Dolphins-Patriots Week 2 Halftime Observations

New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins (13) catches the football for a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins during the first quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

What stood out in the first half of the Miami Dolphins' home opener against the New England Patriots:

We'll start with the list of inactives, where the biggest news was safety Ashtyn Davis NOT being on the list after being listed as questionable with a knee injury. The list included the three players ruled out Friday (TE Darren Waller, DT Benito Jones and CB Storm Duck) along with the two who were listed as doubtful (RB Jaylen Wright and CB Ethan Bonner). Also inactive was WR Tahj Washington, with Quinn Ewers serving as the emergency third quarterback again.

The game marked the NFL debut for rookie seventh-round pick Zeek Biggers, who was inactive for the opener at Indy.

THE FIRST QUARTER

The Dolphins put their defense on the field first after winning the coin toss and deferring, but it was more of the same for a unit that can't get a stop so far this season.

Bradley Chubb had an interesting two-play sequence where he badly whiffed on a third-and-1 run by Rhamondre Stevenson, but then came back to sack Drake Maye after beating Hunter Henry on a play where the coverage held up.

But the coverage completely failed on a 22-yard completion to tight end Austin Hooper, who was left wide open after he snuck out from behind the line of scrimmage after pretending to be blocking and then on the touchdown to Mack Hollins, where he was allowed to make a simple out cut to get wide open.

The Dolphins gave up a fourth-down conversion when Stefon Diggs found a hole in the zone between Jaelan Phillips (again, why is he in coverage?) and Tyrel Dodson.

The second drive wasn't much better for the Dolphins defense, and this time it was the inability to make third-down stops, with New England converting a third-and-4, a third-and-6 and another third-and-6.

Drake Maye, showing the value of a mobile quarterback, hurt the Dolphins with a 13-yard scramble on third-and-6 and a 6-yard scramble on the next play.

Horrible coverage again on the third-and-4 completion to rookie running back TreyVon Henderson out of the backfield and running free down the right sideline. Ugh.

Good coverage by Jack Jones on the touchdown by Kayshon Boutte, but he let Boutte make a play on the ball.

The Dolphins' first drive of the game was uninspiring, to say the least, but it actually could have been worse if not for a penalty on New England for lining up offside negating an interception on an ugly Tua Tagovailoa throw.

Pass protection was a concern heading into this game, but it was just fine on the first third down, but Tua ended up trying to hit De'Von Achane when he was well covered and the pass was broken up.

THE SECOND QUARTER

The Dolphins started burning New England around the perimeter on their second offensive possession, which ended with Tagovailoa's 18-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle.

The Dolphins had runs of 9 yards by Achane, 18 yards by Malik Washington on a reverse and 8 yards by Ollie Gordon II, the last one the only one up the middle.

Guard Kion Smith deserves props for his clearing block on Gordon's run.

The problem with the Dolphins scoring a touchdown was that it put their defense back on the field — yes, that's sarcasm.

The pass coverage again was brutal.

Chop Robinson did get a sack, the second of the game for the Dolphins, but the pressure again is too inconsistent.

And then the Dolphins get burned when they call a blitz, with Maye completing a 15-yard screen pass to Henderson.

The most discouraging play of this drive comes when Jason Marshall Jr. is flagged for illegal contact in the middle of the field on a second-and-25 to give the Patriots a first down. It was reminiscent of the holding penalty on Jack Jones on first-and-30 last week. The Dolphins defense isn't playing nearly well enough to afford those kind of mistakes.

Good call by Mike McDaniel to call a timeout with 2:44 left in the half on a second-and-goal to give the offense the change to get the ball again before halftime.

Kenneth Grant came up with a big play when he got his hands on a pass from Maye on third-and-goal after Chubb got some pressure.

The first play of the Dolphins' two-minute drive was a staple of the offense for a long time, the deep out to Tyreek Hill before the last line of defense, and it was an easy pitch-and-catch for 22 yards.

The Dolphins then use the middle of the field to perfection, capping the touchdown drive with a 29-yard touchdown pass off a short completion to Achane, who easily beat then outran linebacker Robert Spillane to the end zone.

Another mistake on the two-point conversion attempt with Patrick Paul moving early, and McDaniel makes the right call of just kicking the extra point to move the score to 15-14.

After the way the game started, things look much better now, especially with Miami getting the second-half kickoff.