Opposing Player Spotlight: Week 9, New York Jets

It’s Jets week!

The Miami Dolphins are playing host to the team’s biggest rival in Hard Rock Stadium en route to looking for the first win of a rough season. As we all know by now, this series involves me, your beloved Dolphins prognosticator, highlighting a player on the squad facing off against your Dolphins. Unfortunately, that means I can not spotlight a coach, and believe me, if I could, we’d be talking about Adam Gase and his inability to succeed more than five feet away from Payton Manning until the cows come home.

Instead, we’ll be taking a look at a certain speedy wideout who may cause Miami’s secondary some trouble on Sunday.

Each week of the 2019 season, I am highlighting one player on the team squaring off with the Miami Dolphins that ‘phins fans should be watching out for. This week, that player is New York Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson.

Do you have a player recommendation for next week’s spotlight? Let me know on Twitter @HierJustin.

Fact Check: Robby Anderson

Position: WR

Experience: 4th season

Age: 26

Height/Weight: 6’3”, 190 lbs

College: Temple

Stat Review

Anderson is known for his ability to stretch the field down the sideline and make splash plays, and with that, he’s racked up an impressive 14.7 yards per catch mark on his career. Anderson is carrying that same average through the 2019 season, though he’s managed just 21 receptions in seven contests. One of those catches yielded a 91 yard touchdown, Anderson’s career long, though said score is his lone end zone visit of the season. Going into Week 9, Anderson has amassed just 309 yards, while his quarterback, Sam Darnold, has struggled to get him the ball downfield.

Key Matchups

Though Darnold has been back under center for a few weeks after battling mono earlier in the year, the young gunslinger has failed to find success in Adam Gase’s scheme outside of one impressive week against the Dallas Cowboys (New York’s lone victory on the year). With that said, Anderson’s big play ability has been limited, but that doesn’t mean the speedster can’t be dangerous.

With Miami’s top cornerback, Xavien Howard, on injured reserve and out for the year, it’ll be up to a patchwork secondary to keep Anderson in check. I don’t expect Miami to place any one defender in shadow coverage on any one receiver with Howard out, so it’ll be up to a mix of Eric Rowe, Ryan Lewis, and Chris Lammons to cover Anderson. Safeties Bobby McCain and Reshad Jones (if healthy) will also be relied on to keep the deep passing game out of Gase’s arsenal.