The Patriots head to South Florida with momentum and a week of rest, and this one sets up as a much cleaner test than the one they just passed against the Bears. New England took a hard-fought loss on Thursday night in Chicago, but the performance still showed a team capable of hanging around on the road against a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Miami is a different assignment entirely.
The Dolphins are coming off their first win of the season, but that Week 7 victory over the Jets came with plenty of help from New York’s own sloppiness and inefficiency. New England should not be expected to hand them the same kind of opening. The Patriots have played four straight solid games, winning three of them, and their Week 4 road win over the Bills made it clear that Mike Vrabel’s group was back on track and in position to make another run at the AFC East title.
That path still has work attached to it. The Patriots are 1.5 games behind Buffalo, so the margin is there, but so is the urgency.
For this game, though, New England looks equipped to handle business. The offense has found a groove, and Vrabel will want the defense to keep pushing toward more takeaways.
If the Patriots can do that, they should be able to create separation well before the fourth quarter turns tense.
Drake Maye has played his way well past the rough early stretch he endured in Seattle and Jacksonville. He has completed 141 of 214 passes for 1,784 yards with 13 TDs and 8 interceptions.
He has also added 211 rushing yards and 2 TDs, with his legs serving as a major weapon when pressure starts to close in. That escape ability is a big reason the Patriots should be able to control the game.
Miami’s secondary, meanwhile, seems unlikely to have a clean answer for tight end Hunter Henry and wideouts Romeo Doubs and DeMario Douglas. The Patriots also have to monitor A.J.
Brown, whose season has been limited by injuries. He has played just three game and has 9 catches for 101 yards, and a knee issue could keep him from being a full factor here.
Still, New England expects him to grow into a go-to option later this season.
On the other side, the Patriots should have the edge against Malik Willis. The former Packer has tried to keep the Dolphins afloat, but Miami has only one win.
Willis has completed 87 of 151 passes for 1,057 yards with a 4-4 TD-interception ratio and has rushed for 223 yards and 3 TDs. He has also been sacked 16 times, and Patriots linebacker Elijah Ponder should be a major problem for him.
Ponder leads New England with 5.5 sacks and is positioned to add at least 1.5 more here.
Willis’ top target is Malik Washington, who leads the Dolphins with 26 receptions for 289 yards, though he has not scored a touchdown yet.
New England has the better roster, better form, and better sense of where it wants to go from here. The Patriots have long had trouble in Miami, even in the Brady years, and they are just 17-40 all-time in games played there. But this team does not look like one that will get trapped by that history.
Expect Maye and Rhamondre Stevenson to set the tone early, with the defense backing them up and keeping the Dolphins from making a real push. The Patriots should be in control before the third quarter ends and pick up their fourth win in five games.
In Other News...
Dolphins Face A Trade Deadline Dilemma Fans Can't Ignore
As the trade deadline approaches, the Dolphins are doing what smart front offices do this time of year: looking for younger talent that can fit both the roster and the long view. Miamis interest appears tied not just to immediate help, but to players who can grow with the team while keeping salary-cap flexibility intact, a balance that matters as the franchise keeps one eye on the present and another on the next wave of roster building.
That approach gives Miami some room to be selective, and it also explains why the Dolphins are being linked to defensive help rather than a splashy short-term rental. The bigger picture is about positioning, with cap space projected to be a major advantage down the road, and any move made now could be part of a larger plan to get ahead of free agency before the rest of the league catches up. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots QB Just Handed Dolphins Fans A New Reason To Laugh
Drake Maye managed to create a sideshow that had nothing to do with Xs and Os, and Dolphins fans probably noticed the timing as much as the content. During a radio appearance, the Patriots quarterback was asked about conspiracy theories and brought up a college course on the topic at North Carolina, which led him into a very strange public detour for a starting NFL quarterback.
Maye's comments landed far enough outside the usual football chatter that NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman felt compelled to respond and defend the moon landings. For a rival quarterback to hand Miami a fresh wave of amusement in the middle of a divisional storyline is the kind of off-field gift that does not help New England's credibility, even if the football implications are still to come. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Just Made Another O-Line Move Fans Will Want To Watch
The Dolphins kept working the edges of their offensive line depth chart Monday, claiming guard Christian Haynes off waivers from the Seahawks and adding another experienced option to a group that has been in constant motion. Haynes had played in seven games this season for Seattle before his exit, and Miami landed him because it held a higher waiver priority than the Ravens, who also put in a claim.
To make room on the 53-man roster, the Dolphins waived rookie sixth-round pick DJ Campbell, who had been inactive every game this season. It is another small but telling adjustment as Miami keeps sorting through its protection mix, and it leaves the team with one more new piece to evaluate as the season moves on. [Read more 🡒]