Miami entered Sunday at the Jets with its playoff life on the line. As news circulated that the Broncos had taken a 21-point second quarter lead over the Chiefs’ backups, though, it soon became clear that the Dolphins would be eliminated even with a win.
That was around the time when the Jets took control of the game. They won 32-20 behind a 274-yard, four-touchdown performance from Aaron Rodgers in what could be his last game for the Jets or maybe even his NFL career.
Miami got off to a good start by intercepting Rodgers on the Jets’ first offensive snap, but consecutive red-zone stops by New York forced the Dolphins to settle for two Jason Sanders field goals and a 6-0 lead. The Jets then took over with 15 unanswered points in the second quarter as Rodgers threw touchdown passes to Tyler Conklin and Allen Lazard.
The toss to Conklin was the 500th of Rodgers’ career. A Greg Joseph chip-shot field goal was the only score of the third quarter, but Miami got into the end zone for the first time early in the fourth quarter on De’Von Achane’s 15-yard touchdown run to cut the Jets’ lead to 18-13.
The Jets responded with a 70-yard touchdown drive, with Rodgers throwing his third touchdown of the day to Davante Adams and making it 25-13. With 5:21 remaining, the Dolphins set up a tense finish as Tyler Huntley found Jonnu Smith for a touchdown to cut the Jets’ lead to 25-20, but Rodgers’ fourth touchdown, a six-yarder to Breece Hall, wrapped up the win with 2:30 remaining.
Here are the key takeaways…
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Rodgers got off to a slow start, perhaps rattled by his interception, which deflected off Adams as Rodgers tried to force it to Adams over the middle. However, Rodgers eventually got into a nice rhythm as he had 132 yards and two touchdowns in the second quarter alone.
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Ashtyn Davis has had a reduced role this year as veterans Chuck Clark, Jalen Mills and Isaiah Oliver have been ahead of him in the safety rotation. However, he made the most of his chance to start with Clark going onto injured reserve earlier this week as he came up with two interceptions. The Jets only intercepted five passes in the first 16 games, so perhaps could have benefited from Davis’ playmaking abilities.
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The other starting safety, Tony Adams, had a couple of negative plays, though, as he gave up a touchdown in coverage and his missed tackle led to a 62-yard run by Achane, who rushed for 121 yards but over half of that yardage came on that play.
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In what was perhaps his last game as a Jet, DJ Reed’s effort spoke volumes about a team that, despite its struggles, never quit on interim coach Jeff Ulbrich — or each other. Reed hustled to chase down the speedster Achane from behind near the goal line after his long run in the first quarter. The touchdown-saving tackle prevented the Dolphins from taking a double-digit lead as the defense was able to force Miami to settle for a field goal.
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Defensive end Will McDonald put the finishing touches on an excellent second season, as he impressively beat Pro Bowl offensive tackle Terron Armstead for a strip sack and blew up a run in the backfield and batted down a pass. Jets fans will be eager to see McDonald and the returning Jermaine Johnson coming off the edge next season.
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Miami no doubt would have posed more of a threat had starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa been available. Huntley, who started his second game in a row for the injured Tagovailoa, struggled with his accuracy all day and turned the ball over three times.
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The Jets have been mixing up their defensive fronts a lot over the past few weeks and did this more than ever on Sunday, which had a positive effect in terms of confusing Huntley. They often had three edge rushers in the game at once. Ulbrich has been a lot less inflexible in terms of his rotations and personnel groupings than he was while Robert Saleh was still the coach.
Highlights
What’s next
The process of interviewing coach and general manager candidates is well underway and will continue over the next few weeks, after which whoever they hire can start preparations for free agency and the draft.