The Miami Dolphins had an impressive victory on Sunday against the LA Chargers behind stellar performances by quarterback Tua Tagovailia and Star Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill. It’s been the talk of the town for the last couple of days–and rightfully so. Miami’s impressive win has enamored Miami Dolphin fans, fans from different fanbases, & analysts alike. This team, specifically Tua Tagovailoa, has received plenty of recognition based on the Week 1 performance. As a fan, it’s being talked about a little too much for my comfort. I’m sure the Miami Dolphins locker room isn’t making the same mistake as some of the fans are and looking past our next opponent.…at least; I hope not.
Our Week 2 opponent is division rival, the New England Patriots. The New England Patriots are no longer the AFC juggernaut they once were, but they are still a force to be reckoned with, with Mr. Bill Belichick still running things. Don’t get me wrong; the Patriots have been nothing short of mediocre for the last few years, making them dangerous. If the preparation for this game isn’t handled properly, this would be the perfect recipe for a trap game. Coming off of a heart-racing performance on Sunday, emotions could still be running high for the Miami Dolphins, and the New England Patriots are the type of team to take advantage of that and punch you in the mouth.
The New England Patriots may have the least talented team Miami will face but they make up for it by being well-coached, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Not to mention the newly put-together Running Back tandem of Rhamondre Stevenson & Ezekiel Elliot. Even though they had a mediocre performance in their loss against the Philadelphia Eagles, I wouldn’t sleep on them. After Miami’s defense showcased a lackluster performance against the Chargers rushing offense, Bill O’Brien is scheming to take advantage of that weakness. And while Patriots Quarterback Mac Jones has his issues with consistency, I wouldn’t take him lightly. New England is also known always to have a formidable defense under the evil mastermind, Belichick. Belichick is known for finding opposing offenses kryptonite and shutting down what they do best. This is why any game could go either way on any given Sunday; sometimes, a less talented team with the perfect counter to a more talented team’s scheme wins the game. After Miami threw the lights out on Sunday, you can expect the Patriots head coach to try to force Miami to beat them on the ground. This might force Mike McDaniel to stick to the run and not get pass-happy like he did on Sunday. It seems that what the Patriots do best, Miami, has shown weakness in that area. Unless McDaniel puts on a running clinic and the Dolphin’s defense shows us that Sunday was just 1st game jitters, we could be in for a long game.
By any means, I’m not saying I expect Miami to lose. But I don’t expect this game to be a shootout or a blowout. I don’t think we should expect Tua to throw for almost 500 yards in this game. I would love to see Tua shred the Patriot’s defense up after Boston journalist Tom Curran made an asinine statement on Omar Kelly and Alain Poupart’s “All Dolphins Podcast”, that Mac Jones was a more accurate Quarterback. He even went as far as to say that he doesn’t think Tua is accurate at all. But pettiness and wishful thinking aside, I expect this game to be a grind-it-out type of game. I do think we’ll see some more elite play from Tagovailoa but in the form of efficiency and not high numbers–but once again, I’d love to see it, to stick to Tom Curran and the Boston media. But this game will ultimately come down to the team that plays the best defense and has the most productive run game. The Rookie Running back Devon Achane should make his regular-season debut on Sunday, and his speed can be utilized to add even more creativity to this offense. I would also expect to see more plays drawn up for 2nd-year Wide Receiver Erik Ezukanma, being used in that Deebo Samuel-like role the way he was on Sunday. Fortunately for Miami, we have weapons on this offense that can be used in more than just the pass game. Expect Mike McDaniel to be in his bag.
It goes without saying that Miami’s defense has to be better or we’ll be looking at another 200-yard rushing performance from an opposing team. But this time we may not be so lucky for the offense to bail this team out. I’m sure Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio is cooking something up right now as I type. I’d honestly be more impressed with a clean win over the Patriots than our Week 1 come-from-behind win because it would require both sides of the ball to address their weaknesses displayed on Sunday to win this game. That’s no easy task and doing so in a week’s turnaround would put the league on notice that this team isn’t one-dimensional.
