After 23-point Drubbing, The Miami Dolphins-New York Jets Rivalry Is Back — And It’s Oh, So Petty
The New York Jets‘ A team bludgeoned the Miami Dolphins‘ B team Sunday. Zach Wilson, Breece Hall, and the rest of New York’s young guns ran through a Miami team without its top two quarterbacks, offensive tackles, and cornerbacks.
But so what? Nobody else is going to feel sorry for the Dolphins — and they certainly shouldn’t feel sorry for themselves.
Baby New York Jets Crush Ailing Miami Dolphins
You are what your record says you are, to quote Bill Parcells. And the Dolphins are one of like 20 teams that are a couple of plays from 4-1 and a couple of plays away from 1-4. These things even out over a long enough timeline.
The Jets are in that same group of mediocrity. Would they have won Sunday if Tua Tagovailoa played? Or if Teddy Bridgewater played more than one snap after suffering a not-a-concussion?
The score certainly would have been closer. But the Dolphins need to know — and they surely do by now — that these are not the laughingstock Jets of the last four years. This is a much smarter, more talented group than the Jets teams they beat eight of the last nine they’ve met.
The Jets’ future is so bright because they have so much young talent. And those young stars were incredible Sunday, with cornerback Sauce Gardner (age 22) setting the tone on New York’s first defensive snap.
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He timed a corner blitz perfectly and rocked Bridgewater as he was releasing the ball. Teddy left the game with elbow and head injuries and didn’t return, the result of the league’s enhanced concussion protocols.
The rest of the game was in the hands of rookie Skylar Thompson — a seventh-rounder who saw his first NFL action. Credit to Thompson and Mike McDaniel for keeping the game close with smoke and mirrors — the Dolphins actually had a chance to go ahead early in the fourth quarter, but Jason Sanders pushed a 54-yard field goal right.
But they were the inferior team Sunday, and the Jets put their foot down when it mattered most.
“To say that the wheels fell off would be fair,” McDaniel said.
The Jets — who have outscored their opponent 58-20 in the fourth quarter this season — accounted for the game’s final 21 points, turning a close affair into a laughter.
And oh did they laugh.
Jets Troll Dolphins in Win
After running back Michael Carter (age 23) plunged into the end zone for the second time Sunday afternoon, he mocked Jaylen Waddle’s touchdown celebration, breaking into the penguin waddle that the Dolphins’ second-year wide receiver has made famous.
But that was just the start of the fun (if you’re a Jets fan; agony if you support the Dolphins).
The lead was nine, and the Dolphins were again backed up in their own end when Carl Lawson got to Thompson, not only sacking him but stripping the ball in the process.
Quinnen Williams — listed at 303 pounds — recovered and ran toward the end zone. Tyreek Hill — who is listed at 191 pounds — was in the way.
You don’t need an advanced physics degree to guess what came next. Williams flattened Hill and kept rumbling until Dolphins lineman Greg Little brought him down.
The Jets’ social media team was so entertained by the sequence that they not only put the highlight on their Twitter account, they trolled the Dolphins comically after the game.
After Dolphins wins, the team wallpapers an elevator at team HQ with a picture of a signature moment or star player from the game and then puts a video clip of those elevator doors closing on Twitter.
The Jets superimposed Williams running with the football — either just before or just after he trucked Hill — on those Dolphins elevators.
— New York Jets (@nyjets) October 9, 2022
Oh yes, the petty is back.
And we’re here for it. Rivalries are great when they mean something. And with the Dolphins — who should have Tua back when these teams meet again in Week 18 — and Jets both squarely in the AFC playoff hunt, Sunday’s game absolutely meant something.
