The New England Patriots will be coming down to sunny South Florida to play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday November 24th. The Patriots come into the game with a record of 3-8 while the Dolphins come into the game with a 4-6 record, as well as a two game win streak. The Dolphins are 7.5 point favorites, the same as last week. Below I will breakdown 3 keys to the game that will help Miami win the football game against the Patriots.
1. Cover the tight ends to get off the damn field on 3rd down!
Miami struggled with this against the Raiders, Brock Bowers had himself a career day against Miami. He had 13 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown, he was a primary chain mover for Vegas on 3rd downs. Miami has great boundary corners in Jalen Ramsey and Kendall Fuller when he is back from injury. Guarding tight ends over the middle has been an issue. If Miami can get off the field earlier on 3rd downs they can rely on their top offense to make this game a bloodbath.
2. Get creative in the run game early on
Miami is known for its creativity, so this should not be an issue for Mike McDaniel and the Miami staff to focus on. The Dolphins run game has been lackluster the last 2 weeks, but one of the large runs against the Rams was a designed end around that had Malik Washington running in open space. Against the Raiders, that was not shown. The Patriots do not have a disruptor like Maxx Crosby, utilize the speed and creativity aspect of your offense Mike McDaniel, it will help with the overall run game.
3. Spread the ball around, its working
Miami has a pair of outstanding wide receivers in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, these two have been excellent and have received the ball a majority of time their first two years in Mike McDaniels system. However this year is where the offense started to evolutionize a little bit. Mike McDaniel has been allowing Tua to spread the ball out a little more, and get all of his playmakers the ball. This includes Devon Achane, Jonnu Smith, Malik Washington, Odell Beckham Jr, Durham Smythe, Julian Hill, and Alec Ingold. Last week against the Raiders the offense looked great even without a run game, this attributes to Tua finding open guys that are not Hill or Waddle.
With these three keys to the game in mind, Miami should be able to take care of business against a weaker Patriots team than they are used to seeing. Should the Dolphins win, they will sweep the Patriots for the 2nd year in a row and be on a 3 game win streak. The Patriots are a scrappy bunch though, and they will have something to say about that.