DAVIE, Fla. — It was only a year ago when the Miami Dolphins lost to winless Tampa Bay, so the team isn’t taking the 1-6 Jacksonville Jaguars lightly this week.

“As we all know, Sunday at 1 o’clock it really doesn’t matter what your record is,” Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said. “It matters how well you perform and you execute as a football team.”

The Dolphins (3-3) are mixed in the areas of performance and execution. They are fourth defensive yards per game allowed (313.7), fourth in rushing yards per game (136.3), 12th in offensive yards per game (359.8) and plus-two in giveaway/takeaway margin. Those are good things.

On the other hand, the Dolphins are 23rd in third-down efficiency.

“That’s one area of our football team that we’ve really got to coach better, play better, execute better all the way around,” Philbin said.

They’re also last in last in net punting (32.7 yards), their quarterback, despite completing his first 14 passes last week, is 25th in passer rating (87.8), and they’re 15th in points allowed per game (23). Those aren’t so good.

Still, there’s a growing feeling the Dolphins are getting things together.

They’ve tailor-made the offense to fit quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s skills, meaning he doesn’t throw deep very often (he’s not adept at that) and has more rollouts and read-options plays because he’s good at using his legs.

The offensive line and running game have both shown improvement, and the defense has become more of a playmaking unit.

“As the season progresses, you want to see improvement and development out of everybody at all positions,” Philbin said. “You want the units to improve. Again, I think that’s the encouraging thing about our football team the last few weeks is I think we improved in a lot of different areas.”

One of the biggest area’s Miami needs improvement is handling prosperity.

Last season the Dolphins not only lost to winless Tampa Bay a week after beating Cincinnati in overtime, they also lost to a below-average Buffalo team a week after a big victory over New England.

Now Miami finds itself coming off a big victory over Chicago.

The Dolphins can’t afford to squander the opportunity to get above .500 by losing to an inferior opponent in the Jaguars.

In fact, Philbin has shied away from calling this a trap game. He doesn’t want his players viewing Jacksonville as an underdog. Philbin is trying to make his players think this is another NFL game against a team that could beat Miami.

“There’s a lot of indications that coach (Gus) Bradley and his staff are doing a great job up there,” Philbin said of the Jaguars. “Their team is getting better, there’s no doubt about it.

“I haven’t really brought up the record. What I talked about was watch the tape. There’s enough there on tape that we have to get ready and we have to play well.”

MEDICAL WATCH: TE Charles Clay (knee) had full participation in practice after sitting out Tuesday. Clay (21 receptions, 204 yards, 1 TD) is showing signs he might be regaining his health, but the right knee injury that has been dogging him since training camp is still slowing him a bit. .. S Jimmy Wilson (hamstring), who missed the Chicago game, practiced fully Wednesday after missing Tuesday’s practice.

SERIES HISTORY: 6th regular-season meeting. Miami leads series, 3-2. Miami won the last meeting, 24-3, in 2012. But when you talk about Dolphins-Jaguars it begins and ends with that ugly 62-7 shellacking Jacksonville put on Miami in the January 2000 in the playoffs. Sure, the Dolphins have won the past two regular-season meetings, but the Jaguars always have that playoff memory.

GAMEPLAN: Expect Miami to favor the run for a few reasons. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who is coming off a career-best 123.6 passer rating, is still a bit shaky throwing the ball; the Dolphins are fourth in rushing yards per game (136.3); and Jacksonville lost LB Paul Posluszny (pectoral) for the season.

Both defenses will have to be alert for the read-option. Jacksonville rookie quarterback Blake Bortles is fifth (143 yards/28.6 yards per game) among quarterbacks in rushing yards, one spot behind Tannehill. Miami’s defensive ends have been much better at playing the run this season, and its linebackers have been tackling better recently, so that works in the Dolphins’ favor.

As usual, Miami will rely on its defensive line to get everything going on that side of the ball. If the defensive line controls the line of scrimmage it should be a good day for Miami.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

Miami RDE Olivier Vernon, who has 3.0 sacks, vs. Jacksonville LT Luke Joeckel, the No. 2 pick of the 2013 draft. Vernon, who had 11.5 sacks last season, could be very disruptive, and Joeckel has struggled at times this season having allowed two sacks, six quarterback hits and 12 hurries.

Miami OL, which has stabilized with the addition of RG Mike Pouncey, vs. Jacksonville pass rush, which is second in the NFL with 22 sacks. The Dolphins have allowed 14 sacks, which is 10th-best in the NFL. It’s a vast improvement from last year when they allowed a NFL-worst 58 sacks. But the Dolphins allowed Chicago four sacks in the first half last week, showing there’s still work to be done.