#Revenge on Dolphins may be Jets’ last chance to win for a while

A little less than a year ago, the Dolphins were 0-7 and seemingly on their way to the first pick in the NFL draft. The Jets came to Miami that week, and the Dolphins notched their first victory of the season, the first of five wins that gave them hope entering 2020.

Now, the Jets are returning to South Florida as the team searching for a win. The Jets are 0-5, and the Trevor Lawrence talk is only getting louder. Can the Jets return the favor from last year and end their losing streak?

It won’t be easy. The Dolphins are 2-3 and coming off an impressive 43-17 win over the 49ers. Old friend Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns in that game. This is the first time the Dolphins have been favored to win since 2018, when current Jets coach Adam Gase was Miami’s coach.

Just 21 games into his Jets tenure, Gase has lost the faith of the fan base (long ago), but has not yet lost the belief of owner Christopher Johnson. He spent recent days trying to rally his team during another tumultuous week that featured the release of running back Le’Veon Bell.

“When you lose, the week is long,” Gase said. “It’s long and it’s painful, because if you put the amount of time and effort that everybody in this building has, really since the offseason, doing everything virtually and then coming back and trying to figure out how training camp was going to go. … It’s the constant talking to these guys, whether it be at practice or in a team meeting or offense and defense split up. Just keep the reminders of, ‘Hey, this is how we can get things flipped around. This is how we can improve. This is what we can do to help our team on this side of the ball.’ And that’s a conversation that’s definitely been had the last couple weeks.”

It is hard to decide which is worse right now — the offense or the defense. Both sides have been terrible this season. The offense will be without starting quarterback Sam Darnold for the second straight week. Joe Flacco, who will start in his place, said the offense needs more big plays.

“You need to get some chunks here and there,” Flacco said. “Right now, we are just going the long hard way.”

The schedule gets harder after this game with the Bills, Chiefs and Patriots coming up. It feels like this is the Jets’ last, best shot at a win for a while.