Two teams coming off embarrassing performances take their shame to South Beach Sunday. The Tennessee Titans (2-2) venture inside HardRock Stadium to square off against the Miami Dolphins (1-2).
The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. EST kick off and your local CBS affiliate will be responsible for what you see.
The Game: Tennessee Titans at Miami Dolphins (+2.5)
O/U: 43.0
The History
The Titans and Dolphins have faced off 36 times since 1966 when the Titans were still the Houston Oilers. Miami holds a 19-17 edge in the overall rivalry.
They’ve played each of the last two seasons, with both teams winning on the road. In 2015, the Dolphins beat Tennessee 38-10 in Nashville. Last season, the Titans won 30-17 in Miami.
TENNESSEE TITANS (2-2)
The safest bet in sports is Mike Mularkey not being able to win three games in a row, which is the reason I picked against the Titans last week. Not only did Tennessee lose, they lost emphatically, allowing Houston Texans rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson to set any record he wanted to in a 57-14 curb stomp.
The Titans didn’t even get out of the game unscathed, as Marcus Mariota suffered a hamstring injury and will, reportedly, be a gametime decision. My guess is he’ll play and as long as he doesn’t tweak anything. Matt Cassel will remain on the sidelines. Other than Mariota, Tennessee will be without safety Johnathan Cyprien and rookie wide receiver or Corey Davis. Demarco Murray was held out of practice a couple of days, but that could be more to do with his workload and age.
Facing off against the Texans defense was something which the Titans weren’t ready. Of all the problems the Dolphins have had this season, their defense has been solid, especially against the run and have done it against more prolific passers than Mariota in Philip Rivers and Drew Brees. Mariota will have to spread the ball around, especially if he’s limited in his mobility, and will need a big game from Murray and back up running back Derek Henry to keep the pressure off.
MIAMI DOLPHINS (1-2)
Speaking of the Dolphins defense, they’ve held opponents to 20 points or less in their three games this season and considering the near historic shittiness of their offense over the last two weeks, that’s quite a feat. Miami only sacked Drew Brees once last week and got three tackles for a loss, but limited the Saints to just 86 total yards rushing and held Brees to 29 of 41 passing for 268 yards and two touchdowns to go with 6-of-13 on third downs.
The problem is, over the last two weeks the Miami offense has produced a total of six points. And they weren’t facing the 1985 Chicago Bears defense in these games. It was against the New York Jets and the New Orleans Saints. Until that game, and the complete collapse of the New England Patriots’ defensive unit, the Saints were the worst defense in football. The Dolphins helped them fix that and build some confidence. So you can say they were Samaritans.
After pulling off a nice, come from behind, win in his first outing with the Fins, Jay Cutler has hit a solid, brick wall. His stats aren’t horrible. He’s completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 614 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, but last week, AGAINST THE SAINTS, Miami was 1-of-8 on third downs. That’s ridiculous.
Jay Ajayi showd up on the injury report again this week, but will play. Cutler should have all his weapons on the field. Whether he can find them, especially when he has to, is another issue.
The Pick
There’s no reason to believe the Dolphins have solved any of their offensive issues until the prove it on the field. For Tennessee, this is an opportunity to bounce back from an embarrassing loss and fool people into thinking Mularkey might be OK as an NFL head coach for at least a week. Even if Cassel ends up playing, I still like Tennessee. Titans 24, Dolphins 16
This week
Straight up: 1-0
Against the spread: 1-0
Last week
Straight up: 9-7
Against the spread: 10-6
Season
Straight up: 37-26
Against the spread: 32-31
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