Jets lose to winless Dolphins at home as season takes embarrassing turn

The Jets’ season isn’t over.

Not even after Sunday’s utterly insulting 28-25 loss to the previously winless Dolphins at MetLife Stadium.

There are 10 games still remaining on their schedule.

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The rest, however, is semantics, because those 10 remaining games are a mere technicality.

If you’re a Jets follower who also happens to be a realist, then you know where this season stands: The team is 2-5 through seven games after losing to one of the two NFL teams that entered this week without a single win.

The Dolphins, who entered the game 0-5 and coming off their bye week, represented one of the few teams on the schedule that the Jets figured to have a good chance of defeating.

Before Sunday, the Dolphins had not held the lead once in their first five games.

Sunday’s game, in which the Jets were a 4 1/2-point favorite, represented the largest betting point spread the Jets were favored by since the 2024 season.

Of serious concern is the fact that the loss dropped the Jets to 0-8 against AFC East opponents under Jets head coach Aaron Glenn.

The first half was a categorical embarrassment for the Jets.

Their defense was useless, allowing the Dolphins to score touchdowns on three of their four possessions in the first 30 minutes en route to a 21-7 halftime lead.

With Miami driving late in the first half, Glenn inexplicably didn’t use one of his three timeouts to stop the clock and give his offense a chance to score before the first of the half.

This was the latest example in a mounting number of gaffes this season of coaching malpractice on the part of the Jets.

After a week of chatter about getting top receiver and best offensive player Garrett Wilson more targets, Geno Smith threw one pass his way in the first half, and that was negated by a penalty.

Wilson didn’t catch a pass until the third quarter, on a third-and-16 play.

Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich said during the week that Glenn, when Wilson is being ignored in the offensive flow, will often tell him over the headset to get him involved.

No word on whether the communication on the coaches’ headsets was jammed on Sunday.

The Dolphins ran 39 plays to the Jets 18 in the first half and had 18 first downs to seven for the Jets. The Dolphins had the ball for 21:09 in the first half to 8:51 for the Jets and outgained them, 213-114, rushing for 103 yards to the Jets 28.

Miami took the opening possession of the game and drove the ball down the throats of the Jets defense, taking a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard TD pass from Malik Willis to Caleb Douglas.

Remarkably, that marked the first lead the Dolphins had in the first six games this season. It, too, was Douglas’ first career NFL TD.

The Jets showed some offensive life with an answer on their first possession, tying the game at 7-7 on a Geno Smith 13-yard scoring pass to tight end Mason Taylor.

The Dolphins then took a 14-7 lead on the ensuing possession with a 1-yard TD run by Ollie Gordon II, who shredded the Jets defense with 58 rushing yards in the first half.

Smith threw an INT right into the chest of Dolphins safety Michael Taaffe, who read Smith’s eyes and stepped in front of Taylor inside the Miami 20-yard line on the Jets’ second series.

That left the Jets without a TD on their previous eight trips into the red zone.

For Smith, who’d gone the first five games without throwing an INT despite leading the NFL with 17 last season , it was his second in the past two weeks.

The Dolphins then added more insult to the Jets defense when they took a 21-7 lead on a 2-yard scoring run by Willis with six seconds remaining in the first half.

That capped a 15-play, 91-yard drive that ate 8:38 off the clock.

As Miami was driving inside two minutes, Glenn inexplicably opted not to use any of his three timeouts to give his offense a chance at points after Miami scored.

Things got no better for the Jets to start the second half. After they drove the ball to the Miami 22-yard line before the series stalled, Jets kicker Jason Sanders missed a 40-yard field goal attempt that hit the right upright.

The Jets did rally from that, cutting the Miami lead to 21-14 on a Smith 3-yard scoring pass to rookie receiver Omar Cooper Jr. with 5:50 remaining in the third quarter.

It was the second week in a row Cooper caught a TD pass and it was the third huge play of the game for him. He had a 52-yard catch-and-run on the Jets first offensive play from scrimmage. And he had a 60-yard reception to start that scoring drive.

The Jets cut the Miami lead to 21-17 on a 33-yard field goal from Sanders with 8:57 remaining in the game.

But it was a highly unsatisfying three points considering the Jets had a first-and-goal from the half-yard line and went backwards from there.

It was, however, fitting for the day.

It, too, represented an unraveling as after that series, Wilson was seen yelling at Smith at the Jets bench on the sideline, animated and seemingly angry.

The Dolphins took a 28-17 lead with 4:44 remaining on a 63-yard scoring pass from Willis to Douglas, the same combination that opened the scoring for Miami.

The Jets answered with a 12-yard Smith scoring pass to Taylor, the second-year tight end’s second TD of the game, with 3:24 remaining. A Smith pass to Taylor on the two-point conversion was successful to cut the lead to 28-25.

That’s as close as the Jets would get, though. And now, their season is on the precipice of a familiar spiral to nowhere.