It's week two and the Miami Dolphins travel to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football.
Last Week:
The Dolphins defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 36-34 on the road
The Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 25-20 at home
Advantages:
QB: Dolphins
- Tua is the far superior QB to Mac Jones
RB: Patriots
- While I really like the Dolphins backfield, Stevenson and Elliott are a more accomplished duo that Mostert and Ahmed
WR: Dolphins
- Hill and Waddle. Enough said.
TE: Patriots
- Durham Smythe had a nice first game but Henry and Gesicki are a solid combo at tight end
OL: Dolphins
- The Dolphins OL was very solid in week 1 while the Patriots, who are dealing with injuries, OL was awful against the Eagles (I know the Eagles have a top front)
DL: Dolphins
- Despite the terrible run defense last week, Sieler and Wilkins make this group better than the Patriots
EDGE: Patriots
- As much as it kills me, Miami's edge situation has been lacking. Jaelen Phillips was good vs the Chargers but we are still waiting for Bradley Chubb to do something. Judon and Uche make up a very good edge rush duo
LBs: Push
- Neither LB group is great but both are solid making this a push. Big thing I will be watching this week is how David Long is used. Last week we barely saw him (17 snaps) so it will be interesting to see the game plan for him this week
CBs: Dolphins
- Christian Gonzalez had a great week 1 of his rookie year but Howard, Kohou, and Apple are a better, more proven, group than the Patriots, especially with Jack Jones on IR
Safety: Push
- Jevon Holland and Kyle Dugger are studs but their counterparts, DeShone Elliot and Jabrill Peppers, leave a lot to be desired
Game Preview
The Patriots shocked a lot of people last week with how close they were to upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles at home in the rain. If it wasn't for an early Mac Jones INT the Patriots would've upset the defending NFC champs but alas, New England enters this game 0-1. The Patriots limited the Eagles to just 5.2 ypa passing and 3.9 ypc rushing after having over 4 months to study this Eagles offense. It will be a good match up this week as the Dolphins red hot offense put up over 500 yards of offense last week including Tua Tagovailoa throwing for 466 yards and 3 TDs while averaging over 10 yards per attempt. I highly doubt we see the offensive output that we did from Miami last week but I expect this offense to have answers to whatever the Patriots try to throw at Mike McDaniels' unit.
The biggest story of this game according to the national media is the Dolphins offense against the Patriots defense but I don't foresee Miami's offense having the same level of game that they did in week one but I expect Miami's offense to be able to move the ball against the Patriots. To me, the biggest story is going to be the Dolphins defense vs the Patriots offense. Mac Jones actually looked like a competent QB last week under new(ish) offensive coordinator Bill O'Brian but if you look at the Next Gen passing chart, Mac isn't throwing the ball down field.
This game is going to come down to Miami's ability to stop the run and play the short passing game, two areas Miami struggled with last week. The Chargers were able to ground and pound the Dolphins to the tune of 233 yards rushing and their passing attack looked a lot like the Patriots in week one (by design, Fangio sat in two high safeties the whole game daring the Chargers to throw the ball deep)
Can the Patriots offense do enough to keep pacing with the Dolphins offense? Tua Tagovailoa is 4-0 vs the Patriots and is a much different player than the first four match ups against Bill Belichick's squad. I have to take the better QB and better roster to win this game, especially early in the season where teams are still trying to learn Miami's tendencies.
Game Prediction: Dolphins 27 Patriots 17