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Jets seek to get upper hand in playoff race

Dec 25, 2006 - 3:07 PM NY Jets (8-6) at Miami (6-8) 8:30 pm EST

MIAMI (Ticker) -- Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Taylor does not believe the New York Jets are a better football team than the Miami Dolphins. He can try to prove it on the field when the AFC East rivals meet Monday.

The Jets are contending for a playoff spot while the Dolphins have been eliminated. New York won the first meeting between the teams, 20-17, on October 15.

Yet Taylor, who was named to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time on Tuesday, thinks his team is better.

"They (the Jets) won the first game, but the Jets aren't a better football team than us," Taylor said.

Taylor will match up against rookie left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the fourth overall pick in the draft.

After finishing 4-12 last season under Herman Edwards, the Jets have doubled their win total under first-year coach Eric Mangini and can earn a playoff spot with wins in their last two games. New York hosts Oakland (2-13) next week.

Chad Pennington hit Laveranues Coles with a pair of touchdown passes in the Jets' win over the Dolphins. Coles finished with five catches for 106 yards.

Joey Harrington nearly rallied the Dolphins from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit, but Olindo Mare missed a potential game-tying 51-yard field goal in the final seconds.

Ronnie Brown ran for 127 yards on 22 carries for Miami. But Brown has missed the last three games with an injured thumb.

Coles is second in the AFC in catches with 87 for 1,065 yards and six touchdowns, but was not selected to the Pro Bowl.

The only Jet named was kick returner Justin Miller, who is averaging 28.7 yards with two touchdowns.

Joining Taylor in the Pro Bowl will be middle linebacker Zach Thomas, who was named for the eighth time.

Last week, Pennington threw for a career-high 339 yards and one touchdown in the Jets' 26-13 win at Minnesota. It was the Jets' fifth win in seven road games.

Harrington completed just 5-of-17 passes for 20 yards and was intercepted twice in blustery conditions as the Dolphins lost at Buffalo, 21-0, last week.

This will mark the third time the Dolphins will play on Christmas Day. In 1994, they defeated Detroit, 27-20, at Dolphins Stadium. But the most famous one was a 27-24 double-overtime win at Kansas City in a 1971 playoff game.

New York holds a 42-38-1 edge in the all-time series, which dates to Miami's entrance into the old AFL in 1966.