Opponent Breakdown: New England Patriots

An insider's look at the Miami Dolphins' upcoming opponent.

Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill (10) scores a touchdown during the first half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium last season. / Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins will look to bounce back and end their three-game slide when they face the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.

Boston Globe reporter Ben Volin joined the All Dolphins Podcast this week to discuss everything related to the Patriots, who are 1-3 and in complete rebuilding mode, and the matchup.

Here are excerpts from that interview. The full interview can be found below.

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STATE OF THE PATRIOTS

Different feel for you after covering championship contenders year after year under Bill Belichick to now covering a team that will be in contention for the number one overall pick?

Volin: Yeah, it's rock bottom for the Patriots right now, and you know, I guess it could be worse. I guess they could be 0-4, but they did get a surprise win against the Bengals in week one, where, at the end of the season, the Bengals are really going to be kicking themselves for that. That's a loss, a conference loss, that's really going to cost them either a playoff spot or playoff seating. But so the Patriots, maybe that week one win, maybe set expectations a little high because since then, it's been pretty disastrous. Three straight losses, the last two have been blowouts. They've got nothing on offense. Jacoby Brissett has no one to throw to. Brissett himself is not the most dynamic quarterback. The offensive line is in tatters right now, and this team is just a mess. I think everyone knew it was going to be this bad going into the season, so this isn't a surprise. And I'm trying to not hammer the Patriots too hard.

Really, the goal of this season is to see how they can improve throughout the year. I don't think anyone expected them to have a good won-loss record. It's just that are they, you know, who are excelling in December and playing their best football when it matters the most? Are they building towards something, developing a few players? I'll tell you what: the first September, they couldn't have set their baseline any lower. The team is just a mess right now, so they have nowhere to go but up. But yeah, definitely, you know, a team that was on top for so long is now at the bottom of the NFL.

This might not be fair, but early on, what's your take on Jerod Mayo and his future as a head coach?

Volin: Yeah, it's early. So, like I said with the Patriots, you want to see how they do as the season wears on. I want to let Jerod go through November and December before judging him. That said, it hasn't been a great start. Week one was awesome. They were feeling their oats. They were pounding their chest after week one, but reality has set in, and you know a lot of it is just talent. They just don't have much talent on the team. Bill Belichick left them a pretty barren roster, especially on offense, and you know they got Drake with the number three pick; they got Jalen Polk, a wide receiver, in the second round. We'll see if those guys pan out, but otherwise they still are lacking talent when compared to other NFL teams. So it's not all Mayo's fault, but haven't been overly impressed with the game management, which is such a big part of which is why the head coaches make as much money as they do. The guy loves punting on fourth-and-short, which is very disappointing. This is a team that's going nowhere. You're underdogs, like take some risks and set the standard like Dan Campbell did in Detroit.  Show some confidence in your guys. Instead, he's coaching a little scared, and I think the team plays that way. So, not off to a great start for Jerod Mayo. I like the fact that he's transparent. They don't make a murder mystery out of every little thing. I appreciate that.

Teams can turn things around quickly in the NFL these days, but are the Patriots as talent-deficient as it appears from the outside? It may be a couple of years before they can be competitive again.

Volin: Yeah, next year, maybe they can creep up to .500 if they have a really good offseason. They had three glaring holes entering this season, and they're pretty much the three biggest ones you can have. It's the franchise quarterback, number one receiver, and starting left tackle. They drafted Drake Maye, so we'll see if he's the answer. They drafted this kid, Jalen Polk, in the second round. I don't think it's fair to expect him to be a number-one receiver right away, and they definitely don't have a left tackle in the future. So next year, they got to get Drake, a receiver, whether it's going out and getting one in free agency or what I would do is take a top-five pick, get Justin Hunter from Colorado, get a stud from college and pair him up with Drake Maye and see if you can find a left tackle in free agency, more of a veteran there, but they've got it they've got to figure out those two positions. Then I think realistically the plan for the Patriots you got to look at the Detroit Lions. I think that's realistic. I think the best-case scenario for the Patriots is in 2026. They'll be ready to go. But they're still at least one more draft, if not two, away from really being able to compete.

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TALKING PATRIOTS PERSONNEL

Why wouldn't you go ahead and play Drake Maye, the third overall pick from North Carolina, and get him game experience? They're not going anywhere anyway, so why not get him there?

It's a great question. And I think it comes down to two things. I think they don't think he's ready yet, and I think they don't think the team around him is ready. If Drake goes out there, he's gonna get killed. I mean, Jacoby Brissett is taking a beating, and he's really taking one for the team right now, and I think he's probably sitting there at night. He's making between $6.5 million and $8 million this year, which is, hey, it's a great living, but I think for the beating he's taking, he's probably sitting there thinking, I'm not getting paid enough for this right now. And it was interesting, two weeks ago, the Patriots played the Jets on a Thursday night, and they put Drake in there for his NFL debut in garbage time. And he played 16 plays and had a couple of nice throws. There was a fourth down play where he stepped up in the pocket and delivered a nice ball over the middle. But he also kind of looked like a chicken with his head cut off, just kind of running around, didn't look fully aware. It took a couple of hits that were like big hits that he didn't really see coming. And so my belief is that the Patriots saw that appearance from Drake and figured he's not quite ready yet because they had garbage time against the 49ers this past week. They didn't put Drake in there. We're all kind of wondering why did you do it this and they didn't really explain themselves. So I think that they feel that Drake is not ready yet, plus the team is such a disaster, he's gonna get hurt, he's gonna get hit and get beat up. And to me, if you're the Patriots, the only thing that matters this year is keeping Drake Maye healthy.

What happened to Jonnu Smith after he signed as a free agent in New England in 2021, which led to his inability to produce?

Volin: Yeah, it's very surprising. He's a ridiculous athlete, and he's so good to run after the catch. And he had some plays when he was with Tennessee that were just mind-blowing for a tight end. And you said it, in New England, he just never clicked. They couldn't find a role for him, or he just couldn't learn the offense, or whatever the issue was, it was really disappointing. Hunter Henry, who they signed, has ended up being a pretty good player for them. But yeah, that 2021 spending spree has definitely kind of spooked the Patriots. They will pick their spots now in free agency, but they do not want to have to be big spenders. But yeah, for two years, he was a big dud in New England, but he's such a sick athlete that I'm surprised that he's not fitting in better in Miami.

We're keeping up with our former Dolphins players. Davon Godchaux, tell me how he's playing and has been with the Patriots since he got there.

Volin: Yeah, he's a guy that Belichick really liked. They signed him in 2021, and then after one year, they redid his contract and gave him a pay raise, and people were like, why? Because you look at his stats, and it's not like he puts up numbers. But Belichick always really liked him as kind of the guy in the middle, that linchpin of the defense. And now that the Patriots are without Christian Barmore all season, their young defensive tackle, who discovered, had a blood clot in preseason, so he's probably out for the year. So Godchaux has really taken on an important role as the only veteran in the middle of the defense. The Patriots also got rid of Lawrence Guy from last year, so they're down some veterans in the middle, and Godchaux has been playing better. He's not a big pass rush guy, he's really just a first and second down guy, a second down guy. Emerging is a more of a leader on the defense, a voice of leadership. He came on the radio. He went on WEEI this week, and called out some guys for being selfish, for kind of playing outside the scheme.

Some thoughts on the Patriots' secondary, which might be the team's best position group?

Volin: The secondary has been very solid. The secondary has played well, and so has Jerod Mayo. This goes back to the guys being selfish and letting the quarterbacks get outside the rush lanes. He was saying we're struggling in third down. It's not because we're not covering. It's because we're letting the quarterbacks get outside and buy all this time.

And as you know, it's hard to cover for six seconds or whatever. So they've been getting picked apart, but I think it's really because they don't have Matthew Judon. They don't really have an edge rusher. They have this kid, Keon White, a second-year player from Georgia Tech, who's been great. I think he has four and a half sacks. They came in the first two games. He's been a very disruptive player, but he's more of a big, physical, overpowering defensive end, a guy who can slide inside on pass-rushing downs. He's not like a quick get-off-the-ball kind of a pass rusher — he kind of wins by overpowering. So the Patriots really don't have anyone who's really going to get to the quarterback consistently. And I think that's why they're struggling in their pass rush so much.

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OUTLOOK AND PREDICTION FOR THE GAME

What's your sense on Sunday? I don't know if you make official predictions for the Boston Globe. Is this a game you think the Patriots could actually win?

Volin: I do think they could win this game. I think this is actually a must-win game for the Patriots, considering where they're at coming off a three-game slide. The Patriots are facing the one team whose offense is worse than theirs. Patriots are 31st in scoring, Dolphins are 32nd. The Dolphins are a bigger mess right now than the Patriots are. You know what they did at backup quarterback is criminal this year to not improve that backup quarterback situation. And it's so bad that they're already starting some guy that wasn't even with them in training camp.  But I still think what they, not having a stronger backup quarterback was a huge, huge mistake by the Dolphins front office. But yeah, they're a mess right now. And if you're the Patriots, if you let that team come into Foxborough and beat you, I mean, you might never win a game again this season. This might be the only other time the Patriots are going to be favored. I think they're favored by one or two points right now. To me, this is a must-win for Jerod Mayo and crew. I think they'll pull it off. I think it's gonna be very ugly. Can I predict like 5-3? Like it's gonna be so bad. It's gonna set football back 40 years. It's gonna be really ugly. And I do think the Patriots will pull it off, but it might be their last win of the season. They're not going to win many games.