Jets' mission on defense: Slow Dolphins' track team out of blocks
The Jets' Sauce Gardner walks off the field after a game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium on Sep. 14 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Jim McIsaac
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The Dolphins are not currently a good team, but they still are a fast team, and that will be one of the Jets’ biggest challenges on Monday night when the 0-3 teams meet at Hard Rock Stadium.
“They have an Olympic 4 x 100 team,” defensive backs coach Chris Harris said before practice on Friday. “That’s what’s unique.”
That includes receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and running back De’Von Achane.
“When you look at them offensively, very, very explosive,” coach Aaron Glenn said. “Speed, a ton of space players, a quarterback that I think two years ago he led the league in passing, and you have a running back that can get it and go at any given time.”
(Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in 2022 with a 105.5 passer rating and in 2023 with 4,624 passing yards.)
“The challenge is going to be for us to really try to control those guys and keep them from really having those explosive plays that they create all the time,” defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said. “Our guys are up for the challenge.”
Even at age 31, Hill remains one of the most feared big-play threats in the league.
He might find himself matched up with Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner. Hill is listed at 5-10. Gardner is 6-3. Does that disparity give the shorter man an advantage in certain situations?
“I just have to bend a little bit; I’ve done it before,” Gardner said after practice on Friday. “He’s a dominant player, obviously, even if some people don’t like giving him credit for that. We are very aware of that. I’m aware of that. That’s why I get paid the big bucks.”
While Jets-Dolphins might not look like a ready-for-prime-time matchup at this stage, both teams are capable of fireworks. It is the Jets’ job to defuse the Dolphins’ most incendiary attribute.
“We are very aware that they have like an Olympic track team over there, whatever they like to call themselves,” Gardner said. “They are fast. We’re going to go out there and do what we’ve got to do.”
Fields practices again
Quarterback Justin Fields had not been cleared from the NFL’s concussion protocol as of Friday afternoon, but he practiced fully for the second day in a row.
It would be a shock if he were not approved to play on Monday night. If he is, Glenn said he will start.
Wilks answers Mayfield
After the Buccaneers’ victory over the Jets on Sunday, Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield said he got added motivation from facing a defensive coordinator who cut him in Carolina in 2022.
That would be Wilks, who was the Panthers’ interim head coach at the time. Wilks’ response?
He said he has “a lot of respect for Baker, tremendous football player, and he’s doing a hell of a job with those guys down there.”
But . . . “I don’t really think an interim coach has that much authority over personnel. If that’s the case, I would’ve never gotten rid of our best player, Christian McCaffrey.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
