This loss should shock absolutely nobody. The New England Patriots offense was dreadful as it only managed to score one touchdown against the Miami Dolphins, losing 20-7 in both team’s season openers.
Everyone knew that the Patriots had a terrible offseason, especially on offense as they lost longtime OC Josh Mcdaniels to the Raiders and traded away Pro-Bowl guard Shaq Mason to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Oh, not to mention that they used their 1st-round selection to draft a guard that was project to go deep in the 3rd-round.
This team was on the precipice of collapse, and everyone knew it. Everyone except for Bill Belichick.
He decided to not name a new offensive coordinator, which is unprecedented as far as I’m aware, and instead had two failed coaches Matt Patricia (formerly of the Detroit Lions) and Joe Judge (formerly of the New York Giants) take over the offensive play calls.
Mind you, these guys were not offensive minded coaches when they were with their former teams.
No wonder the Pats offense looked absolutely awful today.
The first drive of this game for the Patriots really did symbolize how the rest of the game would play out. Matt Jones drove down the Pats to Miami’s redzone, picking apart Miami’s defense as he went. At that point, I thought my fears for this offense were unfounded. Maybe Mac Jones could pull off a miracle and overcome the terrible position Bill Belichick left him in.
And then, just as I was thinking that, Mac Jones lobs a pass to the endzone, looking for his new wide out Devante Parker….who was double covered.
Xaverian Howard, the man covering him, tipped the pass to Jevon Holland, the safety just behind the play, and he returned it to the thirty-yard line to set up a Miami field goal. And the Dolphins defense didn’t stop there.
On a few Patriots possessions later, CB Brandon Jones beat the Pat’s left tackle, Trent Brown, to the edge, then stripped sacked a clueless Mac Jones. Melvin Ingrahm snatched up the ball and ran it into the endzone, making it a 10-0 ball game.
You want to know what really made that strip sack even worse? Cole Strange, the Patriots 1st-round selection, wasn’t even in the game for that play as he was getting demolished by Miami’s Emmanuel Ogbah and Christian Wilkins. Those two ate up the Pats offensive line all day long, leading to Mac Jones getting sacked twice and the Pats only having 78 rushing yards.
I’ve never seen such an incompetent Pats offensive line in my life. They were lucky that Mac Jones got the ball out of his hands quickly as they easily could have given up 6-8 sacks to that Dolphins D-Line today.
Regardless, Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle sealed this game right on the brink of halftime as Tua zipped a pass through two Pats defenders to Waddle, who then split another three to rush into the endzone to make it 17-0.
Of course, when Waddle scored, the Dolphins fans started penguin ‘waddling’ around the stadium in celebration. I know his name is Waddle, but they couldn’t have thought of a better celebration. It just looked stupid.
Still, more importantly, what made this play even more impressive was that it was a 4th and 9 on New England’s 40ish yard line. This play easily could have been broken up by the Pats defense, which would have given Mac Jones and the Pats offense the chance to cut into Miami’s lead.
But, Miami’s new head coach, Mike McDaniel, showed that he had the courage and faith in Tua to execute a high-risk pass.
In fact, I was also really impressed with Tua today. He and Tyreek Hill looked like they have developed a great connection (as Hill had 8 catches for 94 yards), while Waddle also had a nice game with 4 catches, 68 receiving yards, and a TD.
If I was a Dolphins fan, I would have like to have seen Waddle, Mike Gesicki, and Cedrick Wilson Jr. more involved in the offense. Better teams will take away Tyreek Hill, so Tua will need to disperse where he throws the ball when that happens.
If he can do that, then this offense might very well end up as one of the very best in the NFL this season.
Anyway, Mac Jones was able to cut into Miami’s lead late in the 3rd Quarter by throwing a TD pass in the flat to Ty Montgomery, who literally rolled into the endzone. Yet, even the Pats knew they had no chance of scoring two more touchdowns to take the lead. The game was well and truly over.
Miami’s defense made sure of that with their utter domination over New England.
They held Mac Jones to only 213 passing yards, 1 TD, an INT, and strip sacked him for a touchdown as well.
Plus, as I said, New England’s running game was woeful as they had 78 rushing yards on 22 carries (35. yards/carry). Miami may be known for their explosive offensive weapons, but this defense shouldn’t be taken lightly either.
They could very well be the difference between Miami making the playoffs this year or missing out for the seventh straight season.
Nonetheless, this loss for the Patriots just shows how woeful their offense really is. How did Bill Belichick think that replacing the offensive genius that Josh Mcdaniels was with two failed, disastrous coaches in Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, who were not offensive specialties when they were coordinators, was going to work?
I can’t tell if Belichick is just being arrogant, way too clever, or has just plain lost the plot? Hopefully, it is either option A or B. If it’s C, then the Pats are in even more trouble than I thought.
This is going to be a long season for the Patriots.
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