This is the best team in the AFC by a good margin. The Miami Dolphins walked into Foxborough and showed who’s the new boss of the AFC East as they humbled the Patriots 24-17 to improve to 2-0 and sit comfortably atop the AFC standings.
That was far more comprehensive of a beat down than the score lets on.
Despite the score looking quite evenly matched, the Miami Dolphins were easily the better team on the field last night in Foxborough as they defeated the Patriots 24-17 to show how dangerous and lethal this team truly is in the AFC title hunt. And, to be honest with you, this team is my favorite for being the one that comes out of the AFC for a Super Bowl berth.
Don’t let the scoreline fool you. The Dolphins deserved to win that game by 25 points last night.
Not only did they have 389 total yards of offense (Pats: 288), 244 total passing yards (Pats: 200), 145 total rushing yards (Pats: 88), averaged 6.4 yards/play (Pats: 4.1), and had more TOP (30:19 vs. Pats’ 29:41) on less total plays (Dolphins: 61 vs. Pats: 71), but they also were without some extremely important pieces to their team like LT Terron Armstead, LB Jaelen Philips, FS Elijah Campbell, CB Kevin Johnson, and CB Jalen Ramsey.
Sure, it feels like the Patriots have more injuries than you can shake a stick at, but the Dolphins were still able to destroy Bill Belichick’s defense (up until the Red Zone) and their own defense made Mac Jones and the Pats offense look like walk-on college freshman.
The Pats running game was completely nonexistent with Rhamondre Stevenson being their leading rusher last night…with 15 carries for 50 yards, while Mac Jones (31/42, 231 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) had a very up and down performance with them making some good gains before turning the ball over and having to start all over again.
If you need two examples of what I’m talking about, just look at the Demario Douglas (2 REC, 19 yards, 1 FUM) fumble early on in the 1st quarter and the Mac Jones interception late in the 3rd quarter. With Douglas’ turnover, the Patriots defense (which I’ll get to in a minute) just held the red-hot Dolphins to a field goal and the offense was pushing the Dolphins D back into their own field position.
Yet, after Douglas made a huge catch and stop-and-start juke move to pick up a first down and get into the Red Zone, he didn’t see the field around him and allowed Bradley Chubb (7 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL, 2 QB hits, 1 FF) to run up behind him and smash the ball out for a Dolphins fumble recovery. And, as they did all game long, the Dolphins went straight back down the field to score Raheem Mostert’s (18 CAR, 121 yards, 2 TDs) 1st rushing TD.
Then, with Jones’ interception, the Patriots had just blocked the Dolphins FG attempt that would have pushed the score up to 20-3 (and all but end the game) and were now driving all the way down to the Dolphins’ 22-yard line.
But, just like with Douglas’ fumble, the Pats offense came up short when the moment really mattered as Jones under threw a lob pass to Devante Parker, who was in the process of getting bullied out of the way by Xavien Howard (6 tackles, 1 PD, 1 INT), that ended up getting picked off by Howard and allowing the Dolphins to survive the drive.
Thankfully, the Patriots were able to stop the Dolphins on the ensuing drive and go down the field to score Hunter Henry’s (6 REC, 52 yards, 1 TD) TD to tighten the game 17-10. Though, of course, the Dolphins then broke through the Pats’ D with Raheem Mostert’s 40+ yard run to put the Dolphins back up two scores, but that was to be expected given the Patriots poor offense.
The offense isn’t nearly as awful as it was last season under Dumb and Dumber (aka: Matt Patricia and Joe Judge), but Bill O’Brien and Mac Jones are working with pilon cones out there compared to the likes of the Dolphins, Chiefs, Ravens, etc. Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki (5 REC, 33 yards) have been very good, but everyone else has ranged from dreadful to inconsistent; and that’s not going to win titles any time soon.
Nevertheless, do I really need to say that the Dolphins offense was amazing? Tua Tagovailoa was brilliant with 21/30 completions, 249 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT to improve his record over Belichick to 5-0, while Jaylen Waddle (4 REC, 86 yards), Tyreek Hill (5 REC, 40 yards, 1 TD), and Raheem Mostert tore apart the Patriots defense for large portions of this game.
Yes, the Pats defense, led by Matt Judon (4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFL, 2 QB hits), Christian Gonzalez (6 tackles, 1 PD, 1 INT), Myles Bryant (6 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 PD), Jahlani Tavai (7 tackles), and Kyle Dugger (3 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD), were really good with 61 tackles, 1 sack, 5 TFL, 3 PD, 2 QB hits, 3 FF, and 1 INT, but you need to be sensational to completely shut down the Dolphins offense.
And the Pats defense just wasn’t that as they gave up big TDs under the brightest of moments.
Still, what really impressed me was how ruthless and overbearing the Dolphins defense was as even though the Pats offense is less mobile than 90-year-old grandma with a hip replacement, but the Dolphins defense was still able to rack up 78 tackles, 4 sacks, 8 TFL, 6 PD, 8 QB hits, 1 FF, 1 FR, and an interception.
Bradley Chubb, Jevon Holland (11 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD), David Long Jr. (8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 2 QB hits), Christian Wilkins (7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 PD), Andrew Van Ginkle (6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 3 QB hits), and Xavien Howard were especially impressive, but the entire defense played fantastic and made some massive stops (such as the Cole Strange lateral stop, Mac Jones pick, stopping the Pats after Tua’s INT, and the Douglas fumble).
To be honest, if you’re a Pats fan, the only exciting thing that happened last night was Bill Belichick slamming the challenge flag down right in the face of a prone referee (which didn’t work out, but that’s beside the point). And that should say a lot about the Pats last night.
I’m not saying they’re out of the playoff race by any stretch of the imagination yet but starting 0-2 in the AFC is not a good way to improve your chances at a postseason berth.
And, as for the Dolphins, they really look like Super Bowl contenders as their offense is explosive, their defense is ruthless, they have great coaching with Mike McDaniel and Vic Fangio, and the rest of the AFC East looks disjointed (Bills), injury prone (Jets), or both (Patriots). This might actually be the year the Dolphins finally reclaim their spot as the jewel of the AFC East…
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