New York Giants @ Miami Dolphins

8:30 PM EST, ESPN – Line: Miami -1 ,  Over/Under: 47

Postseason fortunes are fading in South Florida, as a pair of playoff hopefuls attempt to stay in contention as the New York Giants travel to Sun Life Stadium to face the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football.  The longer the 2015 campaign has gone, the more and more the Giants (5-7, 3rd in NFC East) seem to resemble the seriously flawed teams they were in each of the last two seasons.  However, their mediocrity is relative; the Dallas Cowboys (12-4) ran away with the division a year ago, but this season Tom Coughlin and his charges can pull into a three-way tie with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins for first place in the NFC (L)East.  That’s right, folks, this division looks like last year’s NFC South, where the Panthers earned postseason qualification with a 7-8-1 record.  With three contests remaining after tonight’s tilt, it’s highly likely that whomever emerges from this triumvirate of sub-.500 teams will only need eight victories to stave off the competition.  Now, we know what you’re thinking; Eight wins?  Aren’t we being a little generous?  Perhaps we are, particularly when discussing these Giants who will host the undefeated Carolina Panthers next week, before traveling to Minnesota for a match with the likely Wild Card-bound Vikings, followed by the season finale at home against the Eagles, which just might be for all the marbles.  And if Big Blue were to slip up at any point of this journey and miss the playoffs yet again, it’s highly possible that we could be seeing the end of an era in the City That Never Sleeps.  It always seems to happen this time of year.  You all know what we’re alluding to, for it’s become an annual tradition.  Few things in life are guaranteed, but at some point of every season, Tom Coughlin’s job status comes into question.  Granted, the cauldron of criticism that is the New York Media is a HUGE factor here, but if the G-Men can’t make it to the postseason for the fourth consecutive year, the league’s elderstatesman on the sidelines could be relieved of his duties.  Since hoisting his second Lombardi Trophy back in 2011, Coughlin has guided his charges to a 27-33 mark in the nearly four seasons to this point.  Worse yet, it looks like they’re squandering a very winnable division; after getting off to a 5-4 start, New York has lost three consecutive games by the slimmest of margins.  During this three-game skid, they’ve been outscored by a scant ten points, or in other words 3.3 points per game.  Even more troubling has been the return of the mistake-prone Giants that led the league in turnovers two years ago; they’ve committed five turnovers over the last three contests, opposed to the nine they bequeathed in the previous nine outings altogether.

Manning is in the midst on one of his better campaigns, averaging 276.5 yards per game, with 24 TDs and 10 INTs.

However, turnovers haven’t been the only problem for this team, for both sides of the ball have experienced a wealth of issues.  Offensively, the Giants have yet to manufacture much of a running game, no matter who Coughlin and Offensive Coordinator Ben McAdoo plug into the backfield.  On the year, they’ve managed just 88.1 yards per game on the ground (29th Overall), averaging a dismal 3.7 yards per carry (27th Overall).  They’ve only surpassed the 100-yard threshold twice thus far, while being held under ninety rushing yards on six occasions.  In fact, during this current three-game funk, they’ve mustered a mere 62.3 yards via the run.  Again, it hasn’t really mattered who has carried the ball, for they’ve all been largely ineffective; Rashad Jennings leads the team with 431 rushing yards but has done so on just 3.7 yards per attempt, while Andre Williams (2.8 yards per carry) has been completely inept when given the opportunity.  Shane Vereen is basically Receiver in a Tailback’s body, while Orleans Darkwa emerged from obscurity to provide a glimmer of hope against the Saints, but has since fallen back down the pecking order because… well, they can’t play the Saints every week.  With that said, these guys haven’t really been the recipient of stellar blocking by any means, for the Offensive Line has been DECIMATED; Coughlin has had to dig down deep towards the bottom of the Depth Chart here, what with Offensive Tackles Will Beatty (Pectoral) and Geoff Shwartz (Knee) both in Injured Reserve, and fellow Tackles Ereck Flowers (Ankle) and Marshall Newhouse (Back), who are both listed as Questionable for tonight’s affair, fighting through maladies of their own.  That means there a lot of guys that are accustomed to playing Guard making the emergency transition to Tackle, where their lack of lateral quickness is often exposed.  Kinda makes one appreciate the play of Eli Manning (3,318 yards, 24 TDs, 10 INTs) a bit more, huh?  Defensively, the Giants are in even more dire straits; former Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo returned to the fold in the offseason to reignite a unit that had underperformed in recent years, but even he hasn’t been able to work his magic on a unit that has been ravaged by injuries.  Honestly, the longer the season has progressed, the more it’s appeared that their early season success had been primarily Smoke and Mirrors.  New York ranks dead last in the league in Total Defense (423.3 yards per game), on the strength of a league-worst 314.5 yards through the air and a staggering 7.5 net yards per attempt (31st Overall).  On eight occasions they’ve relinquished over 400 yards of offense, including 425.3 over the last three losses.  Their only saving grace has been Takeaways, which explains the disparity between scoring defense (24.7, 20th Overall) and their aforementioned abysmal standing in total defense.  New York has forced a healthy twenty-four turnovers this season, second-most in the NFL, which is all the more impressive given their lack of pressure in the trenches.  The Pass Rush has been virtually non-existent (15 sacks), even with the long-awaited return of Defensive End Jason Pierre-Paul, who missed the first eight games of the campaign after a highly-publicized and bizarre hand injury suffered in the offseason.  And even though he’s back in the lineup, it simply hasn’t been enough to offset the loss of so many of his compatriots on Defense; Coughlin has thirteen Giants on Injured Reserve at the moment, with six of that number residing on the defensive side of the ball, including the likes of Linebacker Jon Beason (Ankle) and Defensive Tackle Johnathan Hankins (Pectoral), along with Safeties Nat Berhe (Calf), Bennett Jackson (Knee), and Mykkele Thompson (Achilles).  Oh, and did we mention that Safety Brandon Meriweather (Knee), Linebacker Devon Kennard (Hamstring), and Defensive End Robert Ayers (Shoulder) are all in doubt for tonight’s outing?  If Coughlin does indeed bite the dust in a few months, whomever replaces him had better look into their Strength and Conditioning Department, because this has been an ongoing problem for a while in the Big Apple…

Meanwhile, while we debate any impending changes in New York, offseason upheaval is virtually assured in Miami, where the Dolphins (5-7, 4th in AFC East) will be on the lookout for a new Head Coach to lead their franchise into the future.  Joe Philbin was handed his walking papers after just four games, with former Tight Ends Coach Dan Campbell ascending to the vacated position for the remainder of the season.  In short, Philbin was fired for not meeting expectations; Management spent a lot of money in the Offseason extending Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (4 years, $77 million), as well as inking Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh, the crown jewel of Free Agency, to a small fortune (6 years $114.3 million), along with a host of other moves, with designs of finally returning to the postseason for the first time since 2008.  We all know that when a team spends a lot of money, the Head Coach is normally on a short leash, particularly when said skipper hasn’t enjoyed much success on the job.  Under Philbin, the Dolphins struggled early in games, with both the offense and defense looking very sluggish out of the gate during their 1-3 start, with back-to-back blowouts against division rivals Buffalo (14-41) and New York (14-27) sealing his fate.  In the words of his successor Campbell, Miami had become a finesse team in a division full of physical teams.  Campbell, in his opening press conference, vowed to instill some nastiness into this group, proclaiming that they’d do everything they could, even if it meant that they would have to push the limits of the unsportsmanlike conduct to achieve their goals.  Granted, that was simply a case of hyperbole for a man looking to make a statement, and in the short term, it appeared to work for the former Tight End, who was ironically a Third Round Selection of the New York Giants back in 1999, where he spent the first four years of his career.  The ‘Fins emerged from the coaching change with a vengeance, steamrolling the likes of the Titans and Texans by a combined 82-36, racking up a staggering 937 yards of offense in that period.  However, as is usually the case for the denizens of the AFC East, any good will built goes out the window when facing the Patriots, who promptly brought Campbell and his charges back down to Earth in a 36-7 rout on Thursday Night Football.  And that was pretty much it for the Dan Campbell administration, as Miami has lost four out of six since those two blowout victories, which believe it or not has prompted even more change on the sidelines…

Tannehill has improved since the dismissal of Philbin, but has yet to live up to the $77 million extension he signed in the offseason.

For the second time this season, the Dolphins made changes to their coaching staff after a loss to the Jets; first it was Philbin along with Defensive Coordinator Kevin Coyle after that fateful October 4th trip to London, then it was Offensive Coordinator Bill Lazor who was voted off the island after a 38-20 defeat at MetLife Stadium two weeks ago.  Now we know what you’re thinking; it’s rather rare that you see an Interim Head Coach make changes to the coaching staff at multiple points of his abbreviated tenure, but that is exactly what Campbell did, as he promoted Quarterbacks Coach Zac Taylor mostly because of his relationship with Tannehill.  Reports out of Miami cited both Philbin and Lazor’s reluctance to accept their Quarterback’s influence in gameplanning, which lends credence towards the season-long disconnect that has occurred on offense.  And from Campbell’s perspective, why wouldn’t he turn over every stone possible in order to keep the job?  Even at 5-7, the Dolphins are still mathematically alive in the chase for a Wild Card in the AFC, so as long as there remains a chance, Campbell is willing to do anything to earn a permanent contract.  With that said, it should be interesting to see how Tannehill progresses over these last four weeks of the season, as the Front Office eagerly awaits positive returns on their investment.  Before Philbin was 86ed, the fourth-year signal-caller had completed 56.7% of his passes for an average of 270.0 yards per game (6.3 y/a), with seven touchdowns to five interceptions.  After the coaching change, his play improved a good bit as No. 17 connected on a solid 65.9% of his attempts for an average of 273.3 yards per game (7.8 y/a), with thirteen touchdowns and six interceptions.  As you can see, the passing yardage didn’t change much, but it was how he was doing it; Tannehill was completing a far higher percentage of his passes, which stemmed from better protection, also parlaying into more opportunities down field.  Tannehill has been often criticized for developing a predilection for dinking and dunking (think Alex Smith), despite an offense geared for throwing down field.  His improvement makes the dismissal of Lazor very curious, particularly given how he performed in his first outing sans his longtime Offensive Coordinator.  Last week against the decimated Baltimore Ravens, the 27-year old struggled to complete a miserable 9-of-19 passes (47.4%) for 86 yards and a touchdown in the 15-13 victory.  Clearly, more input in the gameplan didn’t yield the desired results, which may lend towards an even larger problem in Miami: what if Philbin and Lazor were right in their decision to take his opinion with a grain of salt?  With that said, if there is one thing that their performance this season has taught us, it’s that if they’re able to run the ball effectively, their a far more imposing team.  Check out the dichotomy, folks; in their seven losses Miami has averaged a mere 58 rushing yards, including a dreadful 15-yard performance against the Patriots followed by a 12-yard outing versus the Jets, but in their five victories they’ve trampled their way to a healthy 147.6 yards.  Campbell has repeatedly proclaimed his desire to make this team tougher, which in layman’s terms means running the ball, and it’s been hard for him to find much consistency.  Tailback Lamar Miller (680 yards, 5 TDs) has had some very good games along with some very bad ones, while rookie Jay Ajayi (120 yards) has started to come on now that he’s healthy.  However, as has also been the case with their opponent tonight, the Offensive Line has struggled to open holes for anyone who has occupied their Backfield.  There are plenty of pieces on this offense, particularly with Receivers Jarvis Landry (823 yards, 4 TDs) and late-bloomer DeVante Parker (192 yards, 2 TDs), but for too long this unit hasn’t played anywhere near the capability of the sum of their parts, which is ultimately why Philbin was fired, and unless his successor can find a way to push the right buttons, Campbell will inevitably meet the same fate.