Dolphins-Patriots Week 2 Five Biggest Storylines ... And How They Played Out

The Miami Dolphins suffered a painful loss against the New England Patriots in their home opener

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) is sacked by New England Patriots linebacker Harold Landry III (2) during the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins dropped their home opener against the New England Patriots in a back-and-forth 33-27 loss Sunday.

The Dolphins had won the teams' last four meetings and had a 7-1 record against New England with Tua Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback.

Based on Miami's performance in the 33-8 loss at Indianapolis in the opener, this was not your typical Week 2 matchup.

Before the game, we broke down and analyzed the five biggest storylines, so now it's time to revisit those to see how things played out.

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WILL THE DOLPHINS PASS RUSH SHOW UP?

Before the game: The quartet of Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, Chop Robinson and Matthew Judon is supposed to wreak havoc on opponents and make things easier for the entire Dolphins defense, but the pass rush was just about nonexistent in the opener against the Colts. New England has a promising young quarterback in Drake Maye, and the Dolphins simply must affect him with pressure or it could be another difficult afternoon for the defense.

During the game: The Dolphins did get three sacks against Drake Maye, and two of them came from Robinson and Chubb, so there was an improvement in that sense and with the overall pass rush, which was more noticeable, though it was negated at times by Maye's scrambling ability. The bottom line is there were only three QB hits in this game after only two in the opener, and that's still not good enough.

Miami Dolphins linebackers Bradley Chubb (2), Chop Robinson (44) and Jaelan Phillips (middle) during mandatory minicamp at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

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NEXT MAN UP ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE

Before the game: The depth of the offensive line was a concern for the Dolphins heading into the regular — the media's words, not the team's — and it's going to be tested early against New England. With right guard James Daniels on IR and right tackle Austin Jackson out with a toe injury, it's going to be up to Kion Smith and Larry Borom to protect Tua Tagovailoa's blind side. We'd imagine the Dolphins would find ways to give them some help throughout the game, but they'll still have to perform against a New England defense that produced five sacks in its season-opening loss against the Las Vegas Raiders.

During the game: As one would suspect, there were some plays where the right side of the O-line was exposed, such as when Kion Smith was beaten pretty quickly by Milton Williams for the Patriots' game-clinching sack. Smith also was flagged for a holding penalty earlier in the game. Borom also gave up a sack. But we also should point out the other three offensive linemen — Patrick Paul, Jonah Savaiinaea and Aaron Brewer — all committed penalties and the longest running play of the game (an 18-yarder by Malik Washington on a reverse) came on the right side. Bottom line: Yes, Smith and Borom were liabilities at times, but there was nothing egregious about their performance.

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IS THIS THE WEEK FOR A BIG PLAY ON OFFENSE?

Before the game: This topic has been beaten to death over the past several days, weeks and even months, but it's going to be brought up as long as the Dolphins continue to go without big pass plays on offense. The stat of Tyreek Hill not having a reception longer than 30 yards since the 2024 opener against Jacksonville surfaced this week, but we also should mention that Jaylen Waddle also doesn't have a catch longer than 36 yards in that same time span. The Dolphins are spending way too much money on those two wide receivers for them to be possession receivers, so the time has come to go deep.

During the game: What do you know? Lo and behold, we have a big play in the passing game and the 47-yard completion to Tyreek Hill proved that sometimes the Dolphins should just have Tua Tagovailoa chuck it deep and let his receivers make a play. This was a perfect example, a third-and-13 pass that was badly underthrown but that Hill caught after adjusting to it while the Patriots defender never spotted the ball. This was the perfect time to throw the pass because third-and-13 is a low-percentage conversion situation regardless, an interception is as good as a punt (provided there's no long return) and there are two possible positive outcomes (a reception or a DPI). Even beyond that play, this was a game where Tua threw the ball downfield (15 to 20 yards) a lot more often than we normally last season, so that was a positive sign.

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SCOUTING SCHOOLER

Before the game: Based on what we saw at Indianapolis last week, it's difficult (if not impossible) to envision the Dolphins running away with this game, therefore the margin for error won't be very large. And one thing the Dolphins can't have is a game-changing special teams play. And this is where we bring up New England special teams Brenden Schooler, who blocked a Dolphins field goal in 2023 and then blocked a Dolphins punt last season. This type of thing can't happen in this game.

During the game: Well, Schooler was not a factor for the Patriots, but we certainly called it when writing about the margin for error being small. Schooler actually was on the wrong end of Malik Washington's brilliant punt return for a touchdown when Washington shed his tackle attempt. But, of course, that was followed immediately by Antonio Gibson's game-winning 90-yard kickoff return for a score.

New England Patriots safety Brenden Schooler (41) blocks a punt by Miami Dolphins punter Jake Bailey (16) during the first half at Gillette Stadium last season. | Paul Rutherford-Imagn Images

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WILL TUA BOUNCE BACK?

Before the game: Regardless of how you view Tua Tagovailoa as a quarterback, one thing that's almost undeniable is that he's efficient more often than not. But he was far from that against the Colts in what might have been the worst performance of his career. Like the rest of his team — perhaps more than anybody else on the team — he needs a bounce-back performance and to deliver the kind of efficient quarterbacking he produced for more of last season, even if the deep passing isn't there. The turnovers simply have to be eliminated.

During the game: This might come as a shock to many, but Tua's performance against the Patriots was polarizing. The final numbers will show 315 passing yards and a very good 115.5 passer rating, but it doesn't tell the whole story because Tagovailoa — with "help" from his teammates — came up empty on the final two game-on-the-line drives. And while Tua was at his best in the second and third quarters, he was at his worst in the fourth with his failure to avoid sacks and missing wide open receivers on each of the first final two drives — Julian Hill on the fourth-down interception and Tanner Conner on his scramble out of bounds on third down of the final drive. The bottom line here is the stats were much better than the performance, even though that performance also was much better than those who will focus solely on the final two drives will suggest. So, basically, good but not good enough.