GAME FACTS
Date: Monday, Oct. 4
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
Site: Sun Life Stadium
TV: ESPN
THE SERIES
SERIES RECORD: Miami leads 50-39 (including playoffs)
AT MIAMI: Dolphins lead 33-11
AT NEW ENGLAND: Patriots lead 27-17
AT TAMPA: Patriots lead 1-0
LAST MEETING: 2009 at Miami; Dolphins 22, Patriots 21
SERIES TREND: The Patriots have dominated the AFC East over the last 10 years and they’ve also had great success against their division rivals. But the Dolphins have played them tougher than the Jets or Bills. The Dolphins and Patriots have split five of the last six season series, the only exception coming in 2007 when New England went 16-0 during the regular season.
SERIES HIGHLIGHT: Since this is a Monday night game in Miami, we’ll go back six years to another prime-time matchup. It was the Dec. 20, 2004 game between a New England team that would go on to its second consecutive Super Bowl title and a Miami team suffering through a forgettable season. On this night, though, the Dolphins found some magic wearing their orange jerseys. Miami scored twice in the final three minutes and came up with two late interceptions to stun the Patriots that night, 29-28.
SCOUTING REPORT
NEW ENGLAND’S RECORD: 2-1
LAST GAME: Won 38-30 vs. Buffalo
OVERVIEW: It’s the Jets who have gotten most of the attention around the AFC East, but the Patriots appear just as dangerous as ever. New England has won seven division titles over the last nine years, and the two times the Patriots didn’t, they tied for first but lost out in a tiebreaker. So count on them being in the heat of the division battle all season.
THE PATRIOTS OFFENSE: It might not be quite up to par with the record-setting 2007 edition, but the Patriots still look explosive on offense. They racked up 38 points in both of their home games, against Cincinnati and Buffalo, although they did struggle on the road against the Jets. The New England offense again relies on the passing of Tom Brady, who is fresh off a new four-year contract extension and is throwing the ball as well as ever. Brady has perhaps the best starting wide receiver tandem in the league in Randy Moss and former Dolphin Wes Welker, and to complement them the Patriots picked up two of the best three tight ends in this year’s draft — Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. New England usually uses the running game to set up the pass, but the Patriots are coming off a 200-yard effort against Buffalo. The Patriots lost the versatile Kevin Faulk to a torn ACL in their Week 2 loss to the Jets but still have a lot of capable running backs with Fred Taylor, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and former Dolphin Sammy Morris. The offensive line is missing Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins, who is involved in a contract dispute, but it’s still a solid group.
THE PATRIOTS DEFENSE: While the New England offense has featured the same nucleus for the last several years, the same can’t be said for the defense. Instead, this is a unit that is going through a rebuilding phase. The Patriots have focused their draft efforts on defense in recent years and it might pay off down the line, but for now there is an awful lot of inexperience and the growing pains that go with it. In last Sunday’s game against Buffalo, six of the 11 starters on defense were either rookies or second-year players. New England once had perhaps the best 3-4 defensive line in the business with Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren, but Seymour is now in Oakland and Warren is on injured reserve. Former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Jerod Mayo is the Patriots’ best linebacker. The secondary is loaded with high draft picks, with former No. 1 pick Devin McCourty and former No. 2 pick Darius Butler at cornerback, and former No. 1 pick Brandon Meriweather and former No. 2 pick Patrick Chung at safety.
THE PATRIOTS SPECIAL TEAMS: The Patriots are explosive enough on offense, but now they have a weapon on kickoff returns in Brandon Tate — he returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the opener. In addition to what he did for their offense, Faulk also returned punts for the Pats and they have replaced him with Julian Edelman and Terrence Wheatley. New England spent a draft pick on punter Zoltan Mesko this year, and he looks like a good one. Stephen Gostkowski has been a very good kicker since coming in as a fourth-round pick, but he’s not off to a great start in 2010.
