Patriots-Dolphins takeaways: Hill, Waddle power Miami to Week 8 win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The New England Patriots had a few chances to make Sunday’s Week 8 game against the Miami Dolphins competitive, but they just couldn’t keep up with Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and the NFL’s most explosive offense in a 31-17 loss at Hard Rock Stadium.
In fairness, most teams haven’t been able to go toe-to-toe with the Dolphins’ offense, which leads the league in scoring at 33.8 points per game.
The Patriots hadn’t allowed a 100-yard wide receiver through seven weeks, but that run came to an end Sunday as Jaylen Waddle (121 yards) Hill (112 yards) dominated New England’s secondary.
Tagovailoa improved to 6-0 in his career against the Patriots. The Dolphins now own a 6-2 record atop the AFC East division with the victory. The Patriots sit in last place at 2-6.
The Patriots’ upcoming schedule is about to get a little easier, beginning with a Week 9 matchup against the Washington Commanders. But before we look ahead to that game, here are four takeaways from Patriots-Dolphins.
Patriots offense takes step back
It was fair to wonder if the Patriots offense had finally turned a corner last week with a season-high 29 points scored in an upset win over the Buffalo Bills. Starting quarterback Mac Jones also played his best game of the season and didn’t turn the ball over.
The real question was whether the Patriots could build on that momentum versus an average Dolphins defense. Unfortunately for the Patriots, their offense took a step back in Week 8.
Jones completed 19 of 29 pass attempts for just 161 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. The turnover really hurt because it eliminated a chance to get points right before halftime. Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey fooled Jones and picked off the lazy pass. The Dolphins ended up scoring a touchdown on the ensuing possession, so instead of going into halftime trailing 14-10, the Patriots found themselves down 17-7.
The Patriots picked up a respectable 4.1 yards per carry, but the rushing attack wasn’t able to generate any big plays. Neither Rhamondre Stevenson nor Ezekiel Elliott were able to eclipse 40 yards on the ground.
In total, the Patriots offense tallied just 218 yards and converted on only one of nine third downs. The offensive line showed huge improvement against the Bills last week, but against the Dolphins this unit gave up three sacks and six QB hits.
New England has failed to score 20 or more points in seven of their eight games. It’s really tough to win consistently with such a lackluster offensive output.
Tyreek Hill is making legit MVP case
A wide receiver has never won the AP NFL MVP award. The last time a non-quarterback won MVP was former Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in 2012.
It’s time to throw Tyreek Hill into the MVP conversation as a serious candidate. The veteran wideout caught eight passes for 112 yards and a touchdown Sunday. His most important catch might’ve been a 9-yard pickup on a third-and-9 with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter. The Patriots had just trimmed the Dolphins’ lead to 24-17, and Hill’s clutch third-down conversion kept Miami’s drive alive and helped set up a score by Waddle that essentially sealed the victory.
Hill has five games of 100-plus yards this season. He became the first player in history to go over 1,000 receiving yards (1,017 to be exact) in the first eight games. He has a real chance to hit the 2,000-yard mark and break the single-season record for receiving yards, which is 1,964 held by Calvin Johnson (2012).
Before Sunday, the Patriots had not allowed Hill to tally 100-plus yards in a game since Week 6 of the 2018 campaign.
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