New England Patriots: 3 Studs and duds in Week 1 vs. Dolphins
Stud: Balanced rushing attack
Led by the efforts of quarterback Cam Newton, the Patriots once again displayed their ability to have multiple different players hurt opposing defenses on the ground.
Outside of Newton’s 75 rushing yards and two touchdowns, New England was led by Sony Michel with 10 carries, 37 yards and one touchdown. Following Michel, four other Patriots rushers finished with more than 20 yards on the ground to combine for a total of 217 yards as a team.
In past years, we’ve seen the Patriots’ ability to spread out the wealth in the ground game. That was certainly the case once again in Week 1 on Sunday.
Dud: Giving up a rushing touchdown
Since not much went wrong for the Patriots on Sunday, giving up a rushing touchdown on the ground is probably the weakest of duds on this list. For a majority of the game, New England’s defense looked pretty strong to start another year, but it did manage to give up one touchdown in the game on the ground.
Predictions for every major NFL award in 2020. dark. Next
In the second half, Miami’s Jordan Howard ran for a touchdown to put the Dolphins in the endzone for the first time this season.
Outside of that score and a field goal, not much else went wrong on the side of the Patriots in the season opener at home. That’s a great sign for a team that had some questions going into the 2020 season.