Facing the Dolphins, the Patriots have a chance to show how much they’ve improved
The Dolphins, with Tyler Huntley at quarterback in Week 5, beat the Patriots, 15-10, in one of New England's sloppiest performances to date.
Welcome to Season 13, Episode 12 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious yet lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup …
This is something worth reiterating now, and hopefully in the weeks to come.
Amid the assorted frustrations of this transitional Patriots season — the talent-thin roster, recurring inconsistent and sometimes contradictory in-game decisions by rookie head coach Jerod Mayo, the close losses that might have been close wins if not for some of those decisions — the most important development, by far, has been a breathtakingly positive one.
Without an inkling of a shred of a hint of a doubt, the Patriots have their quarterback.
No, Drake Maye has not been flawless in his six starts. The Patriots still have some matters to solve in the red zone. Two of the last three games have effectively ended on interceptions. But to complain about anything regarding the strong-armed, mobile, and preternaturally poised 22-year-old quarterback’s performance so far would be nothing more than misguided nitpicking.
In his six starts, Maye has done something that many accomplished veteran quarterbacks struggle to do: elevate a mediocre-or-worse roster around them. I am on record multiple times as being wary of the decision to turn to him starting in Week 6 against the Texans, because it felt like a no-win, no-hope situation for a presumably raw rookie.
I was wrong about that — almost as wrong as those of you who wanted the Patriots to trade out of the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, or take another player such as Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. in that spot.
Behind the Patriots’ Offensive Line of Misfit Toys, Maye’s running ability — he’s averaging 9.6 yards per carry on 28 attempts — has mitigated some of the blocking issues that doomed his sitting-duck predecessor, Jacoby Brissett.
His ability to make — jargon alert — “off-platform throws” has added a bit more of a freewheeling aspect to the offense. And it’s a huge tribute to Maye’s talent and work ethic that he has improved on so many of his alleged weaknesses — footwork, inexperience playing under center — in such a short time while surrounded by subpar talent.
Yahoo!’s Nate Tice, one of the more insightful NFL analysts around, recently compared Maye’s skill set and ability to boost those around him to John Elway’s. If you haven’t seen Maye play, that will sound absurd, considering Elway is on the short list of the most purely talented quarterbacks ever to sling it. If you’ve seen Maye play, well, it’s still an extremely heady comparison. But the Elway-like flashes … it’s crazy, but they really are obvious.
You know what else is obvious? Mayo has had a longer learning curve than Maye this season. The game speeds up on the coach sometimes. The Patriots could have, what, three more wins with better coaching decisions in the heat of the moment here or there? It’s easy to lament potential victories that got away, including last Sunday’s loss to the Rams.
But Mayo — and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt in particular — deserve some credit for navigating Maye’s rookie season in a way that has allowed him to thrive when they determined he was ready to start. They have played this, the most important thing, right.
So count me among those who believe Van Pelt should remain in the offensive coordinator role beyond this season. Continuity matters for a young quarterback. There’s a guy clinging to his career in Jacksonville who can confirm that.
This week’s matchup with the Dolphins has a chance to be a confirmation that Van Pelt, like his quarterback, has improved as the season has played on.
The Dolphins, with Tyler Huntley at quarterback in Week 5, beat the Patriots, 15-10. It was a staggeringly sloppy performance by the Patriots — at one point in the game, the Patriots had more penalty yards than passing yards, 89-70 — and it was not Van Pelt’s finest hour, either. Brissett threw 34 passes that day against 19 runs, despite Patriots backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson combining for 141 rushing yards on 18 carries.
Maye is coming off his best game so far, having completed 29 of 39 passes for 282 yards, 2 touchdowns, and an interception in last Sunday’s loss to the Rams. But this is also a different Dolphins offense than the hapless one the Patriots faced in Week 5, for an obvious reason: quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is back, having started the last four games after missing the previous four with a concussion.
In the four games he missed, the Dolphins averaged 10 points per game. Since he returned in Week 8 against the Cardinals, they are averaging 28.8 points per game, with running back De’Von Achane and receiver Tyreek Hill among those rejuvenated by his return.
The quarterback matchup alone should make this a far more entertaining game than the teams’ first meeting this season.
Kick it off, Slye, and let’s get this thing started …
Three players worth wtaching other than the quarterbacks
Christian Gonzalez: Gotta give the Patriots’ excellent second-year cornerback credit. He had that boundary locked down during that ridiculous defensive scheme versus the Rams.
Unfortunately, Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington’s bizarre strategy of throwing dare-you-to-beat-us game plan veteran Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford backfired — Stafford happily accepted the dare and beat ‘em, throwing for 295 yards and four touchdowns on just 27 attempts — relegated the Patriots’ best defensive back to a bystander while Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua shredded the rest of the defense.
That cannot happen today against Tagovailoa and a Dolphins receiving corps that includes Hill (44 catches, 523 yards, 3 TDs, including two in the past two weeks), the talented but underachieving Jaylen Waddle (33-404-1), and tight end and ex-Patriot Jonnu Smith (who has mostly outperformed Waddle with a 39-448-3 stat line).
Gonzalez — who has two career interceptions, both against the Dolphins — has done a fine job defending Hill in the past. He should be matched up on him this week, presuming Covington has learned from wildly misusing him last week.
Hunter Henry: The Dolphins don’t have much of a pass rush, with just 17 sacks all season. Yet led by crafty veteran cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who is in the Ty Law-on-the-Jets phase of his career, they do feature the league’s 10th-rated pass defense (199 yards per game).
But there might be a weakness the Patriots can exploit. The Dolphins had no solution for Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers (13 catches on 16 targets, 126 yards last week), and one of the positive developments during Maye’s ascent is the connection he has built with tight ends Hunter Henry and, to a lesser degree, Austin Hooper.
Henry has 46 catches for 491 yards — both team-highs — and a touchdown this season. Thirty of those catches, 311 yards, and the touchdown have come since Maye became the starter. Given the Patriots’ struggles in the red zone, that should be one area where Henry — who had six receiving touchdowns last season and nine in 2021 — could be relied upon even more.
De’Von Achane: For all of the talk about Maye and Tagovailoa, the outcome will probably depend on which team runs the ball better. That bodes better for the Dolphins. Achane has an argument as the most dynamic weapon in this game, Hill included, and the Patriots allowed the Rams’ Kyren Williams to rush for 86 yards on just 15 attempts last Sunday. Achane has touchdowns in two of the last three weeks, and has run for 530 yards and three TDs while adding 46 catches for 349 yards and another three scores in the passing game.
The flashback
With runaway bus Josh Allen and the Bills handing the Chiefs their first loss in perhaps the best game of the NFL season last Sunday, the 1972 Miami Dolphins are assured of remaining the only unbeaten team in league history.
(For what it’s worth, time will remember the 2007 Patriots, of the 17-0 regular season and agonizing Super Bowl loss to the Giants, as one of the best teams of all-time, championship or not. But that time might not be here quite yet for some of us.)
The ’72 Dolphins went 17-0, including a 14-7 victory over Washington in Super Bowl VII. That’s the game when Miami kicker Garo Yepremian, after a botched snap, famously threw the ball like his limbs were conspiring against him, leading to a pick-six for Washington’s Mike Bass.
Those Dolphins get a lot of grief for having a less-than-difficult schedule, and for being relentlessly obnoxious about their achievement in the 52 years since. But they really did dominate, leading the NFL in points (27.5 per game) and scoring defense (just 12.2 points allowed per game).
Their most lopsided victory that season came against the Patriots, a 52-0 clobbering in Week 9. Mercury Morris ran for three touchdowns, Marlin Briscoe caught two TDs, and someone named Jim Del Gaizo threw a pair of garbage-time touchdown passes in relief of starting quarterback Earl Morrall, who himself was filling in for injured Bob Griese.
The Dolphins defense held Patriots quarterback Jim Plunkett to just 66 yards on 7 of 19 passing, while sacking him four times. Backup Brian Dowling — former Ch. 5 sports reporter Mike Dowling’s brother and the inspiration for the B.D. character in the comic strip “Doonesbury” — was 4 of 9 for 51 yards in relief of poor Plunkett.
Three weeks later, the Dolphins improved to 12-0 with a 37-21 win in Foxborough in which they piled up 501 total yards. The Patriots finished that season 3-11.
Grievance of the week
Yep, it’s a little bit weird that Van Pelt didn’t know that super-athletic cornerback Marcus Jones had contributed to the offense two years ago, albeit for just 19 snaps, until the player texted him about his willingness to contribute. Weirder still? That Mayo — who of course was on the staff two years ago — didn’t clue in Van Pelt at some point about the potential for Jones to help out on offense as a true all-three-phases player. The attention to detail, or lack of it, is puzzling.
Prediction, or BU’s Jim Jensen should have been a Patriot …
Maye will have the first 300-yard passing game of his career, but it won’t quite be enough as Tagovailoa improves to 7-0 in his career against the Patriots. Call it another loss to feel OK about. Dolphins 24, Patriots 20.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com