Setting the Stage for the Week 18 Dolphins-Jets Matchup

Regular Season Series History: Dolphins lead 60-56-1

Last Five Meetings:

1. December 8, 2024 at Miami — Dolphins 32, Jets 26 (OT)
2. December 17, 2023 at Miami — Dolphins 30, Jets 0
3. November 24, 2023 at New York — Dolphins 34, Jets 13
4. January 8, 2023 at Miami — Dolphins 11, Jets 6
5. October 9, 2022 at New York — Jets 40, Dolphins 17

Series Superlatives:

Connections:

While the Dolphins still have something at stake in the regular season finale, the Jets will be thankful to end what was (again) a miserable season. The Jets will end the season with double-digit losses for ninth time in the past 10 years and their streak of seasons without a playoff appearance has moved to 14 years. Along with simply being bad on offense and mediocre on defense, the Jets perfected this season the art of losing close games, starting with a 10-9 home loss against the Denver Broncos when they had a chance to get to 3-1 on the season. Another glaring example came in the Week 14 game at Hard Rock Stadium when the Jets had a first-and-10 from the Miami 27-yard line with 1:14 left in a 23-23 game with the Dolphins down to two timeouts and managed to give them 52 seconds to tie the game in regulation.

Just as we said before the Week 14 game: Because they’re playing the Jets. When it comes to season finales, the team with something at stake always should be considered a strong favorite, particularly when the opponent seems to have checked out the way the Jets have. While the Dolphins (almost assuredly) won’t have Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, there’s every reason to believe they’ll be able to move the ball against a Jets defense that will be without key starters Sauce Gardner and likely Quinnen Williams, who didn’t practice all week. Aaron Rodgers had arguably his best performance of the season in that Week 14 matchup, but he also made enough mistakes to help the Jets lose another game, and it’s easy to see him doing it again.

It’s entirely possible this will be Rodgers’ final game in the NFL because one would think the Jets are done with this experiment and we’re not sure making teams will be knocking on the door of a 42-year-old quarterback who commands as much attention despite declining skills as Rodgers does, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first time a future Hall of Famer goes out with a memorable performance. There’s something unnerving also about looking back at that Week 14 game when Rodgers looked like vintage Aaron Rodgers for most of the way. Rodgers needs one touchdown pass to reach 500 for his career, which provides even more incentive. On the other side, we expect Tyler Huntley to have another solid outing at quarterback for the Dolphins, but to suggest it’s a given would be a reach. What if he struggles and the passing game can’t get going?

It’s going to be cold at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, but there’s not expected to be any rain or wind with which to be concerned, so the passing games shouldn’t be affected very much. It’s always important to get off to a good start, but it’s especially so in a game like this because the Jets very well could start unraveling once they face adversity in this game. A great example came last Sunday when the Jets played the Buffalo Bills tough until midway through the third quarter — it was 12-0 and the Jets had a first-and-10 at the Buffalo 32 — until things got out of control and it became 33-0 before the end of the quarter. So the Jets hanging around should surprise no one, though we’d expect the Dolphins to pull it out at the end regardless.

Final Score: Dolphins 23, Jets 20