Patriots-Dolphins What To Watch For: Will Pats fix what got them beat in Week 1?
The New England Patriots are looking to get right in Week 2, and will have an opportunity to do so against the Dolphins in Miami. But the Dolphins are also viewing their matchup against the Patriots in the same light.
Both teams head into Sunday's AFC East matchup looking to bounce back after disappointing losses in Week 1. Drake Maye and the Patriots offense mustered very little in a frustrating 20-13 loss to the Raiders in Foxboro, while the Dolphins were trounced by the Colts, 33-8, in Indianapolis.
The Patriots were far from good in Week 1, but the Dolphins were an absolute mess. Tua Tagovailoa turned the ball over three times, while the Colts did pretty much whatever they wanted against the Miami defense. All the while, Tyreek Hill looked ready to explode on the Dolphins bench.
Mike McDaniel's seat is getting real hot down in Miami and he's desperate for a win. At least he brings a 5-1 record against the Patriots into this weekend's showdown.
Meanwhile, Mike Vrabel is looking for his first victory as HC of the NEP. But after what we saw in Week 1, we're not sure these Patriots are ready to win games. Vrabel wanted to build a team that can take advantage of bad football, but the Patriots need to stop being a bad football team themselves.
Mediocre football may be enough to get the Patriots a win this weekend. Here's what we'll be watching for when the Patriots and the Dolphins kick off Sunday afternoon in Miami.
Can Drake Maye make the easy passes?
Vrabel doesn't want perfection out of Maye, but he wants precision. Maye was anything but precise in Week 1.
While he completed 30 of his 46 passes, Maye missed on a number of easy ones. He missed his first pass of the day, a third-down toss to DeMario Douglas that soared over the receiver's head. He missed another throw to Douglas in the end zone, but at least the QB followed it up with a three-yard touchdown strike to Douglas on the very next pass.
Then out of halftime, Maye sent another high pass over the head of Stefon Diggs and into the arms of Isaiah Pola-Mao for a game-changing interception. Maye and the New England offense never recovered in the second half.
"I think just some of them, I was rushing them. I think I see them and kind of rush it to try to get it out to him as quick as I can," Maye said Wednesday. "I feel like I made some pretty good throws throughout the game that I felt good about accuracy-wise. So yeah, I'm not going to over-harp on too much, but at the same time, you've got to hit guys when they're open, so it's an even kind of balance.
"Accuracy is one of the biggest things at quarterback," added Maye. "So, being accurate is what I take pride in, and you can't miss open guys."
Some of Maye's inaccuracy likely stemmed from the quarterback trying to have a better balance as a passer and a rusher. That balancing act should get better as the season progresses, and Maye should have a better weekend as a passer against a Miami secondary made up of Jack Jones (who gave up three receptions for 48 yards last week) and potentially a dinged-up Storm Duck, who suffered an ankle in the third quarter of Week 1 and didn't return to action.
The Dolphins have a solid group of pass rushers in Zach Sieler (who racked up 10 sacks in each of the last two seasons), edge rusher Jaelan Phillips, and Chop Robinson. But the Dolphins had just one sack in Week 1, and the Colts gave the Patriots a blue print to get the most out of their quarterback against the Miami defense.
While the Patriots don't want Maye to put himself in harms way as a rusher, they should probably have a few designed runs in for Maye after Daniel Jones got 11 yards and two touchdowns on his seven rush attempts against Miami last weekend.
Getting off to a fast start will be key for the Patriots offense on Sunday as well as they adapt to the Miami heat and whatever other weather comes their way. Maye hitting some easy ones on the first drive would go a long way to starting fast and putting early points on the board.
Can the Patriots run the darn ball?
Maye's life would be a little easier and his plate a little less full if the Patriots could just get their run game going. It didn't happen in the first half against the Raiders, and the team basically abandoned the run by the second half.
The Patriots only ran the ball 18 times against Las Vegas, which netted them a measly 60 yards. They should be able to get Rhamondre Stevenson, TreVeyon Henderson, and Antonio Gibson going this weekend against the Dolphins.
The Miami defense surrendered 156 rushing yards to the Colts in Week 1, as Indy went run heavy against a susceptible Dolphins front. Jones threw the ball 29 times to 40 rushing attempts by the Colts against Miami last Sunday.
Getting going on the ground would work wonders for the Patriots. It would allow them to control the tempo of the game and set up play-action. Even without much of a run game last Sunday, Maye went 7-of-10 for 71 yards on play-action plays.
Can the Patriots defense limit big plays?
Anything over 20 yards is considered a "big" play or a "chunk" play in the NFL. The New England defense got chunked up nine times last week by the Raiders, which was about seven times too many for a team wanting to win a football game.
Four of those big plays happened in the first quarter, before the defense locked down a bit in the second frame. But the Raiders got pretty much anything they wanted in the second half, with plays of 38, 36, 34, 30, and 23 yards to retake control of the game.
Carlton Davis had a solid debut, but he allowed a 36-yard connection between Geno Smith and Dont'e Thornton when Vegas was facing a third-and-20 on their own 25-yard line. It was one of the many instances the New England defense couldn't get off the field in the second half.
It would be swell if Christian Gonzalez was back out there, but Davis, Alex Austin, and Marcus Jones will now have to deal with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in Week 2. If the Pats can't contain them, they better hope the pass rush can make Tua Tagovailoa make mistakes. But he's 7-0 in his career against New England.
Can the Patriots clean it up on both sides?
This goes back to earlier when we asked if the Patriots were ready to stop being a bad football team. Vrabel said before the season he has three buckets: The good, the bad, and the "stuff" that gets you beat. (Vrabel has another word for "stuff.")
There was a lot of "stuff" that got the Patriots beat last Sunday. Maye's missed passes and his turnover are high on the list, but not alone. How about the nine penalties the Patriots racked up, including two false starts by rookie left tackle Will Campbell in the second half that spoiled his mostly decent debut? Rookie guard Jared Wilson and tight end Austin Hooper were both hit with holds, and the New England offense was also slapped with a Delay of Game in the first half.
The big plays the defense gave up also got the Patriots beat, and some were the product of missed tackles. New England defenders missed 11 tackles against Las Vegas, per Pro Football Focus, which played a big role in the Raiders putting up 144 yards after the catch.
As an established NFL head coach, Vrabel was supposed to get rid of the kind of "stuff" that plagued the Patriots for much of the last two seasons. But it was all there in Week 1, and it got the Patriots beat.
If the Patriots can get rid of that stuff in Week 2, if Maye completes the passes he missed on in Week 1, and if the defense limits big plays, the team should have its first successful trip to Miami in five years. If not, it's going to be a long week for the Patriots as they get ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3.