Before the New England Patriots take on the Miami Dolphins in Week 2 of the season, here are three players that must shine during the game.
After putting on a dominant performance to open up the 2019 NFL regular season, the New England Patriots will hit the road in Week 2 while looking to take down an AFC East opponent. New England will take on its first road game of the year on Sunday afternoon in Miami, traveling to face off against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The Patriots come into the game as heavy favorites over the struggling Dolphins, favored to win the game by 18.5 points, which is the most of any games around the league in Week 2.
New England, which finished the 2018 season atop the AFC East division and eventually went on to be crowned Super Bowl champions once again during the postseason, is coming off of a solid 33-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first week of the season last Sunday in Foxborough.
In the game, the Patriots controlled the contest against one of their largest rivals from the opening kickoff. With the exception of a field goal in the third quarter from Pittsburgh, New England nearly played a perfect game to nearly shutout the Steelers at home to begin the year.
The Patriots defense looked stellar against and always tough Steelers offense, while New England’s high-powered offense on the other end didn’t look to have skipped a beat following a Super Bowl victory a season ago.
Miami, which ended the 2018 campaign with a record of 7-9 overall to finish in second place behind New England in the division, will come into the game at 0-1 on the year after being blown out by the Baltimore Ravens 59-10 at home in Week 1 last Sunday.
The Dolphins didn’t look good at all in the loss, not really being able to get into any sort of rhythm on offense in both the running and passing game. That will have to change drastically if they want to have a chance to upset the Patriots this week.
New England will head into the game as heavy favorites, and for good reason. With the mess on the other side of the field, it will likely be able to walk into Miami and take this game easily to improve to 2-0 overall.
Before the contest gets underway at Hard Rock Stadium, let’s take a look at three Patriots players that must shine in the game in order for New England to hit the road and open the year up with its second straight win on Sunday.