes and has four TDs and six INTs while splitting his six starts against New York (2-1). Miller ran for a career-high 178 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries during a 37-24 season-ending home loss to the Jets in 2014.
However, both could have a hard time getting untracked against a New York defense that allowed 17 points prior to last week’s 24-17 loss to Philadelphia. Despite the defeat, the Jets yielded 231 yards and rank fourth in the league giving up 298.3 per game.
With four turnovers and a number of missed tackles on Darren Sproles’ 89-yard punt return for a TD, the Jets feel they hurt themselves more than the Eagles did.
“We didn’t lose this game because we thought we were better than we are,” center Nick Mangold said. ”We lost because of execution.”
With Chris Ivory sidelined by a quad injury, New York managed 47 rushing yards and Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions after throwing two in the first two contests.
”It’s just as important not to overreact for a loss as it is to a win,” first-year coach Todd Bowles said. ”We didn’t overreact to the two wins, we’re not going to overreact to the one loss.”
Ivory, who leads the team with 148 rushing yards and has scored twice, should return for this contest after being a full participant in practice Thursday and Friday. He’s averaged 3.7 yards per carry while gaining 171 in four games against the Dolphins.
While Ivory and star cornerback Darrelle Revis (hamstring) are probable to play, Eric Decker (knee) is a game-time decision after sitting out last week’s game. Decker is listed as questionable after missing practice Wednesday and being limited on Thursday and Friday.
This will be the Jets’ first game in London.
”I think guys think it’s cool to go over there,” Fitzpatrick said. “It will be a unique experience for all of us and hopefully bring the team together even more.”
It’s time to kick some ass fellas! GO DOLPHINS!!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
I can’t stand this fucking dumb offense
It’s impossible to score if you have to be perfect on each play
No Artempt at big yardage
Just hope our wrs break tackles
So dumb
Maybe not, Nobody gets fired this week and we have 2 weeks of shit to talk about nothing here
Whatcha think now, TOP??
i am sure he is just as disgusted. calling him out for supporting the team, the kind of fan he is, does nothing.
Woohoo a 5 yard loss by our d. Er the refs
OK not thinking about football for a minute. If you are Lazor, what psychological thought process tells you to ALWAYS throw a pass that goes for half the needed yards to get the first down?
I think one of the problems is that Tannehill is a good athlete, but not a very good QB. Kind of like Kaepernick. We’ve been blinded by the athleticism. He’s the anti-Pennington.
He’s got some moments
But he is consistently bad in the pocket and makes bad decisions
I dont care that other teams had a worse record coming in
We are by far the worst team in the NFL
twicethe that is very perceptive, but the playcalling is so bad I can’t even tell how good Tannehill is.
It’s true
The play calling makes it hard to evaluate the entire team
The design of the offense is actually pretty questionable
It takes us so long to get to the redzone
And we can’t have one drop or pressure
Good point – and the oline doesn’t help either
Hitting with the helmet is gonna get that every time
naples,
lol you are asking the impossible. how are any of us suppose to dumb down our thinking enough to understand what lazor is thinking
I never thought it would be this bad
amazing penalty
come on jets. dont fuck this up for us. you and only you can help blowbin out the door
Fist Pump coming.
Ken says:
October 4, 2015 at 11:51 am
I never thought it would be this bad
lol i said it earlier, they have to get better just to be qualified as bad. this is the worst nfl team i have even seen.
Wow we caught a break. Now what? Any pride in this team to try and make it a game?
I’m not a big time NFL GM or a cunning capologist, but I’m fairly certain we could have saved all that money we spent on Suh and still managed to trot out the most ineffective DL in the history of professional football.
awwriiight we only need 3 TDs to win.
The refs will be our offense MVP for this game
LOL — who else do you give the game ball to?
More yardge by penalty than passing, possibly offence as a whole
Noticed your Canadian spelling of “offence,” Atta boy!
Every time we throw downfield we get a PI call
I have to keep telling myself I am not dying of some stomach disease.
Throw this deep
Why a sweep to the short side of the field? I hate it when they do that.
We lost a yard with 6 ol
That slow developing stretch play out of the shotgun is money …Money I tell you…
tannys pocket is like, ready set sack
FFR-Calling out TOP actually does do something for me. It satisfies my need to tell totally unreasonable so-called “fans” to use their brains a little more often. His mindless support for Sparano and Ireland was the single dumbest thing I ever read on any Fins website.
yeah try the “Weakside weak sweep” again
At least throw it where he can try to make a play. Oh, wait. Speaking of, is Parker active for this game? I haven’t seen him.
He’s active
There is more bad Tanny
And yes I know there is a lot wrong with the team
But don’t wait until 1 sec with the play clock to snap the ball
Move faster
This offense moves so slow
It should be fast paced
The DL can just tee off again with a sec on the play clock
Snap the ball with 10 secs left
Snap it with 3 sec
Snap it with 7 secs
Just don’t wait tip right before the play clock ends every time
That makes defense easier
so why design a play where there is exactly one possible WR to hit (Stills) and so if he is covered then it’s over.
WELL WE can’t blame the refs for this loss!
od,
if it helps you fine. but it wasnt the single dumbest thing you read and you know it. some calling for josh freeman to start, or moore. and said over and over, he supported them cause they were the coaches of his team. not that he believed in them, they just coached his team.
but if calling him out helps you then i get that, by all means vent away
IT DOES. The guy was/is a sick man.
Twice …Parker can’t crack the lineup of this star laden WR group. Plus Bazooka Joe can’t risk a rookie messing up the delicate chemistry that this offense has worked so hard to achieve.
snicker snicker
388 yards surrendered already
“surrender” is the correct term
fouts is an idiot. the wr falling down is not PI
Wow. Now we see why we play outta shotgun
Well that wasnt good
Wow this oline is really really bad and out of sync
That wasn’t the OL
They actually designed the okay not to block the DE
Wtf?!?
Nice play
The play design was not to block the DE
The play design was not to block the DE
DEFENSE
HOW IN THE HELL did Miami get away with obvious pass interference?? And WHAT was that pop-up of a pass thrown by Fitzy??
YES!
What can Tannehill do with that pass rush?
Not sure why, but I didn’t hate watching the 2007 team. I absolutely hate watching this team. I’m done.
Bat – your point is well taken. And we have to keep him on his pitch count.
no one even touched wilkerson because the play was designed so badly.
olddolphan says:
October 4, 2015 at 12:03 pm
IT DOES. The guy was/is a sick man.
i wouldnt know. never met the man. the character on the blog i found entertaining but i have no idea who he is personally
Count yourself lucky.
WTF kind of protection is that? WTF is going on?
The Dolphins really capitalized on that TO.
piggy,
see that is why he doesnt snap it with 7 seconds. it just means he is gonna get hit sooner
If the DL doesn’t know when the ball snaps the extra half sec makes a difference
4th and 17 after an INT and long return is wasted.
oh boy, cant wait to hear how the def shut the jets down in the second half.
Wilkerson is under the radar of Lazor and Philbin although my great grandma knows who he is.
J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS
HELL YEAH!!!
The Jets aren’t even playing that well.
No they’re not. We playing that poorly.
The only question remaining in this misbegotten season is whether Ross is disgusted enough to pull the plug on Bazooka Joe mid-season.
I hate rooting for firings
But I can’t see what he wouldn’t make that move with the bye week
You have to lull the trigger now
4th QTR bitches … this is OUR qtr.
wait sorry that was my high school team.
I hate this staff, this owner. What’s up all?
We will never get a sack
NICE!
Fitzpatrick making our dline and linebackers look SLOW
And I could probably beat him in a footrace
Fits isn’t even scared enough to slide.
bat,
mid season???? you mean we have to wait 4 more games?
Coyle is so done
In order of chances to survives the bye
I would say the highest chances of being fired are
1 coyle
2 Philbin
3 lazor
They might fire all 3
I guess the wasn’t holding by Mangold on Suh either. I don’t know what’s up or down anymore. Well I know the Dolphins are down. This just sucks!
nice missed tackle in the backfield
DAMN!
piggy,
i got it. my point was that it really doesnt matter.
All these little things are part of the bigger problem
The play design
The shotgun running
The slow pace of the offense
The hesitancy to throw downfield
The one dimensional offense
Falling behind early
Suh looked weak on that huggy non-tackle.
rob …LOL ..No I mean at some point before the end of the season ..Ross would have to be a disturbed sadist to punish the fan base with 4 more sad displays.
We need a whole team of Landrys
Fouts calling out Philbin again “no sense of urgency”
That is exactly what he is
At least stills has 2 catches
Let’s use him please
Stills with his one catch per game.
Td. He can make plays shocking. Lazor y a see that
bat,
i dont see how blowbin survives this week. they actually look worse then last week if that is possible.
Think how good and how stout we were against the run when this coaching staff started. Now, we are one of the worst 3 in the league. Landry is the ONLY guy who brings it week after week and plays with fire. This team has taken on the demeanor and attitude of its coach. Oh wow! We actually targeted the guy we traded a THIRD round pick for here in the 4th Q!
There you go Piggy
piggy,
i got it i told you, yeah all part of the problem. i was just laughing saying it will just get him hit sooner that is why he does it.
now that is the way to use Stills. Where has that been all year? It could be used anywhere on the field.
YAY … Jets gave us a mercy TD ….
Wow I went outside and then see Stills scored. Where did that come from?
Too little too late
CRAP!
My boys better start trying again before this gets too close…
I still say we have talent on this team.
I agree. Either dont scheme right ir they are not motivated. But we do have some talent
Stills hasn’t been used much because he is not adept at running the three yard routes that Lazor prefers.
Can w stop them now ??? STILLS. A chance. See what i dis there?? Clever huh 💡
Piggy:
I think Lazor is our next HC for at least 12 games
Maybe Benton
The offense has been bad enough to prevent it IMO
But it makes more sense that Coyle or keeping Philbin
Does that mean someone else can call the plays🙏 ??
bat
that gift td just keeps blowbin around longer.
You know we still aren’t out of this
“Still”
I’m glad we don’t have Wallace anymore quitting on this team in blowout losses
Love those scapegoats
Twice ..If you mean by “not out of this” that they will force us to play the last 10 minutes, then I agree with you.
Gigi (@Mrs2620) tweeted at 9:18 AM on Sun, Oct 04, 2015:
http://t.co/mgX8jlPAdc
(https://twitter.com/Mrs2620/status/650706491708608512?s=02)
You’re awesome Gigi!
Landry!
Landry looks like the only one with any kind of professional pride
Nice ol
Refs MVP!
wow, the jets blitzed. i am shocked. who would have thought they would