Week 1 was quite a surprise for me. I expected the Dolphins offense to look good, but it was really the defense that I expected to shine, and until the end of the game when they sealed the victory, the defense was a huge letdown. Chargers running backs Austin Ekeler and Joshua Kelley combined for 208 yards rushing on 32 carries for a ridiculous 6.5 YPC. Ekeler is indeed one of the best in the game but both he and Kelley feasted. Ekeler had a long run of 55 yards. I’m pretty sure all of us thought David Long was an upgrade at ILB, but on opening day, Long played only 17 snaps and gave us 1 tackle. In contrast, Andrew Van Ginkel played a surprising 63% of the snaps at LB, and produced a modest 5 combined tackles. For additional contrast, former Dolphins LB Elandon Roberts started for the Steelers and played 43% of the defensive snaps and had 8 tackles, and 2 tackles for a loss. This an early disappointment, and something that we’ll need to keep an eye on.

The offense though was better than I could have hoped for. It’s been well documented how the Chargers shut down Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins offense last year during that horrific west coast trip that started with a beatdown in San Francisco and ended with a stymied offensive output against the Chargers who took away the short passing lanes, and the Dolphins at that time had no answers. This past Sunday however, the Dolphins had all the answers and absolutely shredded the Chargers defense to the tune of 536 yards, 466 of those yards through the air, compared to 145 yards on a paltry 10 completions out of 28 pass attempts. Tyreek Hill was unstoppable, and provided nearly half of the receiving yards with 215 yards receiving and 2 TD’s. Jaylen Waddle had a nice day as well, 4 receptions for 78 yards, but that pales in comparison to the monster day Hill had. We were running the football well, but basically stopped running, although the results say we did the right thing because the LA defense could not contain the passing game.

One game is not enough information to really identify what a team is all about. We know Head Coach Bill Belichick well, and we all know here that he will simply not allow Tyreek Hill to beat his defense. That’s what he does, his M.O. is to take away the thing you do best, and make you beat them a different way. Raheem Mostert has been practicing, so he’s likely to start, and the run game should get a boost from rookie De’Von Achane who has also been practicing and will play this Sunday night. You never know what the gameplan will be, but if I could conjure a guess, it would be that we will be running more than we did against the Chargers, and also that De’Von Achane will get his share of touches. With extra attention on Tyreek Hill, others will benefit, like Achae, Waddle and perhaps even Durham Smythe, who will see his former TE mate against our defense for the first time, Mike Gesicki. As far as the defense, I also expect a better effort against the Patriots, who don’t have top tier talent at the skill positions that the Chargers have, namely Herbert, Ekeler, Allen and Williams. Instead, it will be QB Mac Jones, WR’s DeVante Parker and Kennrick Bourne, big back Rhamondre Stevenson and TE’s Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki.

The Patriots hung in there opening day against a very good Philadelphia Eagles team. It was a close game, the Patriots came back from a 1st quarter 16 point deficit, but ended up losing 25-20. The Eagles defense contained Rhamondre Stevenson to just 25 yards on 12 carries, but Ezekiel Elliott had moderately more success, 29 yards on 7 carries. In general, the Patriots offense doesn’t scare opposing teams, but a Bill Belichick team is always a dangerous team, although the Dolphins have recently had Bill’s number, taking 4 of 6 games in the last 3 seasons, and more importantly, winning every game QB Tua Tagovailoa played in, 4-0. I’m sure the Patriots will try and disrupt the rhythm Tua has with his receivers, and if that’s the case, Tua may need to find secondary and tertiary targets, which is why I think there’s potential for Achane to have a fair amount of action Sunday night. Waddle, Berrios, Cracraft and Ezukanma should also see more action. This would be Achane’s first NFL action, so I should probably temper my enthusiasm for him, but if he’s healthy, this is what he’s here for.

It was frustrating seeing the defense gashed in the run game, and of course even more frustrating, for me at least, to see our vaunted pass rush neutralized nearly the entire game. At the end, we made the plays to seal the victory, but Wilkins, Davis, Sieler, Phillips and Chubb didn’t get to Herbert most of the game, and if not for absurdly gaudy offensive day, the Chargers 433 yards and 34 points would have been a really good offensive output. If this defense is going to be a top unit in the NFL, we’re going to have to better than last week’s effort. One other surprise on defense was S DeShon Elliott playing 100% of the defensive snaps. Clearly, S Brandon Jones is not where he needs to be yet, but Elliott rose to the occasion with 13 total tackles, 8 solo. CB Kader Kohou got the start and of course had the huuuuge sack on Justin Herbert that was nearly a safety. Kohou played 98% of the defensive snaps and has been a huge pickup for our team. Eli Apple played 74% of the defensive snaps, but it was clearly Kohou who is in the drivers seat. I’m curious to see if CB Cam Smith will get any defensive snaps, he played only special teams against the Chargers.

There are a few things I’d like to see this Sunday night against the Patriots. We know Terron Armstead is a scratch, he’ll be given at least one more week to heal up, which means T Kendall Lamm will play at least one more game. The offensive line was better than any of us could have hoped for, 45 pass attempts, ZERO sacks. That’s pretty much a shock if we’re being fair. I’d love to see that continue of course and I’d like to see more out of our running game, and that can include short passes to the RB’s either behind the line of scrimmage or beyond, but I want to see Mostert, Achane, Ahmed and even Ezuknama get some touches if the defense is doubling or even tripling Hill. These guys need to make the NE defense pay if they go all in on stopping Tyreek Hill. Mostly, I want to see the defense bounce back and look dominant, and not get pushed around in the run game and be ineffective getting to the QB. I want to see Tua remain upright making plays, and as mentioned, let’s the exciting rookie De’Von Achane get some touches and see what he can do!

GO DOLPHINS!!!!