The Patriots Win in Miami. Hell Freezes Over in Related News

The Miracle on Ice, Appalachian State beating No. 2 Michigan, the New England Patriots winning in Miami, Florida (2025), and UMBC beating Arizona as a March Madness 16 seed. These are just some of the many great upset moments in sports that remind us that the indomitable human spirit can overcome anything and that anything is possible.

It took all of about 59 minutes and 20 seconds, but the Patriots' win against an admittedly putrid Miami Dolphins team on their turf feels notable. Year after year, even with one or both of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, this team headed to South Beach and practically invented new ways to lose football games (literally so in 2018).

Was it a perfect day for Mike Vrabel's squad? Certainly not, that that mostly lies on the defensive side of the ball, but for an organization that has been snakebitten in this part of the country for practically my entire life, this is a win you'd feel pretty good about taking, especially with the state of the AFC dramatically shifting with Joe Burrow's (effectively) season-ending turf toe injury. Here's what I liked, what I didn't like, and a little bit in-between.

Career Best Day for Drake Maye

If you wanted to see Drake Maye take a second-year leap in 2025, his ability to perform at a high level against subpar competition is a small part of that equation, and I thought he was superb on Sunday. As much as this hurts my very soul to say, Josh McDaniels called a great game (outside of that call to throw on that final offensive drive to give the Dolphins a free clock stopage), and that entailed getting Maye some easy targets to hit in the form of his running backs, getting him outside on bootlegs, and beyond that, the second year QB delivered the goods when it got hot in the kitchen. Beyond the three sacks he took (which I'd credit to Josh McDaniels on the first for having Hunter Henry block Bradley Chubb 1-on-1, and the latter pair on TreVeyon Henderson for poor pass-pro snaps), he was electric; going 4-for-5 and 106 yards as a passer, and rushing for 25 yards and a touchdown on three scrambles. The play of the game would come on one of those five throws, and this exact kind of snap is something we absolutely needed to see out of Drake Maye at some point.

Bless Morgan Moses, as it appears he's working through a notable foot injury. However, Jaelan Phillips dusts him here. Maye, sensing this and stepping up with just moments to spare, is exactly the kind of play that needs to become more prevalent in his pocket passing game. Never mind the fact that this is an absolute gem of a throw to Rhamondre Stevenson, who was invaluable in this game as a runner and pass catcher, by the way; there are no lapses in his motion or footwork here. Big time play by a guy who was a big time player in this game. Only Jared Goff of the Lions had a better passer rating, total EPA, or EPA per dropback of the QBs who've played in Week 2 before tonight's MNF doubleheader. A bad opponent, yes, but this is what great quarterbacks are supposed to do against bad teams.

Bounceback Game for the OL Rookies and the Running Backs

Sunday was a notably better outing for first-year OL starters Will Campbell and Jared Wilson. As a matter of fact, none of the three sacks were charged to any of the linemen, and the two rookies had clean pass pro sheets in their second-ever outings. Both of said rookies also had a couple of NASTY pancake blocks on scores, Campbell on the Mack Hollins TD, and Wilson on the Rhamondre two-point conversion, respectively.

Josh McDaniels ultimately made good on his promise to get these running backs involved more, and while TreVeyon Henderson ultimately lost some opportunities down the stretch thanks to some poor work in pass pro, he, along with Stevenson and Antonio Gibson got a combined 27 touches as runners and recievers, with Mondre picking up 143 scrimage yards, 88 of which were as the latter. The backs only produced a pair of runs exceeding 10 yards, but there was no shortage of those 3-6 yard body blow type of runs that you absolutely need to produce to win games. Not a perfect game on the ground, but a night and day difference from Week 1, and certainly enough to feel good going into a matchup vs. Pittsburgh, who's been abysmal vs. the run through two games.

Pass Defense Concerns Continue

It's no question that this team desperately misses Christian Gonzalez right now, and while Carlton Davis was pretty good here (definitely had a few bad snaps on non-targets), the Patriots linebackers have simply not been good enough as pass defenders, and Alex Austin struggled mightily with the speed that Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle bring to the table.

Sticking with the linebackers, the key suspect was Robert Spillane, who on the middle three targets credited as being on him, was tasked with coming downhill towards the sideline on a Tyreek Hill dump off and missed a tackle, opened the door completely inside to allow Devon Achane to get to the endzone on an angle route, and then tried to go for the jugular on a Nick Wesbrook-Ihkine grab, which he stayed up on and got another four yards.

The Achane play was particularly egregious because, while it's a massive mismatch in the speed department, it appears to be a standard C2 man play call where Miami gets exactly what they want, with Spillane isolated in the middle and Christian Elliss taken out of the equation, going with the seam upfield. I can't imagine he was supposed to shade towards the boundary on this play, but either way, Tua liked what he saw immediately, and it paid off in spades. Furthermore, both Spillane and Elliss outright lead the NFL in missed tackles through two weeks; not exactly ideal. Neither of those things gets fixed by a Gonzalez return next week, so at this point, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Patriots make a smaller trade to bring in someone who can be a more reliable second-level defender if things continue.

Why You Pay For Elite Talent

The Patriots' pass rush wasn't making a significant impact through three quarters, but they cranked up the heat significantly in Miami when things hit "the witching hour." Both of Milton Williams' sacks? Fourth quarter. Three of the four pressures that Christian Barmore had? Fourth quarter. Harold Landry's sack and pressure, plus three of K'Lavon Chaisson's pressure (which doesn't include his prior sack)? You guessed it, fourth quarter.

Not the best day from start to finish up front, but they made a ton of plays when it mattered, and that fourth-down sack by Williams is exactly why he's here—just an elite rep by an elite player. Through Sunday Night Football, only he and Baltimore's Nnamdi Madubuike have hit at least two sacks and nine pressures among interior defensive linemen across the league. Worth every bit of the 26 million dollars per year so far, I'd say.

Final Score: New England Patriots 33, Miami Dolphins 27

Gaffney's Three Stars from Patriots-Dolphins:

1st Star: Drake Maye (19/23, 230 Yards, 2 TDs, 10 Rushes for 31 Yards and a TD)

2nd Star: Milton Williams (2 Sacks, 2 Pressures, 2 Stops)

3rd Star: Antonio Gibson (5 Rushes for 27 Yards, 1 Reception for 1 Yard, 90 Yard Kickoff Return TD)

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