An inside look at Friday’s Jets-Bills NFL Week 12 matchup at MetLife Stadium:
Marquee matchup
Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill vs. Jets CBs Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed
The Jets need to contain the “Cheetah” to have any chance Friday.
Hill is having a monster season with 79 catches for 1,222 yards and nine touchdowns.
He is coming off a game against the Raiders in which he had 10 catches for 146 yards and a touchdown — and that was with a hand injury that knocked him out of the game for a little bit.
“Tyreek looks like he’s playing a little video game out there, the way he runs,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said.
The Jets’ cornerbacks have had a strong season, though the Bills hit them for an 81-yard touchdown last week that Gardner had a partial role in allowing.
The Jets contained Hill last season.
He had seven catches for 47 yards and two catches for 23 yards in the two meetings.
But it should be pointed out that was with Skylar Thompson at quarterback and not Tua Tagovailoa.
With the offense searching for answers, the Jets’ defense has to carry the load again and this will be a particularly tough challenge, led by stopping Hill.
“I look at everything as opportunity,” Reed said. “They’re a high-powered offense, which means there are going to be opportunities to make plays. I’m looking forward to it.”
Costello’s call
The Jets made the change at quarterback, but I don’t think it will matter.
The offensive line is going to struggle against a tough Dolphins front, and the Jets’ defense looked like it was worn down last week in Buffalo.
The Jets keep it close for a half but only find the end zone once and lose a fourth straight.
Dolphins 21, Jets 10
Four downs
D-olphins: Though most of the focus on the Dolphins is about their offense, their defense has been playing very well lately.
Veteran coach Vic Fangio came on as the defensive coordinator in the offseason, one of the biggest acquisitions made by any team.
Fangio’s system seems to now be clicking, and star cornerback Jalen Ramsey returned three games ago and already has three interceptions, including two last week against the Raiders.
The Dolphins have not allowed a 300-yard game in their past three and have held opponents to 21 points or less.
“Jalen Ramsey, he looks awesome,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “It looks like he never got hurt, but yeah, Vic does have some complexities to what he does, especially from a zone standpoint. And you can tell that they’re starting to get precise, they’re starting to play off one another, and they’re starting to get a lot better. They’ve slowly been creeping up and playing some really good defense over the last few weeks, and we anticipate them continuing to get better.”
Patchwork line: The Jets are expected to start their eighth different offensive line combination Friday and seventh in as many games.
Mekhi Becton is the latest starter to be lost to injury after he sprained his ankle in last week’s loss in Buffalo.
Rookie Carter Warren is expected to start at left tackle.
He played in his first game last week after Becton went down.
Xavier Newman is expected to return at right guard after missing last week’s game.
That means the Jets will have just one player in the starting lineup from Week 1 — left guard Laken Tomlinson.
They will have two rookies playing with Warren and center Joe Tippmann as well as a second-year player with Max Mitchell at right tackle.
Tua time: There has been plenty of hype around Tua Tagovailoa since he was at Alabama, but that hype is turning into real production this season.
The Dolphins’ quarterback has stayed healthy this year and is putting up big numbers.
He is completing 69.7 percent of his passes for 2,934 yards with 21 touchdown passes and eight interceptions.
Tagovailoa missed both Jets games last year, so it will be interesting to see how the defense matches up with him.
“He’s doing an excellent job,” Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “He reminds me of, and I know Kurt Warner intimately from the standpoint of playing him so many times as a player. He feels like Kurt Warner to me where he is just so on rhythm all the time, almost feeling like he was throwing to spots sometimes, and his guys are going and getting the ball.”
It’s getting late: The Jets need to win this game to remain in the AFC playoff race.
Entering this week, they are 14th in the AFC but just two games behind the last AFC wild-card team.
There are some winnable games left on the schedule — Atlanta, Houston, Washington and New England. Aaron Rodgers is talking about coming back, but for that to happen the Jets need to be in the race. Beating the division rival Dolphins would give their playoff hopes a nice boost.
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