The Dolphins and Jets meet Sunday at the Meadowlands for the 121st time in the storied rivalry. After beating the Jets in September, the Dolphins can sweep New York for the fourth time in six years with a win, but it won't come easy. Like the Dolphins, the Jets are playing their best football of the season.
The Dolphins are 5-7, riding a three-game winning streak, with each win adding to the "delusional confidence," moniker the team adopted last month. The idea is to go 1-0 each week with a singular focus spearheaded by the captains of the team, led by linebacker Jordyn Brooks.
Jets Week
Head Coach Mike McDaniel on Jets Week – "Division games in general are fun, and to play in December against a division opponent, when you have been building your confidence and you have a style of football that you're excited to play, it gets more exciting. The Jets are experiencing some momentum as well and that just makes for a more competitive, exciting game that's going to be full of effort and there's going to be some hard hits and there's going to be some good plays, bad plays for both sides, takeaways. The winner will probably be in the plus, but overall, that's the only thing that exists for us. I think this team has learned how to think that way and everything else is a setup, good, bad, whatever."
Brooks leads the way
Head Coach Mike McDaniel on LB Jordyn Brooks – "It's rare that a quiet, businesslike, serious, focused person becomes almost the voice of your team. That process is really cool because the quiet guy doesn't talk until people are asking what he has to say. He's doing his job. He's relentless. He's tough, but it's rare you're given the gift of being on a team with a person that's so focused, so tough-minded, so relentless that you can count on his 100 percent every day. After doing that for a lot of days, he became one of the main pillars, became a captain. I can't say enough about the guy. Whatever credit he gets, it would be completely feasible if you gave him more."
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver on Brooks' leadership – "It makes it a lot easier just because I don't have to be the heavy all the time. I don't have to give guys that kind of kick in the butt to get them going because I know 'JB' (Jordyn Brooks) will do it. Usually most of the things that I'm thinking or feeling, all of our leaders really – him, 'T. Dot' (Tyrel Dodson), Zach Sieler, (Bradley) Chubb – they're usually all on the same page. So when you have that, I think that's why you can have the growth and resolve and perseverance through all these situations that we've had. But just as it pertains to Jordyn in particular, absolute stud. I hope he starts to get some of the credit he deserves. To me, he's one of the top two, three linebackers in the league and I wish we had more wins so the rest of the world would see that."
Outside linebacker Chop Robinson – "When you hear 'JB' speak up, that's when you know it's time to really lock in. Especially if something is going bad, something is not going our way, he's really going to step up and lead everybody. Once you hear him speaking up, it's time for everybody to get going."
Delusional confidence
Defensive Tackle Kenneth Grant – "We're very in-tune with the small intricate details and like Bradley Chubb was saying, we're delusional about it. We're delusional about winning so you've got to have that type of mindset and what he's saying is right. We're delusional about it and it shows on the field."
Center Aaron Brewer – "That's been my message every week. I'm not worried about what we just did this past week or what's in the future because those two things I can't control anymore. It's literally what's going on right now in the present this week, controlling what we can control. If we do that each and every week, each and every day, ain't no telling what we can be just from how things are going now. We're just taking it one week at a time and just got our mindset on that 1-0 mentality."
For more on Dolphins-Jets, download the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield, available wherever you get your podcasts.
