Our Miami Dolphins are heading into their final three games of the 2020 NFL regular season. Week by week the stakes get higher, and in doing that the game gets bigger. If Miami wins Sunday’s affair with the New England Patriots not only will they push towards their own playoff berth, they will also eliminate the Pats from the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.
To do that, Tua will have to have a very good game against rookie QB killer Bill Belichick. Justin Herbert was held to only 26 of 53 completions, and 2 INT’s against this defense and he has better weapons than Tua Tagovailoa. Chan Gailey’s going to have to scheme something different as the New England Patriots will send a tonne of pressure down the middle, as they did with Kyler Murray.
Xavien Howard will become the first man to get double-digit interceptions in a season in 13 years if he picks off Cam Newton today. The last man to achieve 10 or more INT’s in a season was Antonio Cromartie. This game will actually offer some great CB play as Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty, and JC Jackson are what X, Byron Jones and Nik Needham are modeled on.
US AT AQUA THIRTEEN EVERY WEEK PUT TOGETHER OUR PREDICTIONS AHEAD OF A MATCHDAY, SO HERE ARE OUR NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS @ MIAMI DOLPHINS PREDICTIONS.
Shane – It seems like such a long time since these sides met at the beginning of the season. It was a game that could have gone either way with the Dolphins inability to stop the run tipping that game in favor of the Patriots. Since then the Dolphins have improved and I’m not so sure the Patriots have. Stopping the run seems to be the key to stopping the Patriots offense as they haven’t been consistent at throwing the ball down the field.
The Dolphins defense has been in red hot form and more turnovers wouldn’t be surprising in this one. Injuries on offense are worrying but Tua proved he could have some success with backup players such as Lynn Bowden Jr, having an impact last week when the starters went down. I see this being somewhat of a dogfight but lessons learned from the Dolphins should swing things in their favor. New England Patriots 17-24 Miami Dolphins
Jay – This is a hard one to call as although I think we’re better than the Patriots in most aspects of the game, Belichick more often than not finds a way to daze and confuse a rookie QB. We’ve come a long way since the week 1 defeat which was still arguably a game we could have won. I’m hoping a lot of the key players that were marked as questionable will be available as I think we’ll need the likes of Roberts and KVN.
The run defense has been improving throughout the season and it will really need to step up this week. Mobile quarterbacks have been our nemesis this season so I wouldn’t be averse to sticking a spy on Newton, sending the pressure, and forcing him to throw to his average receiver core.
Again Chan needs to just let Tua get on with his game and I’d love to see a full game of Tua playing free. The Pats defense is still dangerous so hopefully, we can get some form of the ground game going and a competent short to mid-range passing game, providing we have the receiving personnel available. I’m hoping to see a lot more of Lynn Bowden!
We’ve got the coach, we’ve got the QB, we’ve got a better offense and we’ve got a monster defense! It’ll be close but I can see us winning. New England Patriots 17-21 Miami Dolphins
Rich – You can never count on beating the Patriots with their brilliant Head coach but most metrics from this season point to a Dolphins win. One slight concern is that the Dolphins’ main strength is their secondary, but in recent games the Pats haven’t been throwing the ball much. Will this negate the best unit in the Dolphins’ entire roster?
The Patriots beat us by running the ball on us a lot in Week 1 but you have to consider that the Dolphins’ run D has improved a lot since then and in our latest outing we did nullify the scrambling of a mobile QB in Mahomes. Hopefully, we also have Elandon Roberts and Kyle Van Noy returning to action too which will bolster us further.
The Dolphins offense is still a work in progress but they seem to be steadily improving. We could potentially be without a number of regular starters but last week once again proved the next man up mentality. The progress of Lynn Bowden Jr has been particularly encouraging. Tua seems to be growing each week and seems more comfortable in a higher tempo offense which Chan Gailey is trusting him to run more each week.
Will Belichick once again defeat a rookie QB? That remains to be seen. But this Dolphins team is extremely well-coached and is playing with a lot of confidence this season. All things considered, the Dolphins win a relatively close one. New England Patriots 23-30 Miami Dolphins.
Andy – We have always been a team that New England struggles against, especially in Miami. Last season we put a huge dent in the playoff seed of the Patriots and Bill Belichick would love to have some payback and affect the Dolphins’ playoff chances.
Bill Belichick is notoriously tough on opposition rookie quarterbacks. However, he has not had this bad a season in some time. The Pats will be tough on Tua but equally, our defense will give Cam Newton a tough game.
Our run defense needs to improve and the team will hope for a better performance than the reverse fixture in week 1 when New England won 21-11. I think this will be a low scoring tense affair, but I am backing the Fins to get the win. New England Patriots 10-14 Miami Dolphins
Keith – A lot has changed since the last meeting back in Week 1, not least a different starting QB in Tua. The Dolphins had trouble stopping the Patriots’ running game then, allowing 217 yards on 42 carries (5.2 avg). I think stopping the run is the key to winning this game.
If they can do this (Patriots RB’s Damien Harris out and James White questionable) the defense can really put pressure on QB Cam Newton who last week managed only 9 passes from 16 attempts for 119 yards 56.3 CMP% 0 TD 1 Int.
With the possible return of WR’s DeVante Parker and Jakeem Grant this is a boost to Tua, who I believe will build on last week’s performance. Tua will throw 28 from 35 with no picks for 300 yards, 3 TDs with 1 Rushing TD. New England Patriots 10-38 Miami Dolphins
Gareth – This has the potential to be a defensive struggle. Both defenses are the stronger units on both teams and the identity of both teams is in the secondary. The Pats offense has struggled but its rushing attack has improved. This is also the Dolphins’ weakness on defense. Hopefully, we can force them to pass the ball as they are weak passing the ball.
On offense, our only hope is that Ahmed is back or Brieda finally does something. We need to be balanced as Bill Belichick has an awesome record against rookie QBs. That being said Tua seems to be improving not just week to week but even in-game. If we can keep it close against KC we can beat the Patriots. I think it’ll be a low scoring encounter New England Patriots 6-15 Miami Dolphins
Me – Stats tell us that we’ll lose this game, and I’m a sucker for stats so I’m inclined to go that way. I hope I’m proved wrong, but not confident. We are a 1st Quarter team, if we get the ball first and have the chance to go up early then we’ll win, but if we play from behind at any point it’ll get nervy.
The running game has to get established, otherwise we’ll lose. And that’s nothing on Tua either, I think he’s awesome, but the stats tell me he won’t play well today, and that’s okay no rookie usually does. So, I’m going for a loss. Just like a few others I think it will be low scoring, so let’s go New England Patriots 17-10 Miami Dolphins.
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