Why Jets and Dolphins’ Defense Struggles May Soon Get Even Worse—Here’s What You Need to Know

Can you believe we’re still staring down ties in football in 2025? Seriously, a tie? It feels like being stuck in a rerun of a long-forgotten episode—where excitement builds, defenses crumble, and yet, somehow, neither team gets that final, satisfying punch. Sure, player safety might be the official card they play, but let’s be honest — there’s gotta be a better way to end a game than “meh, it’s a tie.” Tonight, the Jets and Dolphins—both sitting pretty at 0-3—face off hoping to rewrite the narrative. The Jets have clawed hard but just can’t seal the deal, while the Dolphins have been, well… struggling to keep their heads above water. With defenses leaking points like a rusty faucet and offenses desperate to find their groove, expect a wild ride where stopping the other team feels more like wishful thinking than strategy. Justin Fields is back under center, and if he sneaks into the end zone, I won’t be shocked. Buckle up; this one’s got shootout written all over it — fingers crossed, a real winner, not yesterday’s tie. LEARN MORE

Jets vs. Dolphins, 7:15 ET

A tie? A freaking tie? In 2025, we are still ending football games in ties. For what reason could we possibly still have games that end like that? Player safety is probably what they will hide behind, but I can’t back that up with any substantial evidence. I just think that there needs to be a better option. The game was entertaining, as most shootouts are, but it falls flat on its face when the game ends in a loss. Hopefully, we can get another entertaining game tonight, but a better outcome as the Jets take on the Dolphins.

The Jets are 0-3 for the season, but I’ll give them that they have at least been a competitive 0-3. They opened the year against the Steelers, and it took some Aaron Rodgers late-game magic to hand New York the loss. The team was competitive, looked good offensively, but couldn’t get a defensive stop. Week 2 against the Bills, they got destroyed, with Buffalo winning 30-10. I know that is still a three-ish score game, but Buffalo somewhat took their foot off the gas. Last week against Tampa they looked very overmatched. The defense once again could not get the stop that was needed to keep the Buccaneers from winning, despite the fact that the Jets mounted a furious comeback and took a late lead. It was a crazy chain of events. This week, they get to face the Dolphins, a team that is probably more evenly matched with them than the previous three opponents, who are all playoff hopefuls. Justin Fields returns under center for the Jets which doesn’t really change much for the offensive attack, as Fields is more of a runner than a thrower, and so is Tyrod Taylor. The Dolphins have been surprisingly good against running backs, but have given up the most rushing touchdowns to quarterbacks of any team in the league.

The Dolphins are also 0-3 for the season, but only one of their games seems like an acceptable loss. They opened the year against the Colts, and while it has turned out that Indianapolis is a very good team, the Dolphins loss was extremely ugly. Miami lost that game 33-8, and their offense got nothing going. In Week 2 the offense looked a bit better, but they hosted the Patriots and couldn’t get the defense to pull their weight. Allowing Drake Maye and the Patriots to drop 33 on you when you’re the home team is inexcusable. At that point, fans were calling for head coach Mike McDaniel’s head. Last week they played the Bills in a scheduled loss. They were more respectable in dropping the game, but they still lost by 10. The only good thing was that they covered the spread for folks (it wasn’t good for me). Against the pass, the Jets are decent, but nothing amazing. They’ve done fine against running backs, but as I’ve mentioned a few times, the Jets can’t get stops when it matters most.

There seems to be a theme with both of these teams – their opponent scores a lot of points. The Jets are allowing 31 points per game, and the Dolphins are allowing 32.3 points per game. The total for this game is just 44.5, and while they both need a victory, I don’t see them just magically stopping each other’s offenses. I expect Fields to find the endzone at some point in the game as well if you want a player prop. I’m backing the over 44.5 and Fields to score. As far as the spread, you’re basically asking for one of the defenses to get a stop, and neither has proved they can do that.

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