The Miami Dolphins (1-4) will face off in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars (0-5) this Sunday.

The Dolphins and Jaguars are considered to be among the worst teams in the league currently, as the NFL’s latest power rankings features the Dolphins at No. 28 and the Jaguars at No. 32.

Dolphins Offense

This game may feature the return of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa was placed on IR earlier in the season after sustaining a rib injury.

Rib injuries are tough to deal with – and it’s possible that Tagovailoa is still experiencing some lingering pain. With that in mind, he will likely wear a flack jacket for this game for added protection.

Given that Tagovailoa was injured so early on in the Week 2 matchup, the only game we can reflect back on from this season of his was Week 1 against the Patriots.

As a refresher, Tagovailoa was 16-for-27 for 202 yards. He had one touchdown pass, one rushing touchdown and one interception.

Tagovailoa was 7th that week in intended air-yards, meaning he was throwing the ball far, which is good in the eyes of many.

However, his completed air yards were in the bottom-10, meaning he wasn’t completing the deep passes, which is not good.

Tagovailoa was only 3-for-12 on passes beyond 10 yards.

Tagovailoa will be taking over for Brissett, who was in the bottom-five in both attempted air yards and completed air yards.

The Dolphins are currently 10th in the NFL in pass attempts, but 30th in the NFL in passing yards. Brutal.

With that in mind, the Dolphins are last in the NFL in yards per pass attempt, but the Jaguars defense has surrendered the most net yards per pass attempt. One side will have to give in this game.

The Dolphins rushing game will be led by Myles Gaskin… hopefully?

Gaskin leads the Dolphins in carries with 34 on the season, but I’m sure 36% of the rushing attempts isn’t what many fans were hoping for in terms of his usage.

Despite being in a bit of a time share with guys like Malcolm Brown and Salvon Ahmed – Gaskin has been by far the most productive. His 4.9 yards per carry is the best in the group, ahead of Brown’s 3.6 yards per carry, and Ahmed’s abysmal 1.9.

Gaskin is second on the team in receptions as well, as his 22 catches trail only Jaylen Waddle.

To stick with Waddle, he not only leads the Dolphins in receiving, but has the second-most catches among all rookies – trailing only his former teammate Najee Harris. Waddle has 27, Harris has 28.

Despite his high reception total, his usage has been terrible. He is in the bottom five in the NFL in yards per reception among WRs. His average depth of target (4.3 yards) is the second-shortest in the NFL, trailing only fellow rookie Rondale Moore.

This could be beneficial for Waddle, as the Jaguars have the third-most missed tackles in football, and are in the bottom 10 of yards after the catch allowed.

Unfortunately, it seems like every other receiver on Miami’s offense has caught the injury bug.

DeVante Parker did not practice with an injury, after missing last week’s game.

UPDATE: DeVante Parker is OUT for this week’s game.

Preston Williams, who had 55 yards on the opening drive, did not practice on Thursday with a groin injury.

Will Fuller was placed on IR last week with a finger injury.

With all the injuries last week, the Dolphins elected to activate Isaiah Ford, who could be active again this week if Parker or Williams can’t go.

If neither of the two can go, that could lead to Kirk Merritt, but for whatever reason, the Dolphins seem reluctant to call Merritt up.

UPDATE: Kirk Merritt was called up for this week’s game.

Mike Gesicki continues to be cruising along. He flashes big play potential, but hasn’t produced anywhere near the level that would cause him to be considered an elite tight end. He is still in the top-10 among tight ends in receiving yards, but his inconsistency makes it hard to suggest he will have a breakout game on any given Sunday.

The talent is there, it’s just hard to know when it will come.

If for whatever reason Williams and Parker both can’t go, expect more volume for Albert Wilson, who has been disappointing this season and Isaiah Ford.

The Dolphins offensive line had their best performance of the year last week. In large part, it appears to be due to the fact that Austin Jackson wasn’t at the tackle position. Jackson was moved over to guard, with Eichenberg taking over at left tackle.

Jackson wasn’t terrific, but it enough to ease some of the responsibility and keep this unit afloat. It seems likely that the unit will look the same this week – but Jackson still needs to improve if he wants to show that he is the answer at the guard spot.

Jesse Davis continues to be a liability. Not sure what else there is to say there.

Dolphins defense

The Dolphins defense, which was elite last year, has been far from elite this season.

Despite the star power, and the Flores-led scheme, this has statistically been one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

The Dolphins defense is 30th in ppg allowed, with 30.8 per game. They are 30th in passing yards allowed. They have surrendered the most passes of 20+ yards, which is not good considering the strength was suppose to be the secondary.

They are 24th in rushing yards allowed, and have allowed the second-most rushes of 20+ yards.

Despite sending a high-rate of pressures, they are in the bottom 10 of sacks.

The defense is just lacking the fire it had last year.

A positive is that Jaelan Phillips is starting to find a nice rhythm. Phillips had his first full sack last week, had half a sack the week before, and seems to be one of the biggest sources of pressure on the team.

Another positive is that rookie Jevon Holland is having a great start to the season. Per Pro Football Focus, Holland is first in the NFL among all safeties with 100 snaps in receptions allowed, with only one on the season. That is not a statistic among rookies, that’s in the entire NFL.

(Now, he does play pretty far from the play, but in a season with so many negatives – let the fans have something nice to hear about)

The rest of the secondary has been far from great – but last week’s defeating performance may skew things a bit.

Xavien Howard has given up the most receiving yards on the team, and the 10th most in all of the NFL. While his 56% completion percentage is still good to see, Howard has not been the lockdown corner we’re accustomed to seeing.

UPDATE: Xavien Howard is OUT for this week’s game.

Byron Jones 261 yards allowed is also in the bottom 20 of all cornerbacks in the NFL.

Both corners have done a good job at limiting yards after catch, especially Jones who does not have a missed tackle this season.

Nickel corner Justin Coleman has taken on the embodiment of burnt toast, as he has been exposed heavily this season. Coleman has given up catches on 12-of-13 targets this season, per pro football reference.

Brandon Jones has also not been great in coverage, giving up catches on 6-of-7 targets, but Jones has looked great coming in off the edge on blitzes.

Jerome Baker has given up a 79% completion percentage when targeted, and last week really struggled against Leonard Fournette or whatever tight end he was tasked with guarding. While he is still all over the field, leading the team in both solo tackles and combined tackles – there is definitely something left to be desired here from Baker, who many were hoping would take a massive next step.

Jaguars Offense

The Jaguars are led offensively by Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence is not having a great rookie season – but in his defense, he is looking a lot better recently than at the beginning of the season.

Lawrence started the season with seven interceptions in the first three games. It was clear that Lawrence was trying to do much, and his 3.6 yards per pass attempt in week 2 was horrendous.

However over the last two weeks, he’s played more conservative, and while he doesn’t have the TDs to show for it, the turnovers have gone down.

Over the last two games, he’s 40-for-57, has 477 yards passing with three total touchdowns and one interception.

Probably one of the more frustrating parts of this for Jaguars fans have been the coaching decisions.

James Robinson was phenomenal last year – yet they drafted another running back in the first round this year.

When Etienne went down with an injury, it seemed all but given that Robinson would once again return to dominating the touches… nope.

Over the first two weeks, Robinson combined for 16 carries. Over the last three weeks, it’s been a different story. Something finally clicked and Robinson is getting the carries and looks magnificent. Last week, he had 18 carries for 149 yards, an average of 8.9 yards per carry.

His massive 5.8 yards per carry is the third-most among running backs this season.

Despite the lack of volume early on – he is third in the NFL in rushes of 20+ yards, which is not good to hear considering Miami has given up the second-most carries of 20+ yards.

The Jags lost primary receiver D.J. Chark to a nasty ankle fracture, which led to some elevated roles for other players.

Longtime veteran Marvin Jones currently leads the Jaguars in receptions and targets. He has 243 yards on the season.

Dynamic gadget player Laviska Shenault leads the Jaguars in receiving yards with 252, and is capable of having a breakout game at any time it seems.

Chark’s injury led to more opportunities for longtime speedster Tavon Austin. Austin had five catches for 54 yards last week, and though he hasn’t had the most successful career, he needs to be monited on a game-to-game basis.

Despite the early narratives that the offensive line for Lawrence was getting him killed, that doesn’t seem to be the case recently. The offensive line looks fine, and at times, Lawrence has a ton of time to throw.

Lawrence’s 2.9 seconds average time to throw is the seventh-longest in the NFL, and his pressure rate is the eight-lowest among starters.

Pair that with the success of the running game, it’s hard to say this group is that bad.

 

Jaguars Defense

The Jaguars secondary is bad. If the Jaguars want to run man coverage – that means there needs to be some degree of success with one-on-one situations in coverage. They have gotten none of that. The Jaguars DBs get beat bad early.

• The Jaguars gave up 132 yards to Brandin Cooks in Week 1.
• They Gave up 159 yards to Courtland Sutton in Week 2.
• They gave up 112 to the corpse of A.J. Green and 104 to Christian Kirk in Week 3.
• Tyler Boyd dropped 118 on them in Week 4, and of course Jamarr Chase had a big play.
• And last week was the only game that didn’t feature a 100-yard receiver, because Derrick Henry man-handled them.

Someone should Miami should be primed for a big day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the best game so far in Jaylen Waddle’s early career.

The Jaguars have the second-fewest sacks in the NFL, but have been in the middle of the pack at applying pressure. This shouldn’t be the challenge that Tampa Bay was, but with Miami’s offensive line you truly never know what to expect.

The linebacker group for the Jaguars has potential, but for now, they are just too young and getting exposed.

Linebacker Klavon Chaisson has been torched by the Jaguars fanbase, as many are very disappointed in him. He has been the main target of JaguarsTwitter, as it seems the fanbase is furious about his performances on a weekly basis.

Linebacker Myles Jack, who leads the team in tackles, won’t travel to London with a back injury.

Linebacker Damien Wilson looks like he’s shot out of a hammer at times when stopping the run, but stands absolutely no chance in coverage. The duality of Damien Wilson.

Despite leading the Jaguars in sacks, Josh Allen hasn’t been impressing much either. Per NFL’s next gen stats, Josh Allen has the slowest time to cross the LOS in the NFL.

The Jaguars defense has one turnover this season.

One.

 

Expectations

A LOT of James Robinson. Something finally clicked with Urban Meyer to use James Robinson and it’s working. Robinson just looks fresh, and he’s one of those powerful runners that gives Miami’s undersized defenders a challenge to bring down. It seems almost guaranteed that Robinson has a significant impact in this game.

Tagovailoa has a solid game. Even with the injury that will likely be lingering, the Jaguars defense is terrible. They don’t look motivated, and after a few big plays, it seems like they entirely give up on the team. The Jaguars inability to tackle, and tendency to leave guys open in the center of the field seems to put Tua in a good position to play within himself but still look good. Slants, underneath routes, hitting Gesicki in the seam, Gaskin underneath. All of that should be enough to move the chains.

The Dolphins begin a new turnover streak. Last week, we saw the Dolphins coveted turnover streak come to an end – but this week, they will likely have another number in the turnover column. This should be, to some degree, a get-right game for the defensive side of the ball. It will likely be a matter of whether the offense gets something going with Tua back at the helm.

 

Keys to Victory

Don’t let James Robinson dominate the game. Robinson should get his in this game, to some degree, but if he has a game with over 150 total yards and multiple touchdowns, this could easily go the way of the Jaguars.

The offensive line must be decent again. Notice the word decent. That’s all they have to be. As long as this group doesn’t come out here looking like an absolute mess, the Dolphins offense should have a good chance to take advantage of a weak secondary that can’t contain their man early on in routes. Just be decent, at the very least.

The secondary must return to form. It seems likely that the Dolphins secondary, which was heralded as elite before, can bounce back in this game. But for whatever reason, whether it’s a morale issue, or Howard dealing with an injury, this group can’t let last week’s abysmal performance carry over to a week Jacksonville offense. Lawrence has extraordinary arm talent, but the decision-making isn’t honed in yet. Take advantage of some rookie mistakes, and don’t let this be an arrival game.