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The Miami Dolphins lost to the New York Jets last Sunday, splitting the season series with their division rivals in a game decided by field goals, pass interference replays, and concussions. It was a “meh” game most of the time, and at the end of the day, it as a 22-21 game played between two teams at the bottom of the division and likely holding early draft picks when the season ends.
In a season when the Dolphins are clearly not competing for the Super Bowl, but are rather preparing for 2020 and the future, the fans are both looking for wins and understanding of losses. The early draft pick with the losses will be exciting in April, while a win on Sunday will make Victory Monday feel really nice. It is a strange year, but one in which the fans seem to be more and more comfortable with the team and confident in their direction.
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A loss to the Jets did cause a drop in Miami’s fan confidence rating, a rating calculated from our weekly SB Nation FanPulse survey. Heading into Week 14, the Dolphins had a 73 percent fan confidence. After a one-point loss to the Jets, the confidence rating fell one point to 72 percent.
Clearly, the fans are confident in the direction of Miami and have over 7-of-10 fans believing in the team each week.
Since the Dolphins are holding steady, this week, we will also take a look at the rest of the AFC East’s fan confidence. Ahead of Miami’s tenth-best fan confidence rating, the Buffalo Bills have an 85-percent rating, sixth highest in the league. The New England Patriots have just over half their fans confident in their team’s direction, coming in with a 52 percent confidence rating, the 14th best rating. The Jets are last in the division, with just seven percent of their fans confident in the direction of the team, the 28th ranked team in the league.
New York’s fan confidence increased just two percent with the win over the Dolphins.
How do you feel about the direction of the Dolphins? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of the page and make sure you join our FanPulse survey. It is a weekly email survey sent on Mondays with 2-3 questions that takes about 2 minutes to complete.