It didn’t take long for the season-opening excitement to come crashing to a halt for the New England Patriots, following the team’s 20-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
It was like a worst nightmare realized for a team that struggled throughout the preseason and training camp.
The offense sputtered on the road against a Dolphins team that looked superior on both sides of the ball. It’s a team that could potentially surpass the Patriots this season in the divisional hunt in the AFC East.
The boo birds are already out in full force on social media after the loss, and it’s likely to continue throughout the week as the team shifts focus to Pittsburgh.
Here are four takeaways from their Week 1 loss.
Too much hot potato with the football
One of the biggest reasons for the Patriots’ success over the years is the fact that they were rarely the team that made the boneheaded mistakes that cost them games.
But that was clearly their identity against the Dolphins on Sunday.
The first turnover was an interception thrown by quarterback Mac Jones on an intended touchdown pass to wideout DeVante Parker. Dolphins defensive back Xavien Howard made an acrobatic play to pop the ball up for an easy interception on the very first drive of the game.
Personally, I don’t put that play on Jones considering Howard was clearly holding Parker’s jersey (wouldn’t be the only time, either) on that particular route.
The second and worst of the day was a strip sack fumble that was scooped up and taken into the end zone for six points by linebacker Melvin Ingram.
Let's gooo @BlessedJones33 and @MelvinIngram‼️
📺: Watch #NEvsMIA on @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/HMPWFSFpeW
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) September 11, 2022
And then Nelson Agholor coughed up a fumble late in the fourth quarter that essentially iced the game for the Patriots. Good luck winning any game, much less a road game against a division rival, when turning the ball over three times.
Mac Jones dealing with a back injury
Not only did the Patriots lose the game, but they might have potentially lost their quarterback. Jones didn’t appear to answer questions for reporters after the game due to a back injury.
The good news for the Patriots is the initial x-rays for the injury came back negative, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
But it’s still a concern as the team heads back to Foxborough and prepares for the Pittsburgh Steelers in another tough road matchup. If Jones can’t go, the Patriots would have to turn to veteran backup quarterback Brian Hoyer and rookie Bailey Zappe to step up on offense.
Defense showed promise
It wasn’t all bad on Sunday.
Kyle Dugger might have been the best player on the field during the game with some of the ridiculous plays he continued to make for the team. There aren’t many defensive players capable of tackling Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill in one-on-one situations, but Dugger managed to do it on multiple occasions.
Along with Dugger, Matthew Judon continued to be a disrupting force along the defensive front with one sack and four quarterback hits.
First celly of the season. #BudLightCelly | @budlight pic.twitter.com/g5suQRmONC
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 11, 2022
Granted, there were some blown coverages, and the team still struggled to stop the short passes over the middle of the field to running backs. There was hope that some of the extra speed on the field from the Patriots would help negate many of those plays, but it still remained a trouble spot for the team.
Not enough explosive plays
Outside of a deep throw to wideout Kendrick Bourne, when he was finally given an opportunity to get on the field, the Patriots looked like they were playing in quicksand on offense.
They couldn’t get anything going consistently against a Dolphins defense that was all over them from start to finish. Everything just looked so hard out there for them at times.
It’s a serious concern because it still remains to be seen if the Dolphins are legitimately one of the elite defensive teams in the league. The Patriots better hope that’s the case because there are some tough teams on their schedule with a more proven defensive pedigree than the opponent they faced on Sunday.
