Keys For Jets vs Dolphins In London

Chris Ivory (Joe Camporeale – USA Today Sports Images)

Make sure you wake up bright and early this Sunday morning Jets fans as kickoff is set for 9:30 a.m. at Wembley Stadium in London. The Jets are in search of their third win of the season as they are also looking to bounce back from last week’s disappointing performance against the Philadelphia Eagles. For the Jets to capture their third victory of the season, here are some important things that the Jets must do well.

1. Run the Ball – Chris Ivory did not play last week against the Eagles due to a quadriceps injury but he is expected to play this week. Not having Ivory last week really hurt the Jets because they were forced to rely on Ryan Fitzpatrick to carry the offense and he is not good enough to do so, especially without Eric Decker. But since Ivory will be playing this week, the Jets must utilize him, which is something they did well in the first two weeks. Last week, the Jets were forced to rely on Bilal Powell out of the backfield but he is obviously not of the same skill level as Chris Ivory.
2. Ryan Tannehill – The Jets’ defense can’t let Ryan Tannehill get into a grove. He may not be the best quarterback in the NFL, but he does have some weapons at his disposal between DeVante Parker and Jarvis Landry. And after the being embarrassed by the Buffalo Bills last week 41-14, the Dolphins are going to want to come out strong offensively. The Jets will have to come out sharp.
3. Ryan Fitzpatrick – In last week’s game, Fitzpatrick carried a lot of the work load offensively and he was really handicapped without Chris Ivory and Eric Decker. The Jets could not get anything going offensively until the tail end of the first half and it was still shaky in the second half. Since Ivory will be playing this week, Fitzpatrick needs to have a bounce back performance. Even if Eric Decker does not play, Fitzpatrick should still have enough weapons on offense to bounce back from last week.

This is an important game for the Jets to win because it is their last game before their bye week and you don’t want a loss to hang over your head for two weeks. And on top of that, the Dolphins are arguably the worst team in the AFC East and the Jets need to get wins wherever they can get them. The Bills look good right now and the Patriots look really good so divisional wins are not guaranteed against either of those teams. And before the season started, I said that the Jets will need to have a divisional record of at least 2-4 to finish above .500 this year. Even if both of those wins are against the Dolphins, they just need two divisional wins. Hopefully this will be one of them.

Here’s my official prediction: The Jets will bounce back. The Dolphins have lost a couple of tough games in a row to the Bills and Jaguars so they are on a cold streak. Jets win by a score of 24-13.