Patriots (1): “The 6-0 Patriots have dropped back to pass on 70 percent of their snaps this season”.
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Lamar Miller ran for 131 yards and no TDs in the first four games but 288 with two scores in the last two. The Patriots have a bye next week so the rest of the league can breathe a sigh of relief. And now Brandon LaFell, albeit showing signs of rustiness last week, is back to bolster Brady’s options. Julian Edelman contributed 54 yards in five catches. “He never goes down with one guy”. Dion Lewis, who missed Sunday is reportedly going to play in Thursday night’s tilt as well. The Pats have just 502 rushing yards in 6 games with no single back having more than 250. The Patriots run defense was starting to become somewhat of a concern, so it was good to see them clear up that area of the game.
Defensively, the Patriots are a “bend, but don’t break” squad. The Jets may not be taking the AFC East, but their consistent play and dominant defense has made them a top wildcard contender in the AFC.
The Pittsburgh Steelers do not play the Miami Dolphins this year, but the post-season picture will likely involve the Patriots and the Dolphins. Only once did that traveling team prevail, and that occurred 46 years ago when San Diego’s Charlie Waller, in his third game as boss after Sid Gillman resigned, directed the Chargers to a 21-17 victory over the Houston Oilers in the old AFL. If this continues, they might actually construct the statue of coach Dan Campbell outside of the stadium that they’ve been talking about. In the teams’ six meetings in New England since then, the Pats have outscored the Dolphins by 110 points, 188-78, with an 11-4 advantage in takeaways.
While Campbell is 2-0, New England’s Bill Belichick is 217-109 with four Super Bowl titles.
The longest Dolphins’ win streak is nine games from September 1989 to November 1993.
The Dolphins are now on a three game road trip. He will be counted on big time in this one to help control the clock and keep a high time of possession.
In all of those games, whether it was Tannehill, Ryan Fitzpatrick or Tyrod Taylor, the quarterbacks challenging him made the crucial early mistakes from which they couldn’t recover.
The Miami Dolphins will finish an ugly game in Foxboro without defensive end Cameron Wake who left the game with an Achilles injury. It’s an intriguing contest for the Thursday Night Football game of the week, and here’s a look at the Dolphins vs. Patriots and what you can expect.
Rookie guard Shaq Mason (knee) and tackle Marcus Cannon (toe) were also inactive on Sunday, so the Patriots ended up playing that game with only six offensive linemen and a total of 18 offensive players.
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Defensive end Trey Flowers (knee/shoulder), linebacker Dont’a Hightower (ribs) and guard Josh Kline (shoulder) all had limited participation in practice this week, but they are all fully participating in practice this week despite the quick turnaround to a Thursday game.
