Recipe for Victory: What the Jets Must Do Against the Dolphins

Added by Justin O'Connell on September 20, 2012.

The Jets may be smart to let Mark Sanchez air it out against Miami. Photo Credit: Al Pereira/Getty Images

He’s back. New York Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano will be back in Miami to face the Dolphins for the first time since being fired, so he may be looking for a bit of revenge. Sparano knows a lot of the players on the team so the Jets will have some inside information.

Even though they are only the Dolphins, this will be a big game for the Jets. Besides the fact that it is a division rival, the Jets will really need a win. They are playing the San Francisco 49ers the following week, granted it’s at home but it will be a struggle to win and the Jets do not want to start off 1-3 or else the Tebow chants will be louder than ever.

So what do the Jets need to do in order to win this game? Let’s take a look.

1) TACKLE!!!

The Jets defense was dismal last week, especially on third downs. They failed to get sacks when they had an open blitzer on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and they had over a dozen missed tackles. They will have to go back to the fundamentals and remember to wrap up and finish tackles.

2) Shut down the passing game and get pressure on the rookie

The Dolphins might have the worst group of receivers in the league and the Jets secondary should (and I stress SHOULD) be able to handle them with ease, especially if Darelle Revis is back, but they must make sure to get pressure on Ryan Tannehill too. He showed he can make some impressive throws and has a strong arm to boot, so they cannot expect him to play like a rookie. If they can get some early pressure on him, he may get raddled (as most rookies do) and make some mistakes that can shift the game in the Jets favor.

3) Open up the offense!

Sparano has to be less conservative against the Dolphins, or else it will lead to another loss. The Dolphins have a great run defense; they have not given up 100 yards rushing in 16 games (league high) and have held their opponents to only 106 rushing yards this season. The Jets, whose run game has not been very good this year, need to air the ball out against a weak pass defense. Spread them out and pick them apart where they are vulnerable (secondary). The only DB the Jets have to worry about is Vonte Davis, but he is a streaky player. As much as Rex Ryan and Tony Sparano don’t want to, they should commit to the pass this game and let Mark Sanchez make some throws. This will not only help them win the game, but it will help give some confidence back to Sanchez which he looks to desperately need.

4) TEBOW TIME

Yes I am saying it, let’s give the ball to Tim Tebow! But I do not mean to pass it. The Jets are struggling to run the ball, but Tebow has been effective running the ball and against the Dolphins front seven they’ll need some help. Even though the Jets should pass the ball a lot this game, they still need a solid run game to keep the defense honest and Tebow can help do that. Shonn Greene was shaky last week and will need some help this week. Joe McKnight has not been given a chance to run the ball and his speed would certainly help against a large dolphins front seven. The Jets should continue to use McKnight and Tebow in the wildcat and give them more than three plays.

5) Linebackers

The linebackers for the Jets last game where the biggest weakness of the defense, with the exception of Garret McIntyre. Bart Scott, Calvin Pace, and David Harris had bad games all around. They couldn’t cover and they couldn’t tackle. The Jets will NEED these guys to rebound after an off game. I wouldn’t be too worried about this group yet with the pride they have, but if they keep playing like they did last week people are going to start hitting the panic button.

6) Stop Reggie!

The Dolphins offense goes as Reggie Bush goes. Bush has had 100+ rushing yards in eight of his last 11 games and is also a threat in the passing game. The Jets linebackers will have to contain Bush in the middle and let the linemen do their jobs. The Dolphins love to run stretch plays and break Bush outside where he is explosive, so speed will be essential for the Jets linebackers. Ryan may choose to use Aaron Maybin and Demarrio Davis more in this game, due to their speed.