Dolphins Dominating Patriots at Halftime

The Patriots' offense has struggled to find a rhythm in the early going.

Patriots (0)

PASSING: Mac Jones (9-of-12, 87 yards, 1 INT)
RUSHING: Rhamondre Stevenson (5 carries, 25 yards)
RECEIVING: Jakobi Meyers (2 rec., 36 yards)

Dolphins (17)

PASSING: Tua Tagovailoa (13-of-18, 179 yards, 1 TD)
RUSHING: Chase Edmonds (6 carries, 11 yards)
RECEIVING: Tyreek Hill (6 rec., 77 yards)

Patriot Gains

The Patriots' offensive success has come on the ground in the early going, and Stevenson has been the primary beneficiary but Harris has provided solid depth as well. Utilizing their talents might be crucial if the Patriots want to chip at Miami's lead. Other New England bright spots included the pass rush: Matthew Judon had a sack and two further quarterback hits while Kyle Duggar and Adrian Phillips eached picked up a tackle for a loss. 

Mac Gets Smacked

Jones certainly isn't going to gain himself any new fans with his first half. It's somewhat fair to absolve him from the sack-turned-fumble-turned-touchdown ... that's more on allowing Brandon Jones access to Jones' blindside with nary a fight. But the apparent plan to have Jones take deeper chances downfield has backfired in the early going, his first attempt at attacking the potential-packed but inexperienced Dolphins' deep secondary turned into a game-changing interception for Jevon Holland. A big 27-yard grab for Jakobi Meyers helped Jones somewhat salvage his statline, but the best idea may be to attack Miami's linebacker corps, continuing the dink-and-dunk process that yielded freshman, wild card success. 

Miami Heat

Could the New England's gambit of getting the team to South Beach early be the one thing that's keeping this one relatively close? The time of possession battle is hardly one-sided (New England was in fact winning prior to Miami's final possession) but the Dolphins'  early ability to embark upon long, winding drives can hardly be beneficial to a visiting defense working through just its fourth game where kickoff temperature reaches 90 degrees. Since Miami's last line of defense has read Jones and the deep game well, the Patriots would be wise to turn the offensive reigns over to Harris and Stevenson and wear the Dolphins' front seven down. 

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags