The Miami Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots 34-15 today, it was a win in dominant fashion. With the win, Miami has swept New England this year and is on a 3 game win streak. The loss for New England puts them at 3-9 and gives them a better shot at a top 3 pick in this upcoming NFL draft. There were a lot of positives on the Dolphins side, let’s break them down.
Let’s start on the offense, Tua Tagovailoa was as sharp as ever. His statline is as follows: 29/40, 317 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. This was Tagovailoa’s fifth game back from injury, and this was his best showing. Since coming back from injury, Tagovailoa has thrown 11 touchdowns to only 1 interception, elite football to say the least.
The ball was spread around to pretty much everybody, but his top two receiving targets were Jaylen Waddle and Jonnu Smith. Smith caught the first touchdown of the day, he continued to carry over his momentum from last week. Waddle was a different story, Waddle has had a down year of sorts for his standards. Today was a different story, Waddle had a season high 144 yards and a touchdown. Waddle got open at will today, but when he was covered he still came down with tough catches.
Devon Achane was a threat, but today as a receiver and not a rusher. The Patriots did a great job at stopping the Dolphins run game. Miami was only able to rush for 2.7 yards per carry. Achane caught 2 touchdowns, one on a screen pass the other on a swing pass out of the backfield where he was left wide open. Both touchdowns were good play design by head coach Mike McDaniel, with assistance from offensive coordinator Frank Smith.
On the defensive side of the ball, the rookie Chop Robinson was the star of the show. Robinson was graded as Miami’s top player in the game by PFF with a grade of 85.6. Robinson had multiple hurries and 1.5 sacks, he was an issue for New England all day. It was only a matter of time before Chop started breaking out, he has been one of the NFL’s most impactful defenders the last few weeks with his pressure rates.
Emmanuel Ogbah and Zach Sieler also had sacks, both were in big situations to force a punt and fumble. Jordyn Brooks recovered the fumble that Sieler forced.
New Dolphins linebacker Tyrel Dodson, who was signed his past week, had himself a nice Dolphins debut. He played limited snaps, but when he played he was impactful. On the last Patriots drive of the day, Dodson had a one handed interception. Jalen Ramsey was brought in on a cornerback blitz, Maye was forced to throw the ball up and Dodson caught the ball with one hand and was brought to the ground. Impressive work from the new Dolphins backup linebacker.
On special teams, both Jason Sanders and Jake Bailey did their jobs well. Bailey had multiple punts pinning the Patriots within their own 15 yard line, while Sanders made both of his kicks.
For New England, they will host the Colts next Sunday. As for Miami, they will be tested on Thanksgiving playing on the road in Green Bay. This will be a huge test for Miami, as they typically struggle in the cold weather. They also have struggled these past 2 years with the best football teams in the NFL, and the Packers are certainly a contender. We will see what Miami is made of in 5 days.