The Tennessee Titans will have one of their toughest matchups of the entire season in Week 14 when they travel to Hard Rock Stadium to take on the Miami Dolphins.
These two teams are opposites in the standings, as the Dolphins are in first place in the AFC East and the Titans are in last place in the AFC South.
Making matters worse, a struggling Titans secondary now has to deal with the best passing offense in the NFL, which will surely have a lackluster Tennessee offense chasing points.
The Titans enter this game off what was a heart-breaking overtime loss to the Indianapolis Colts, 31-28. If there was one good thing to pull from that game, it was the Titans showing some fight.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins are riding high after three straight wins, with their latest coming in a dominant 45-15 win over the Washington Commanders.
Now, a look at six things to know ahead of this matchup.
Dolphins are massive favorites
Considering the respective records of each team and the terrible matchup this is for the Titans, it comes as zero surprise that Tennessee is a massive underdog going into this game.
Per BetMGM, the Dolphins are favored by a whopping 13 points, with the over/under set at 46.5. The spread is the biggest of any Week 14 game, and it’s the biggest the Titans have faced in any game this season.
Per Team Rankings, The Titans are 5-7 against the spread and have hit the over in four of 12 games. Meanwhile, the Dolphins have covered in eight contests and have hit the over seven times.
Head-to-head history
This will be the 40h meeting all time between these two franchises, with the Dolphins owning a 21-18 record (including playoffs) against the Titans. The Houston Oilers, however, got the better of the Dolphins in the lone playoff meeting between these two teams all the way back in 1978.
Their last meeting occurred during the 2021 season, when the Titans smoked the Dolphins, 34-3. It’s a safe bet that Miami will return the favor this time around.
Titans are winless on the road
The Titans are one of only two teams in the entire league that have yet to win a road game this season, with Tennessee sporting an 0-6 mark. The Titans are actually 0-7 away from Nissan Stadium in total if you include the London game in which they were considered the home team.
The other team with no wins on the road this year? The Carolina Panthers, a team that sports the league’s worst record (1-11 overall, 0-7 on the road).
Dolphins are unbeaten at home
As if Tennessee’s road woes couldn’t get any worse going into this game, the Dolphins are one of two teams in the league that have yet to lose a game at home.
Miami’s 5-0 record at Hard Rock Stadium is second to only the Dallas Cowboys’ 6-0 mark at AT&T Stadium.
Dolphins have two MVP candidates
One reason this matchup is so terrible for the Titans is because of Miami’s elite passing attack, which sports a pair of MVP candidates.
At quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa is third in completion percentage (70.1) and passing yards (3,457), and tied for second in touchdowns.
Tyreek Hill leads all pass-catchers in receiving yards (1,481) and touchdowns (12). He’s also on pace to break the NFL record for receiving yards in a single season (Calvin Johnson: 1,964) and to become the first player in league history to surpass 2,000 receiving yards in a campaign.
With no quarterback truly standing out enough to run away with the MVP award in 2023, Hill has a great chance to win it, especially if he breaks Johnson’s record.
I fully expect Hill to make headway on that record this week against a Titans secondary that has been awful all season long.
Key injuries for both teams
The Titans will be missing multiple key players in this game, with defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons and punter Ryan Stonehouse both out. The Titans’ supposed No. 1 cornerback, Kristian Fulton, also looks likely to sit, but he’s been so bad that it’s unlikely to make much of a difference.
Stonehouse is out for the season after suffering a serious knee injury in Week 13. The Titans not having his monster leg, which is capable of flipping the field, will be a huge blow. Not having Simmons is an even bigger loss, considering his absence hurts both the pass-rush and run defense.
As of right now, the Dolphins are in a better spot health-wise, but they will be without talented young edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, who is out for the season.
Both teams had a slew of players sitting out at practice on Thursday, so this list of missing players might grow by the end of the week. You can check out the first injury reports of the week for both teams right here.
