There has been a lot made out of the competition for RB1 between Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson this offseason, but Harris remained the top guy in the backfield with his performance in the Miami heat.Īs one of the more troublesome groups leading up to the regular season, it was refreshing to see gaps opening up for the backs to run through and make plays. Run game – Damien Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson, Ty Montgomery With Kendrick Bourne’s mysterious absence continuing for the majority of this game, Meyers appears to remain on track as the most trusted target for Jones. He is always making positive plays and showed up a lot for third-down completions in this game. What stands out most about Meyers is his consistency. He would be Jones’ favorite target, making 4/6 catches for 55 yards on the day, with a highlight-worthy contested catch on the sideline for 27-yards in the second quarter. Would it be a Patriots game if Jakobi Meyers wasn’t the most reliable receiver on the field?Įntering the season as the presumed WR1, Meyers showed why he’s earned that title in this game. Wise would also get in a TFL and a QB hit, rounding out the fantastic overall performance by the defense. The quarterback would fumble the football during the play, but Miami would come up with the recovery. He would tally the first sack of the day, taking Tua down in the first quarter for -8 yards. He would continue his time spent taking him down as he totaled a team-high of 4 QB hits on the day.Īlso one of the newly crowned captains, Wise had fun creating issues for the Dolphins offense.
He would rack in one of the three sacks on the day late in the 2nd quarter, bringing Tua down for -9 yards. With such an aggressive performance against a difficult opponent, Bentley will become a huge part of the defense’s success this seasonīack to his early 2021 season self in this first matchup, Judon was making plays while consistently in the Dolphins’ face all game long. He ended the day with the best stat line of all the defense, totaling 7 tackles, one sack, one TFL and one quarterback hit. From getting to Tua Tagovailoa and stopping any chance of a successful run, Bentley showed why he’s earned the trust of his teammates. At the end of the game, they totaled 3 sacks, 6 TFL, and 7 quarterback hits, with most of the success coming from the few same names.Īs one of the newly announced captains of the 2022 team, Bentley was in menace mode for Sunday’s game.
The pass rush that fell flat for the latter half of the 2021 season was alive and well in this game, with the usual suspects leading the charge. Knowing what a receiver like Hill is capable of, Jones was able to essentially shut him down once again. When covering Hill, Jones only allowed gains of 26 and 23 yards at most. Like Dugger, he too matched up with Hill and prevented the receiver from making a bigger impact in this game. It was Jones’ first return to action since his season ended last year due to injury and his presence was felt early on. Hanging with the fastest receiver in the league is not a simple task, but Dugger was able to hold his own throughout this game. On one play, Dugger limited the receiver to only a 6-yard gain, and later he would get a big hit in to stop Hill from gaining any positive yardage.
His most impressive plays of the day came when he matched up with Tyreek Hill. In typical fashion, he could be seen all over the field and continued as a consistently impactful player for the team. That continued to ring true in Sunday’s game, as they allowed the Dolphins’ speedy offense to score just 13 offensive points on the day.Ĭontinuing on his path as the most up-and-coming star of the Patriots’ defense, Kyle Dugger flashed with his performance in Miami. With such a dominant showing during preseason practices and games, they proved to be the more efficient side of the football. Who performed the best for the Patriots?īecause of their overall effort and effectiveness from the defense overall, it seems only fair to credit them all for Sunday’s performance. Self-inflicted wounds would be the biggest culprit in a game that was certainly winnable, but their overall lack of execution and overcoming the obstacles they put in front of themselves led to issues they could not recover from.Įven though the team’s overall lackluster performance was underwhelming, to say the least, there were a handful of players deserving recognition for their positive contributions. Historically, the Patriots haven’t performed well when playing at Hard Rock Stadium and that continued on Sunday in their 20-7 loss, making it their 3rd straight L to the Dolphins. When the NFL schedules were released this spring, seeing the Patriots’ first opponent as the Dolphins in Miami was not how anyone hoped New England season would start.
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