Miami Dolphins win at Patriots, Tua Tagovailoa now 5-0 vs. Bill Belichick’s fading mystique | Opinion
The mystique lingers. It’s OK. The mystique was earned. At New England. Foxborough. Bill Belichick roaming the sideline with that perpetual scowl.
This ruled the NFL for 20 years.
No more.
The latest example of getting used to change was served up by the Miami Dolphins on Sunday night.
Call it a changing of the guard?
I would call it a changing of the quarterback.
Tom Brady is gone from this equation.
Tua Tagovailoa has taken over.
New England and Brady had dominated this AFC East rivalry, winning 10 games in a row in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
No more.
Tagovailoa is now 5-0 vs. Belichick with Sunday night’s convincing 24-17 victory on the national stage, with the rest of the NFL and America watching.
And guess what?
Miami is the best team in the AFC East. Right now, this is the most complete team.
Buffalo has to prove it still is. The Dolphins are for now.
Miami is the only 2-0 team in the division. New England is 0-2 for the first team since 2001.
Said coach Mike McDaniel: “Overall, on the road, prime time, division opponent, those are very, very valuable games to be able to come up with a win. So I was happy for all the guys, really.”
Tagovailoa threw for 249 yards and a touchdown to front the victory that makes Miami 2-0 entering its home opener next Sunday vs. Denver.
The Patriots “wanted to put an umbrella over our two fast guys (Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle),” said Tagovailoa.
The fast guys combined for “only” nine catches for 126 yards. Miami flexed its ground game as well, although 249 passing yards is solid.
Hill caught only four passes, but one he brought to the end zone. As the game ended Hill waved bye-bye to, and later blasted, Patriots fans.
“It felt tremendous, man,” Hill said of his parting wave. “Those fans are some of the worst fans in the NFL. And I’m going to stand on that. They are real nasty. Some of the things they were saying, I wouldn’t say in church. So yeah, it felt great to wave goodbye to the fans, and I’ll do it again. Bye.”
Even with Hill relatively contained, Tua had had company, much help.
Good teams always do.
The Fins had a running game, balance, with Raheem Mostert’s 42-yard scoring run capping the points output. He had 121 yards on 18 carries.
“We’re feeling really good,” Mostert said afterward. “Now it’s on to the next. We felt that tenacity from the defense. And Tua is getting comfortable.”
Mostert had special praise for his offensive line, which again was missing top left tackle Terron Armstead to injury.
“The guys up front were doing an unbelievable job. They’re just progressing each and every week. You saw last week what they were doing — gave up no sacks — and then this week, they were more heavily involved in the running game,” Mostert said. “It was an honor to just see those guys do what they do best, especially with a good defense like the Patriots. Man, they were just doing everything right.”
That defense. The Dolphins allowed 34 points in last week’s win at the Chargers, and 233 yards rushing. On Sunday, they budgeted New England to 88 ground yards on 25 carries, and it took Mac Jones — Tagovailoa’s former Alabama college teammate — 42 passes for his 231 yards.
“Obviously, when you give up 34 points it’s a terrible feeling,” Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel said. “It left a sour taste in our mouths, and we definitely came out with something to prove.”
The Dolphins led throughout despite missing two key starters to injuries in Armstead and pass rusher Jaelan Phillips.
It was a coaching and strategy win for Miami.
Belichick put three safeties deep to take away Tagovailoa’s deep routes to Hill. And it worked. Hill had a mere five catches for 40 yards.
But Miami countered with a ground game that ran up the middle, between the tackles, where the Patriots dared them to:
“You’ve got to play the defense how it comes. Inside zone was definitely more beneficial this game,” Mostert said. “When you have a team like the Patriots, all they do is set that edge. It’s kind of tough to get on the outside anyway. We knew that coming in.”
The Fins had big plays all over the field.
Bradley Chubb caused a fumble and had a big late sack.
Waddle had a 32-yard catch.
Xavien Howard had a huge interception over ex-Dolphin DeVante Parker.
Van Ginkel, subbing for the injured Phillips, was great.
It was far from a perfect show by Miami.
Tagovailoa for the second game in a row had trouble handling the ball on snaps. (“Totally my fault,” he said.)
Kicker Jason Sanders continued to struggle on field goals beyond 50 yards.
But, bottom line, the Dolphins are 2-0 off two road victories, with Justin Herbert and Bill Belichick the victims.
The NFL is hard.
There are no Bethune-Cookmans up here.
No weeks off. No gimmie wins.
By any measure, Tagovailoa with 715 yards passing and the Miami Dolphins with resurgent defense at 2-0, are off to a start that nourishes the very highest of hopes.
This story was originally published September 17, 2023 at 11:51 PM.
