Disparity in talent decided Dolphins game and other leftover Patriots thoughts

BOSTON -- We understand that thousands of decisions set the stage for Sunday afternoon in Miami. Roster decisions, draft-day decisions, coaching decisions, on-field decisions, etc., etc., etc. Football is a complex sport, and an entire 60-minute game featuring two different teams can't accurately be boiled down to simplistic answers or explanations.

But let's do it anyway.

You look at Sunday's game, and it came down to one thing: Talent.

Does coaching matter? Sure. Effort? Yes. Focus, officiating, injuries, all sorts of things. 

But in the end, it was talent more than anything else that decided this game. And that was as clear as day on two drives in particular.

After the Patriots kicked a field goal off a gifted possession coming out of halftime, the Dolphins' lead was trimmed to seven points. Miami's offense responded by driving 77 yards on nine plays. They faced a third down exactly once ... on a play that went for a 23-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle. Tyreek Hill kicked the drive off with an easy 22-yard catch-and-run. Chase Claypool (fourth on the receiving depth chart) and Durham Smythe had receptions of 15 yards and 7 yards, respectively. And Raheem Mostert scored with ease from the 1-yard line.

A seven-point game became a 14-point game once again. And the Dolphins barely broke a sweat doing it.

Fast-forward to the fourth quarter, when the Patriots showed some serious backbone with two straight defensive stops and an 86-yard touchdown drive after losing DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne to injury. That drive ended with JuJu Smith-Schuster scoring a touchdown on his lone target of the game. It was a resilient showing.

But resilience only gets you so far. Talent gets you farther.

So, with their lead cut to just seven points for the second time of the second half, the Dolphins went to work. Ten plays, 75 yards, and a walk-in touchdown for Waddle. The Patriots did come within a foot or two of making a third-down stop, when Hill made a leaping catch at the line to gain to convert a third-and-9, but that was the lone third down of the drive. (And there's no doubt Mike McDaniel would have rightfully trusted his offense to convert the fourth-and-short, if it came to that.)

Once again, a seven-point game became a 14-point game. And just like before, it looked somewhat effortless.

(You could also include the Dolphins' drive that came after the Patriots took a 7-0 lead. Miami went 75 yards on just six plays, with zero third downs.)

The Patriots didn't play their best game on Sunday, no. Yet even if they had, those two offensive drives for Miami sure made it feel like there just aren't many scenarios where this Patriots roster could have beaten this Dolphins roster. 

Is that letting certain people off the hook? Sure, technically. But it also feels like reality.

We can get to some hooks here in the leftover thoughts from the Dolphins' 31-17 win over the Patriots.

--We've got to start with Mac Jones' interception. It was a first-down interception, which is always a killer. When you're on the edge of the red zone, do literally anything on first down other than throw a pick and you're still in business. Throw a pick, and you've thrown your whole drive away. Jones threw a first-down interception from the 17-yard line in the first matchup with the Dolphins, and he threw another one in this matchup. (His playoff interception in the end zone Buffalo came on first down, too.)

Had Jones made his fake throw to Demario Douglas and then quickly fired to Kendrick Bourne, the play probably would have worked. Instead, he spent a second staring at Bourne and patting the football, a delay which allowed Jalen Ramsey to read it and break for the receiver. It still could have been an incompletion instead of an interception if Jones hadn't thrown off his back foot and floated the ball to the boundary.

It was just a massive mistake that came with a potential 10-point swing.

"I knew the coverage, I knew the -- everything. I just made a bad throw really late," Jones said postgame. "I didn't really drive it."

--We all thought Christian Gonzalez was awesome, but we still might have been underestimating how impactful he is. It's not apples to apples, no, but look at the duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in Week 2 compared to Sunday.

Week 2, Hill and Waddle: 9 receptions, 126 yards, 1 TD
Week 8, Hill and Waddle: 15 receptions, 233 yards, 2 TDs

J.C. Jackson, who looked decent against Stefon Diggs last week, got picked on for the entire first half. He made the dubious decision to step toward the line of scrimmage at the snap, allowing Hill to easily fly past him on a go route for a 42-yard touchdown. He stood on his heels and watched as a stumbling Waddle caught a pass in front of him. And while Twitter had big problems with his pass interference penalty in the end zone ... he did tug Hill's jersey while the pass was in the air, which will draw a flag quite often. 

Outside of Kyle Dugger's interception, nobody in the secondary really had a day worth remembering, and the game fittingly was sealed when the defense totally broke down and left Waddle wide open over the middle of the field for a walk-in touchdown.

A new definition of Cover-0 defense there.

--I do not know what would possess a man to step up like J.C. Jackson did at the snap here:

Marte Mapu didn't exactly help over the top, but still. If your job is to cover Tyreek Hill, you're going to have to ignore the play-fake in the backfield and focus on covering the fastest man in the league. Crazy.

--It's kind of sad that this wasn't a top-five worst day of the season for the offensive line, but it also included plays like this:

--And this:

--Accepting the fact that the New England offense is uninspiring ... what will it become if Kendrick Bourne tore his knee? To put it into perspective, Bourne led the Patriots on Sunday ... with 36 receiving yards. And he played one snap in the fourth quarter.

We assume that we won't see DeVante Parker for a while, after he suffered his second concussion since December. He wasn't heavily involved in the offense lately, though.

The depth chart will now have a sixth-round pick out of Liberty as the primary option, followed by JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was benched until the Bourne injury on Sunday. Throw in high-round disappointments like Tyquan Thornton and Jalen Reagor, plus a second chance for Kayshon Boutte incoming, and the Patriots ... have gone from bad to worse at receiver.

--It's not often you see a fumble by an Elliott result in that Elliott swatting a potential fumble recovery away from another Elliott.

History!

--Look at Keion White go into ATTACK MODE in open space against a full-speed running back:

Whew. Now that is the definition of a leftover thought.

--Bill Belichick was so mad at these officials that I swear he went looking for his red challenge flag after the J.C. Jackson pass interference:

It wouldn't have been the worst spot for Bill to take an unsportsmanlike penalty by throwing a challenge flag. The ball was already on the 1-yard line for a first-and-goal. A first-and-goal from the half-yard line isn't much different. 

We were robbed.

--Here's another pure leftover thought. Check out this vintage (2022) run by Rhamondre Stevenson.

--If you want to engage in a thought experiment, ponder this: Let's say the Patriots won on Sunday. I don't know how, but let's say they did. Then they're 3-5, with Washington and Indy up next. Sitting at 5-5 at their bye week, they'd be looking at the Giants, Chargers and Steelers coming out of that break. Now at 8-5, you could start think--- OK, I'm just kidding. Don't do that.

They're 2-6. If you care about the franchise long-term, you have to hope they make some trades for picks before Tuesday and then make some changes with the short and long term in mind. Because while we could map out various ways that this team could max out with nine or 10 wins, games like Sunday's show they're miles apart from truly and genuinely competing with top-tier teams in the NFL.

Here's how you can feel about it:

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.