Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Miami Dolphins: Friday Fact or Fiction

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The Jacksonville Jaguars finally won a game last week as they put away the Cleveland Browns 24-6, which felt long overdue after 2 straight weeks of dominant play by the defense. The Jaguars had to overcome 3 interceptions by rookie quarterback Blake Bortles, and second year player Denard Robinson’s career day helped spark the Jaguars rushing attack for the first time all season.

The Jaguars are hosting the Miami Dolphins, who have had an interesting season so far. Third-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill appears to have settled in as the starter after being threatened with a benching early on in the season, and the defense has quietly put together a very good season.

With all that in mind, here are my rock solid predictions for this week’s game:

Denard Robinson will run for over 100 yards: FICTION

Nobody could have predicted the success Denard Robinson had against the Cleveland Browns last week, and it was every bit as impressive as the stat line would indicate. Shoelace was running hard, breaking tackles, and making the most of the holes provided to him by the offensive line. Unfortunately, Robinson has a few more things going against him this week. The Dolphins boast one of the better defenses in the league, including being 10th in rushing yards allowed, and they’ve only allowed one player all season to break the 100 yard mark (Knile Davis in week 3). Additionally, the Jaguars are theoretically getting Toby Gerhart back this week and likely going to try and get him involved again. All this amounts to less touches and less productivity for Denard.

Blake Bortles will throw more touchdowns than interceptions: FACT

Blake Bortles leads the NFL with 10 interceptions, even though he’s only played 4 and a half games. At some point he has to even out and have a more controlled game, so why not this week? Bortles will be making his fifth start with pretty much the same offensive line and the same receivers, and he may have a reliable guy in the backfield with Denard. I’m hoping Bortles finishes this game with no interceptions, but that probably won’t happen given his style of play.

Marqise Lee will have 3+ receptions: FACT

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of pieces on offense, but the one glaring hole right now is someone who can take the top off the defense. Marqise Lee needs to be that guy, and hopefully he’ll start to get more looks as he gets integrated into the offense. Lee has 5 targets in his last 2 games coming back from injury – hopefully we’ll see double that this week.

Full disclosure: I am going to be physically present in EverBank Field this weekend for the game, so my prediction may be a little bit biased. But hey, the Jaguars are coming off a big win, one they really needed, and they have a lot of positive momentum. If the offense steps up and matches the level of play the defense has exhibited over the last few weeks, the Jaguars are going to be tough to beat.

PREDICTION: Jaguars 30 – Dolphins 24

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