New York Jets running back Chris Ivory (No 33) is pursued by Miami Dolphins safety Michael Thomas (No 31) in Game 12 of the NFL International Series at Wembley Stadium in London. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
Agencies/London
New York Jets beat Miami Dolphins 27-14 in front of a full house at Wembley to win the first of three NFL matches to be held in London in 2015.
Much of the sell-out crowd were supporting Miami but the Jets started stronger to open a 20-7 half-time lead.
Eric Decker and Zac Stacy then added to Chris Ivory’s opening touchdown and two Nick Folk field goals after Miami’s Jake Stoneburner had narrowed the gap. Kenny Stils’s fourth-quarter score gave the Dolphins hope but the Jets hung on.
Having been dominated in the opening stages, Miami rallied late on and had a touchdown disallowed before Darrelle Revis and Marcus Williams made two brilliant interceptions in the endzone with just minutes remaining. The victory was the Jets’ third from their first four matches of the NFL season, while Miami have now lost three of their opening four.
While Chris Ivory and Ryan Fitzpatrick were racking up the yards, the New York Jets’ offensive line did much of the hard work by neutralizing Ndamukong Suh. Ivory ran for a career-high 166 yards and Fitzpatrick threw for 218, one touchdown and one interception to lead the Jets. After a third straight loss, Miami must make major changes--starting with the coaching staff--to ensure any chance of a turnaround. For starters, defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle’s time should be up during the bye week.
Chris Ivory, refreshed after sitting out a week with a quadriceps injury, stomped Miami’s run defense for a career-high 166 yards. If there was any doubt about Ivory’s importance to the Jets’ offense, it’s gone now.
Suh, the highest-paid defensive player in league history, had three tackles and no sacks. His first didn’t come until the third quarter. Both teams have byes next week, as usual for teams playing in London. Miami (1-3) will face lots of questions about its poor performances thus far.
Fitzpatrick threw for 172 yards in the first half, including a 58-yard completion to Brandon Marshall on the first play. Marshall had 107 yards receiving by halftime and finished with 128 for the Jets (3-1).
The hard-running Ivory scored the first touchdown from 3 yards to start off his ninth career 100-yard game. Fitzpatrick later completed a 10-yard TD pass to Eric Decker in the second quarter and Zac Stacy rushed in from the 2 in the third.
Nick Folk converted all three extra points and added field goals from 22 and 48 yards. But he missed a 40-yard attempt.
The Jets ended up with 207 yards rushing, including 34 from Fitzpatrick, and 425 total yards on offense. Ivory’s 166 yards were the most by a Jet since Thomas Jones ran for 210 in 2009.
Besides controlling Suh, the Jets got some help when Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes went out with a right knee injury in the first quarter.
The Jets gave the Dolphins some hope, though, with 14 penalties for 163 yards. And Miami’s first score, in the second quarter, came with plenty of aid from New York’s secondary.
Ryan Tannehill threw deep to Jarvis Landry, and Darrelle Revis was called for a 36-yard pass interference. On the next play, Tannehill threw to Jordan Cameron, but Marcus Gilchrist was whistled for another pass interference, good for 22 yards.
Tannehill found Jake Stoneburner on the next play for 8 yards make the score 13-7.
Tannehill ended up with 198 yards and two touchdowns on 19 of 44 passing. His second score was a 10-yard pass to Kenny Stills in the fourth quarter.
But the Dolphins failed to come up with the big play, going 0 for 12 on third downs and 0 for 4 on fourth downs.
It was the 12th regular-season NFL game at Wembley Stadium, the home of England’s national soccer team. It was also the first of three scheduled for this season. Buffalo will take on Jacksonville on October 25, and Detroit will face Kansas City on November 1.
It was the first time the Jets played in the NFL’s International Series, the third time for the Dolphins. They lost the first game in 2007, 13-10 to the New York Giants. Last year, the Dolphins beat the Oakland Raiders 38-14.
Meanwhile DeAndre Levy almost certainly will have to wait another week to make his season debut, but the Detroit Lions linebacker said he took “a big step” in his return from a strained hip muscle this week just by getting on the practice field.
“This week, it was big progress,” Levy said after practice today “But it’s kind of just a test, test, test and respond before I can go and play 60, 70 snaps in a game.”
The Lions listed Levy as doubtful on their official injury report, meaning he has just a 25 percent chance of playing today night against the Seattle Seahawks. But after being limited in practice all week, after a near six-week absence, even those odds seem a bit high.
“It’s a day-to-day thing,” Levy said. “Some days feel good, some days don’t feel as good. It’s kind of a test it and see how it responds.”
Josh Bynes has played well in Levy’s absence and is expected to make his fourth straight start at weakside linebacker Monday, but the Lions have still missed Levy, their leading tackler last year, mightily on defense.
Opponents have completed more than 78 percent of their passes against the Lions this year, and the Lions rank 27th in the league in total defense. Levy, who suffered the injury at practice Aug. 24, said he’s antsy to get back on the field after watching the Lions struggle to an 0-3 start.
“Football’s definitely not as much fun watching, especially when there’s things that aren’t going well,” Levy said.
“You know you want to be a part of it, you know the good and the bad. But my patience, at first it was kind of tough but right now I’m settled and I accepted it. I know what I got to do to get better and get right. There’s a lot of football left.”
