Week 3 of the NFL season is here, and fans are beginning to see which teams are playoff contenders. There’s still a lot of football left to be played, but two teams — the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars — realize their matchup on Thursday night is significant as they are looking to not fall behind in the playoff race. The Week 3 episode of Thursday Night Football can be seen exclusively on the NFL Network at 8:20 p.m. ET. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will have the call while Erin Andrews and Kristina Pink will be on the sidelines.
The Dolphins come into the Thursday night matchup with a 0-2 record with losses against the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills. On Tuesday, Dolphins coach Brian Flores discussed how the team can get their first win of the year. “There’s never just one thing. We need to take advantage of the opportunities,” he explained on the Dolphins official website. “We try to stress how important every play is because you never know which one is going to be the one that changes momentum or makes a shift in the game.”
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Dolphins fans have been wondering when rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will get his shot under center. However, Ryan Fitzpatrick is QB1 and is coming off a performance where he threw for 328 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. Fitzpatrick recently talked about what he likes about the offense.
“It’s supposed to be an offense that changes every week but an offense that tailors to our strengths,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just think as we’re going here, (offensive coordinator Chan Gailey is) going to continue to figure out what’s going to make us a good offense, a dynamic offense, and we’ll keep feeding those parts.”
The Jaguars are coming off a 33-30 loss to the Tennessee Titans. Currently, the Jaguars are averaging 28.5 points per game, which ranks eighth in the NFL. Quarterback Gardner Minshew has played a big role in the team’s success on offense, completing 75.% of his passes with a passer rating of 115.7.
“There’s room for improvement,” Jaguars offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said on Tuesday via the Jaguars official website. “The thing I’m most pleased with is the effort these guys play with. And they play physical everywhere. We’re spreading the wealth around. A lot of people are touching it (the ball). The players are genuinely happy when we have success and it doesn’t have to be an individual person for them to feel that way.”
