MIAMI (Ticker) -- Dave Wannstedt's time may be up in Miami.
A second straight season of missing the playoffs could spell the end for Wannstedt, who may be coaching his final game for the Dolphins on Sunday when they host the New York Jets in the season finale for both teams.
After replacing Jimmy Johnson as coach, Wannstedt led Miami to the postseason each of his first two seasons with 11-5 records. In 2002, the Dolphins appeared headed to the playoffs again, but lost their last two games. Now this season, even a 10-6 record will not be good enough for a postseason spot.
"It's obviously disappointing," said Wannstedt, who has a record of 40-23 with Miami. "We're going after our 10th win. That's not an easy feat. In the last 10 years, the Dolphins have only won 10 games or more four times. So, that's something that is motivating."
But how motivating is that to Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, who was harboring Super Bowl dreams after acquiring star running back Ricky Williams in March 2002. Williams won the rushing title last year and has produced 3,152 yards on the ground in 30 games. Yet that did not translate to a postseason appearance for the Dolphins.
The Jets made the playoffs in each of coach Herman Edwards' first two seasons in 2001 and 2002, but will end up with their first losing record since 1996. However, New York's expectations were drastically lowered this season when starting quarterback Chad Pennington dislocated his wrist in a preseason game and missed the first six games of the season.
However, New York's major weakness this season has been its inability to stop the run. The Jets rank 31st in the league defending the run and yielded 125 yards on the ground to Williams in a 21-10 loss to Miami on September 14.
In last year's meeting here, Williams rumbled for 151 yards in the Dolphins' 30-3 rout of the Jets.
Miami recorded six sacks and Williams rushed for 111 yards in a 20-3 victory over Buffalo last week. Defensive end Jason Taylor had 2 1/2 sacks to surpass Bill Stanfill as the team's all-time leader with 69. Williams raised his season total to 1,299 rushing yards.
Pennington was intercepted five times in New York's 21-16 loss to New England last week.
The Dolphins have won two of the last three meetings since the Jets reeled off an eight-game winning streak in the series from 1998-2001.
