The Dolphins are 30 minutes away from their first winning season of the Joe Philbin era.
Philbin’s return for 2015 was confirmed by owner Stephen Ross after last week’s win and his team is trying to send him out on a winning streak against the Jets on Sunday. Ryan Tannehill hit Charles Clay for a 25-yard touchdown late in the second quarter to give the Dolphins a 17-14 lead over their AFC East rivals at the half.
Tannehill is 15-of-20 for 161 yards thus far and Lamar Miller has run 11 times for 51 yards as he tries for his first 1,000-yard season. He needs 28 more yards to reach that milestone and Tannehill is 53 yards shy of 4,000 passing yards.
Geno Smith threw an incompletion after opening the game with eight straight completions, but finished the half 9-of-10 for 122 yards and a touchdown. His fumble set the Dolphins up with a short field for their first touchdown, however, and that’s proven to be the difference.
Coming back to send Rex Ryan out a winner will be made more difficult if wide receiver Eric Decker remains out. Decker left after appearing to injure his shoulder while trying to make a catch in the second quarter.