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Patriots Week 1 Kickoff: Miami Dolphins

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Last Meeting(s): The Patriots and Dolphins had two closely-fought battles last season. In the first meeting in Week 8, the Dolphins raced out to a 17-3 halftime lead in Foxboro. The Patriots clawed their way back in to take a 27-17. The Dolphins had a comeback of their own in Week 15, intercepting Tom Brady in the end zone to preserve a 24-20 win.

Early Outlook: Between the heat in Miami, the usual closeness of Week 1 divisional games, and the history of close games last season between these two teams, it’s hard to think this game won’t go down to the very end.

Notes:

Miami is looking to push the pace on offense, something the Patriots defense should be well-versed in after facing their own offense and the Eagles’ this preseason.

The strength of the Dolphins pass rush is on the edges with Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon, and that matches up well with the Patriots’ strength at tackle. The interior of the Pats offensive line won’t get that stiff of an opening test.

Miami’s feisty cornerbacks Cortland Finnegan and Brent Grimes could be targets to attack with bigger receivers like Dobson, LaFell and Wright.

The Dolphins’ linebackers move well and should be a good matchup for Rob Gronkowski, assuming he plays as BB threw some cold water on that this morning. Getting those LBs matched up on Shane Vereen, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola will be a goal.

Miami’s receivers should put the Pats’ talented secondary to the test immediately. Mike Wallace, Brandon Gibson and Brian Hartline might get the man-on-man matchup throughout the game. Revis-on-Hartline, with Dennard-on-Wallace with McCourty help over top and Arrington-on-Gibson makes sense.

Rookie Ja’Juan James will start at right tackle for the Phins, expect him to get a rotating combination of pass rushers from Chandler Jones to Rob Ninkovich and perhaps even Dominique Easley. This will include the interior of Miami’s line as well. If there’s a recurring theme of Dolphins losses, it’s Tannehill taking a lot of sacks.

Charles Clay is a Patriots-esque weapon and I expect to see plenty of Jamie Collins in coverage on him. 

My five points of emphasis will be coming Friday and we’ll have more links to matchup articles throughout the week as other good takes pop up. 

Do you think this is one of the more versatile teams belichick has had, how do you think he will use it offensively and defensively

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I’m going to say this is the most versatile team Belichick has ever fielded, and the high-end talent is close to the high-end talent of the 2000s team. Like all teams they still have some questions at certain positions and a couple injuries in the wrong spots could seriously derail their chances, but overall it looks like this Patriots team can play any kind of game they need to.

Offensively, I’ve heard that the Patriots believe they’ll be unstoppable if Gronk and Dobson are on the field at the same time. Maybe that’s a bit of stretch, but it appears they can attack all parts of the field and have size/speed at every position.

What they lose a bit with the lack of a power running back they’ll make up for with Shane Vereen and James White in the passing game. Put those two on the field at the same time and see how defenses scramble.

Defensively it’s the best group of DBs they’ve probably ever had. There’s so much depth and versatility it’s hard to predict who will be where. Those DBs will only help the pass rush but Chandler Jones and Dominique Easley could be two huge pieces of the Super Bowl puzzle. These are pass rushers who will have to be schemed for, not something Patriots are used to having in recent years.

I’m so excited to see how Belichick puts it all together on the field because there’s really nothing they can’t do and it will likely be totally different from week-to-week.