The Miami Dolphins take the field for the first time under interim head coach Dan Campbell on Sunday, looking to turn their season around against a Tennessee Titans team that is a lot more competitive than its 1-3 record suggests.
NFL picks and predictions, Dolphins vs. Titans 2015: No consensus on matchup of 1-3 teams
Both the Dolphins and Titans are 1-3 and riding three-game losing streaks, but the outlooks for each team couldn’t be more different right now.
The Dolphins opened the season with a promising win over Washington, but after three straight losses, things have quickly started to spiral out of control. The last two games have been downright embarrassing, getting blown out in back-to-back weeks against two division rivals -- the Bills and Jets -- by a combined 40 points.
Campbell has a ton of problems to fix on both sides of the ball, but first and foremost he needs to get this team ready to play from the first whistle of the game. The Dolphins have trailed by double digits in the first half of every game so far, and have been outscored 37-3 (!) in the first 15 minutes. That’s easily the worst first-quarter point differential of any team in the league this season.
Tennessee has the same record as the floundering Dolphins entering this matchup, but don't underestimate the Titans. Although they've lost three games in a row, the latter two losses have come by a combined three points against the Colts and Bills. The youthful Titans are trending upward, but need to do a better job of closing out games and putting away teams.
Thanks to a blowout win over the Buccaneers and those close losses, the Titans have actually outscored their opponents by 11 points this season, ranking a respectable 14th in point differential. The only other sub-.500 teams with a positive scoring margin this season are the Eagles and Seahawks. This is not to say that the Titans are prime playoff contenders, but they probably are playing better football than a typical 1-3 club.
This game is a toss-up among the experts. While six of the eight guys at CBS Sports have the Dolphins, the ESPN crew is split 7-6 favoring Tennessee.
Our NFL gurus here at SB Nation are slightly leaning toward the Titans:
| Ryan Van Bibber | Stephen White | Joel Thorman | David Fucillo | Danny Kelly | Matt Ufford | PFT Commenter | OddsShark | |
| MIA @ TEN | MIA | TEN | MIA | TEN | TEN | TEN | MIA | TEN |
See More:
