The Miami Dolphins earned their first victory of the 2026 season last week in NJ against the rival NY Jets. The Dolphins really played a complete game, although the Jets had success on offense, with RB Braelon Allen getting 104 yards on the ground on just 17 carries, good for an impressive 6.1 YPC. QB Geno Smith also threw 3 TD’s, and threw for 287 yards and 1 INT, thanks to rookie Safety Michael Taaffe. Jets rookie WR Omar Cooper tore up the Dolphins for 115 yards receiving and a TD on 5 receptions. The bigger story was Malik Willis and the Dolphins were alive and well for a change. QB Malik Willis had his best week of the season after the BYE, throwing for 208 yards and 2 TD’s, with no turnovers. Willis added 37 yards on the ground and a rushing TD as well to account for 3 total TD’s. It was clear that the BYE Week was a time for the coaching staff to take the time to get Malik Willis to not try to do everything and always look for the deep ball, and when you have a receiver short to take those passes, and with that, they were successful. TE Greg Dulcich had the most action he’s had all season as he caught 5 passes for 86 yards. We talked about it here quite a bit, the “Hero Ball” had to go, and taking what they give you gives you a much better chance, and that proved to be correct.

We held a big advantage in time of possession last week, (34:36) to (25:24). RB Ollie Gordon, and of course the O-line did some heavy lifting. Ollie churned out over 100 yards on 25 carries, 103 yards on 25 carries to be exact, for a 4.1 YPC average. This is the 2nd time RB Ollie Gordon has run for more than 100 yards. He already has 140 more yards than he had all of last season (199) with 339 yards rushing, plus he has 4 TD’s. compared to just 3 all of last season. That’s a very promising season for a guy I truly didn’t expect those dividends from. I do think the bulk of the issue with both RB’s Jaylen Wright and Ollie Gordon was repetitions and playing time, and with HC Mike McDaniel and a healthy RB De’Von Achane, those things never happened. It used to drive me crazy that either Gordon or Wright would get a carry and then out they go. Running backs need to get into a rhythm, and that’s impossible when they don’t get consecutive carries or even series. Achane is OUT for the season, and now with the opportunity front and center, RB ollie Gordon, a 6th RD pick in 2025 has made the Dolphins look pretty smart. We see teams all over the NFL have success with late RD and even undrafted RB’s, now it’s our turn.

We beat the NY Jets, who are a talented NFL team. Now we face the New England Patriots at hiome, but it will be a 4:25PM game. If Hard Rock is anything like it was on Sunday October 11th when we hosted the Bengals, That crowd was in the neighborhood of 70% Cincinnati Bengals fans. If this game is like that, then I’m not sure exactly where our home field advantage lies. It’s supposed to be a high of 82 degrees, and a very high chance of thunderstorms. The severe heat will not be our ally with temps in the low 70’s, so I’m hoping we can have at least half the stadium filled with Dolphins fans. LG Kadyn Proctor will almost certainly miss this game with a concussion. He has yet to clear concussion protocol and has not practiced, so it’s very likely that OG Jarrett Kingston, who made his debut against Cincinnati when RG Jonah Savaiinaea went down with an injury. Kingston looked serviceable, but now he will be starting.

After 6 games, the Dolphins are 1-5, 30th in points scored per game at 16.2 PPG, and 25th in points allowed at 26.2 PPG. The Patriots are in 2nd place at 4-3 in the AFC East, and are 19th in points scored per game at 26.2 PPG, and 9th in points allowed with 20.4 PPG. Honestly, all that goes out the window when the Dolphins play the Patriots. We’ve had their number the last 5 games, winning 3 of 5. We lost the season finale 38-10 in Foxborough in January, and we lost a close one in Miami in September 33-27. In 2024, we beat the Patriots34-15 in Miami and also beat the Patriots in Foxborough in another close one, 15-10. We beat the Patriots in October of ’23 31-17. Of course we have two different teams entirely now, especially the Dolphins. We have a new GM, new Head Coach, and many new faces all over the roster. The Patriots have a lot of talent, but their young QB has struggled this season. After putting together a near MVP season last year, QB Drake Maye is 4-3, has thrown for 1784 yards, completed 66% with 13 TD’s and 8 INT’s for a 96.4 Passer Rating. If I told you before this season that WR Mack Hollins would have more receptions than WR A.J. Brown, you’d probably think I was crazy, but it’s true. Hollins has played one more game than Brown, but A.J. Brown has not been what the New England Patriots had hoped they were getting, a big physical receiver that can take over a game.

The running back tandem of Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson have not been explosive as they were last season.Stevenson, the pounder, has 285 yards on 77 carries for a 3.7 YPC and 2 TD’s. Henderson, who was a 2nd RD pick #38, is more of a dancer and speed guy, and he has only 203 yards on 52 carries for 3.9 YPC. last season, Henderson had a nice rookie campaign with 911 yards rushing and 9 rushing TD’s, he has only 1 rushing TD this season. The Patriots have have definitely taken a few steps backwards from their electric 2025 run to the Superbowl finishing 14-3, and eventually losing the Superbowl to the Seattle Seahawks 29-13. Regardless, the Patriots are still a dangerous, capable team, if/when they put it all together. The Dolphins, after their BYE look like a different team too. The Dolphins got a big spark when WR Caleb Douglas returned to the lineup. Douglas wasted no time at all making an impact reeling in 5 catches for 94 yards. He’s a big play guy, and was missed. I do believe at some point, WR Chris Bell will pay dividends for this team as well, but right now the first of the three 3rd RD picks is the guy that’s getting it done, while the last of the 3rd RD picks Wr Chris Bell is still working on his game after his ACL injury late last season at Louisville. More than likely near the end of the season, Chris Bell will be right there with WR Caleb Douglas, which will give us a nice Wr tandem for the future. Two big bodied WR’s, to go along with slot WR’s Malik Washington and WR Kevin Coleman.

Which Dolphins team will show up on Sunday, the pre BYE Week Dolphins, or the post BYE Week Dolphins? If the Dolphins are going to beat the Patriots, it better be the latter or it will be a log day for the home team. There could potentially be sloppy conditions at Hard Rock if the thunderstorms are peaking during game time. That might necessitate more rushing and short passing, which may actually help us. The Dolphins have 4 fumble recoveries and 4 INT’s, 2 of those INT’s belong to rookie Safety Michael Taaffe. Oddly enough, not one of the 3 forced fumbles belong to the strip king of college football 2025, LB Jacob Rodriguez. He’s due for a good ole strip job, so let’s hope it starts this week. Rodriguez had 7 forced fumbles in 2025 for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Sunday’s game against the Patriots seems like the right time to get that going. I hope QB Malik Willis is able to build on his play against the Jets, not try to do too much and hold the ball too long. I also hope Jarrett Kingston can do a good job subbing for LG Kadyn Proctor who is very unlikely to play. I’d like to see TE Greg Dulcich get more touches, especially as an outlet because that will keep QB Malik Willis out of trouble!

GO DOLPHINS!!!