Storyline: The Patriots welcome Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins to Gillette Stadium this afternoon for the 2016 home opener. The Patriots pulled off a minor upset last Sunday night by beating the Cardinals in Arizona.
The Dolphins almost pulled off an even bigger upset in Seattle but lost when Doug Baldwin scored the game winning touchdown for the Seahawks with under a minute left.
Here are my five keys to today’s game.
1. Pass Protection: The offensive line played great last week against Arizona’s blitz happy front seven. Miami won’t blitz as much but they’ll get great base pressure from their defensive line. The Patriots will have to win one on one battles along the defensive line and give Jimmy G time to attack a suspect Miami secondary.
2. Stay Balanced Offensively: The Patriots threw the ball 33 times last week and ran it 31 times. That’s about as balanced as an NFL team can be. I would like to see them maintain a similar balance this week. I know Josh McDaniels like being game plan specific, but why not take a similar approach this week? It makes sense and it keeps defenses off balance.
3. Rattle Tannehill: The Patriots need to get Ryan Tannehill off of his spot and the best way to do it is to pressure him from the outside and make him stay in the pocket. Tannehill is athletic and he can throw on the run. If he breaks contain, he’s dangerous. By bringing outside pressure, the Patriots can keep him in the pocket.
4. Martellus Bennett Must Be a Factor: With Gronk out again this week, the Patriots need to get more out of Martellus Bennett. He only caught 3 passes for 14 yards last week.
The Patriots didn’t just acquire Bennett to be Gronk’s running mate. They acquired him to provide insurance in case Gronk is out. He is once again today so Bennett needs to play like the number one tight end he is.
5. Replacing Hightower: When you lose your middle linebacker to injury, it can have a devastating affect on your defense. Hightower is the most important defensive player the Patriots have for several reasons. One, he’s a three down player but more important, he makes all the checks. That’s a tough to void to fill.
The Patriots could move Jaime Collins to the middle and start Kiki Mingo outside. They could also start rookie Elandon Roberts in place of Hightower. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle this situation.
Prediction: Patriots 27 Dolphins 14: I tweaked the score from my previous prediction but I think Jimmy G and the O will play well today and the defense will stymie Tannehill and company.