NFL
By: Rick O’Donnell
Imagine thinking these are the same old Jacksonville Jaguars. Not the Mark Brunell or Byron Leftwhich-led ones, but the Cleo Lemon or Luke McCown ones. No, these Jaguars aren’t as easy to beat as they used to be. They have a solid core of talented players, won 9 games last season for a winning record, and have one of the highest-paid QBs in the league, Trevor Lawrence. It would be easy to assume this comeback win for the Miami Dolphins fit the narrative of “not being able to beat good football teams.” but you’d be kidding yourself.
Let’s not forget of those 9 games they’d win last year, any time they were up by 14 points in a contest, they would go on to win that game. Despite it being an ugly, ugly win, the Dolphins stopped that streak on Sunday. You can’t even use the heat in Miami as a home-field advantage when you’re playing a team that also plays in that same state, in the same heat. Yeah, Miami is more south thus closer to the equator, but you’re reaching on that one.
But the Dolphins got that win.
In a game where the Dolphins would need 6 players to carry the ball for just 81 yards, It took a team effort. Even though they ranked 6th in rushing yards in 2023, They still pulled out the win.
On a day when Tyreek Hill was detained by police on the way to the stadium and Jaylen Waddle had to briefly leave the game to be evaluated as part of concussion protocol, they still pulled out the win.
Despite a new defensive coordinator, their top DB Jalen Ramsey missing time with an injury, Jaelen Phillips being on a play count, and not having one of their top defenders in Bradley Chubb, the Miami Dolphins still pulled out a win.
Despite all the grandstanding talk here, what it boils down to is this. The Jacksonville Jaguars will be in a very tough division this year with the Colts and Texans going toe-to-toe in week 1. All three of those teams showed the AFC South won’t just step aside as they have in the past, they’re here to play.
On the flip side of things, the Dolphins took a game that was full of bad timing and drive killing plays, but found a way to get the job done. Although, that’s not really news in September at home. Can they do the same thing later this year against resilient teams later in the schedule. Will their depth be able to hold up and turn these types of games into playoff wins? We’ll have to wait and see.
