Patriots 2014 Opponents, 5 Impressions of the Dolphins Pt.2
The New England Patriots return home to face the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Game time is slotted for 1 p.m. and will be televised locally on CBS. Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts will be on the call providing play-by-play and expert analysis.
The Patriots (10-3) beat the San Diego Chargers on the road Sunday night 24-13 as the defense rose to the occasion and allowed only seven points, the other seven being recorded on a fumble recovery.
The offense struggled for long periods but Tom Brady got them going in the fourth quarter and engineered two scoring drives to put them over the top. Brady passed for more than 300 yards and 2 touchdowns in the win.
The Dolphins (7-6) lost to Baltimore 28-13 at home, dealing their playoff hopes a huge blow as they dropped out of the top six teams in the AFC with the loss.
As part of our PatsFans.com lead-up to the game, Sunday, we’ll have a detailed breakdown of the matchups later in the week, but here is our Five First Impressions of the Dolphins Pt.2:
Last Week’s Loss Stings: Miami entered December much like last season, with the opportunity to be in control of its own playoff destiny. And so far like 2013, they dropped the ball in a big chance to distance themselves from the opposition, losing at home 28-13 to the Baltimore Ravens.
This one stung as the Fins were at home and facing an opponent who is also fighting for their playoff lives. Miami played well in the first half and led 10-7 at the break, but as happens to teams that are close to .500 they didn’t play a full sixty minutes and the Ravens dominated the second half, outscoring Miami 21-3 to leapfrog them in the conference.
Miami has had issues with playing a full sixty minutes and a troubling sign could be the sideline blowup between Jared Odrick and coach Joe Philbin during the fourth quarter of the Ravens loss. Some are already calling for Philbin’s head in South Beach and a loss to the Patriots on Sunday won’t bode well for his team that was thought to be ready to push New England in the division.
The Dolphins Rush Defense Has Been Getting Gashed: The past three weeks (2 losses and one close win) the Miami defense has given up a startling 661 yards on the ground. The Broncos ran the ball 35 times for 201 yards, the Jets then ran for 277 yards last week before Baltimore added another 183 on Sunday.
If opponents are consistently grinding up yards on the ground, it makes life difficult for the pass rushers that the Dolphins have. They have to respect the run and can’t pin their ears back. It also makes the linebackers susceptible to play action passing, something that Brady and the Patriots offense thrive in.
This will be a big area to monitor this week, if the Dolphins are able to slow down the running game, it will free up the likes of Odrick and Cameron Wake to tee off. We saw how effectively they can be in the second half of Week 1.
The Delmas Injury, Latest in Hits to the Dolphins: The Miami defense suffered a big blow on Sunday when Safety Louis Delmas suffered a torn ACL and was lost for the season. Delmas is the latest of a series of injuries for the Dolphins in 2014. He was an emotional fiery leader of the secondary and was always flying around the field making plays.
With CBs Courtland Finnegan and Jamar Taylor banged up as well as LBs Jonathan Freeny, Chris McCain, Jelani Jenkins and Koa Misi all hobbled to some extent the team signed former Eagle LBer Jake Knott to the active roster. He played the past two years in Philly.
With both starting tackles from Week 1 out due to injury, the Fins played Dallas Thomas at right tackle against Baltimore. Thomas had a rough go of it, allowing four of the Ravens six sacks on the day. Will they stick with him or make another move to veteran Jason Fox this week?
Tannehill Hearing the Boo Birds: We wrote here in the build-up to Week 1, that Tannehill will ultimately decide how far Miami goes. The team surrounded him with weapons, improved a ghastly offensive line and had the pieces in the running game to make them a well balanced attack. He then had a five week stretch where he was completing 70 percent of his passes…..oh how fickle the NFL fan bases are.
Now after dropping two of three and falling down to ninth in the AFC, much of Miami fans’ and media collective chagrin is being tossed in Tannehill’s direction. Despite on pace for career highs in completion percentage (66.5%), Quarterback rating (92.4) and touchdown passes (26) as well as rushing yardage (365), he’s being questioned as a legitimate leader for the offense.
Never mind that injuries have ravaged the roster and his protection in the pocket has not been up to par. Or that the work ethic for WR Mike Wallace has again been called into question. One has to wonder how this affects his psyche going forward.
We saw a similar situation unfold here early in the season and how Tom Brady and the team around him reacted to it. Not to say that Tannehill is on equal footing with Brady…he’s not. But with another December starting to slip away, as the leader it will be up to him to show the way. And on a cold December afternoon in Foxboro, it won’t be an easy challenge. Will the rest of the team follow or will this be another disappointing finish for Miami?
Playoff Hopes Hang On Running the Table: The Dolphins lost a prime opportunity to secure a playoff spot in their loss to the Ravens on Sunday. They’re not out, they are still mathematically very much alive but 9-7 undoubtedly won’t cut it. They will have to run the table and take their chances at 10-6.
The first step will be defeating the Patriots on the road and then they go back home for games against Minnesota and the Jets. But to do so, they’ll have to find that extra something that Coach Joe Philbin will have to install inside the team to win out. It is that extra gear that Bill Belichick has always put in the Patriots that make them a perennial 10+ win team.
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