By Kevin Perez

The long-awaited return of Miami Dolphins football finally ended last Sunday when the Dolphins traveled to New England and fell to the Patriots 21-11. Before diving deeper into the loss, the mildest way to put this out for Dolphins fans — is to not overreact. Being the second-youngest team in the league, with 30 new players, following no pre-season and less training camp time due to COVID 19, a week one loss does not signify the end. 

In Sunday’s game, Cam Newton led the Patriots rushing attack with 75 yards and 2 touchdowns. For the Dolphins, Ryan Fitzpatrick went 20/30 for 191 yards but also tallied 3 interceptions. While totaling three turnovers, Miami only lost by 10 and had a couple of chances to win this game. 

Cam Newton rushed the ball 15 times for 75 yards in his first game with the @Patriots

The most carries and rush yards in a game by a Patriots QB in the Belichick era (since 2000)#NEvsMIA

— NFL Research (@NFLPlus) September 13, 2020

The bad side of this game is that both sides of the ball outlined it entirely. On the defensive side, the Dolphins hadn’t been able to stop the run at all against the Patriots. The Patriots ran the ball for 217 total yards and 3 touchdowns, which is concerning given that Josh Allen — who also likes to run the ball, skillfully, a fair amount — is coming to Hard Rock Stadium next week. On the offensive side of the ball, it took awhile for the actual offense to get going. New offensive coordinator Chan Gailey had split both the pass and the run with 30 and 27 plays respectively, but the offense never completely got the ball rolling. Led by Jordan Howard and Matt Breida, the running back room for the Dolphins is great, but the coaching staff needs to find a way to use them better early on. As for the passing game, of course, the injury to wide receiver Devante Parker, which kept him out the whole second half, did not appear to help. Still, the Dolphins wide receivers struggled to create separation from the Patriots’ really good secondary. 

Also, Chan Gailey’s plans never included tight end Mike Gesicki until much later into the game — which is interesting since last season Miami’s offense had rolled when it was targeting their bigger playmakers, like Gesicki. So not being able to stop the run and not getting the ball to your receivers enough does not fasten the chances of beating a team with a running quarterback and a really good secondary on the Pats Defense.

On the bright side of Sunday’s game, the offensive line looked much better than last year in pass blocking, but it’s not the greatest front 7 either. Year second DL Christian Wilkins as well as LB Jerome Baker had a great game, and so did rookie S Brandon Jones. 

Head Coach Brian Flores says Miami needs better play and better coaching on Monday’s news conference. He also named Ryan Fitzpatrick the starter for next Sunday’s game vs the Buffalo Bills. 

The comparison to week 1 in 2019? Not a blowout. Last year, the Dolphins lost to the Ravens 59-10 in their opener; this year, the loss carried on, except they did not get obliterated. This team is a lot better than last year’s team. After going out and spending big money on the defensive side of the ball, as well as improving their O-Line and drafting their future franchise quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa, to which people expect to play at some point this season, this team can only go up from here. Chemistry will resolve, and the results will eventually show it. 

Next Game: Home opener vs Bills, 9/20 1:00 PM EST.