New England Patriots (0-1) @ Miami Dolphins (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
I think it’s fair to say that this matchup between the 0-1 New England Patriots and the 0-1 Miami Dolphins is a matchup between two of the most disappointing teams of Week 1 this season.
Let’s start with the Patriots, who faltered at home under new head coach Mike Vrabel. To be fair, the Pats didn’t have their best defensive player (Christian Gonzalez) and were picked apart through the air by Geno Smith and the Raiders. Whenever Gonzalez is back in the mix, that changes a lot for New England’s defense.
However, even the announcers of the game were bringing up “accuracy issues” for quarterback Drake Maye, which is the opposite of what anyone thought would happen or wanted to hear in Week 1. Maye was not good for the Patriots, although he should be afforded plenty of patience as he’s only in his first full season as the starter there.
He’s going to have to be better going forward and so is Josh McDaniels, who is back calling plays for the Patriots.
Speaking of needing to be better going forward, how about the disastrous Week 1 performance by Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins? They were absolutely wrecked by the Indianapolis Colts and Tagovailoa turned the ball over three times in the process. That’s not going to fly going forward, and you can really sense the tension between players on this team is about to boil over.
Is Mike McDaniel going to be able to get a hold on things before it’s too late? The Dolphins are just 1.5-point home favorites, making it clear that Vegas doesn’t know what to make of this one. I’ll take the Dolphins in an early coin flip to be the ones to bounce back.
Prediction: Dolphins win 19-16