<\/p>\n
Drake Maye passed for 230 yards and two touchdowns, and added 31 rushing yards and another score on the ground, as the New England Patriots took advantage of Miami\u2019s defensive struggles in a wild 33-27 victory on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Patriots evened their record at 1-1, while the Dolphins dropped to 0-2.<\/p>\n
The game featured wild swings, splashy plays on special teams and a startling lack of defense.<\/p>\n
New England took a 33-27 lead with a field goal inside of two minutes. Miami had a chance to win it, but the drive stalled at New England\u2019s 28-yard line when Tua Tagovailoa was sacked on fourth-and-12 and 48 seconds left.<\/p>\n
After a week of talk about Maye\u2019s struggles in the opener, he put together an awfully impressive performance with some big-time throws.<\/p>\n
While it was aided by Antonio Gibson\u2019s kickoff return for a score, the Patriots topped the 30-point mark for the first time in nearly three years, something that was last accomplished when scoring 38 in a win over the Cleveland Browns in October 2022, when Bailey Zappe was the quarterback.<\/p>\n
Maye set up his own go-ahead touchdown run by evading a pass rush, stepping up, and throwing a beautiful ball outside the numbers to Rhamondre Stevenson for a 55-yard gain. He did basically everything the Patriots asked and hoped on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Yes, it was against a Dolphins defense that looks like it\u2019ll be one of the worst in the league this season. But this was a much-needed step in the right direction and raises hope for what\u2019s to come as the Patriots now prep for the Pittsburgh Steelers next week. \u2014 Chad Graff, Patriots beat writer<\/em><\/p>\n In a wild sequence that summed up the chaos of this game where the defenses struggled, Patriots returner Antonio Gibson brought back a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to re-take the lead in the fourth quarter, immediately after Dolphins returner Malik Washington took a punt 74 yards for a score.<\/p>\n Washington\u2019s punt included a couple of missed tackles and gave the Dolphins a 27-23 lead with a little more than seven minutes remaining in the game.<\/p>\n But then Gibson broke free on the ensuing kickoff to give the lead back to the Patriots. Gibson was arguably the Patriots\u2019 best running back last season, but is mired in a No. 3 role after the Pats drafted TreVeyon Henderson.<\/p>\n With the kickoff, though, Gibson showed he still has plenty of speed and big-play ability<\/p>\n Second-year defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is going to come under pressure if his unit keeps playing like this.<\/p>\n After allowing the Indianapolis Colts to score on all seven of their drives in the opener, the Dolphins allowed points on the Patriots\u2019 first three drives of the game.<\/p>\n The Pats entered with an offense that struggled in Week 1 against the Raiders and couldn\u2019t really move the ball in the passing game. But this Dolphins secondary is a mess and contributed to a bounce-back day for Maye and the Patriots\u2019 passing attack.<\/p>\n Their front seven was fine, and notched three sacks, but the secondary struggled to cover a mediocre group of Patriots wide receivers.<\/p>\n The Dolphins quarterback put the disaster of the season opener behind him. One week after he threw two interceptions and fumbled while recording just 114 passing yards, Tagovailoa was much better in this one.<\/p>\n He and the Dolphins scored on four of their first five drives, notching two touchdowns and two field goals after an opening three-and-out.<\/p>\n Tagovailoa once again looked like the quarterback of old, getting the ball out quickly and finding explosive plays for Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. He finished 26-of-32 passing for 315 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.<\/p>\n The Patriots need Christian Gonzalez back. The team\u2019s All-Pro cornerback hasn\u2019t practiced since July 28 because of a hamstring injury, and his absence was felt Sunday.<\/p>\n Backup cornerback Alex Austin has been filling in for Gonzalez, and while he\u2019s a fine backup, he was exposed in this one against the Dolphins\u2019 wide receiver duo of Hill and Waddle. He was in coverage for a touchdown pass to Waddle and allowed a 47-yard completion to Hill.<\/p>\n The Patriots\u2019 defense is already experiencing numerous issues that aren\u2019t going to be fixed with the return of one player. But Gonzalez is the team\u2019s best player and could make a big impact once he\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still unclear if Gonzalez might be an option for Week 3, considering it\u2019s been more than six weeks since he last practiced, but the Pats need their top cornerback soon.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just the cornerback play that plagued the Pats defensively, though. They were once again too susceptible to big plays and barely registered much in the way of a pass rush.<\/p>\n This was their first game without defensive coordinator Terrell Williams, who Mike Vrabel said would be away from the team for a few days. Zak Kuhr called plays in place of Williams, but Kuhr has limited experience.<\/p>\n The Patriots need a get-right game defensively. They were fortunate in this one that the offense dominated time of possession.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drake Maye and the Patriots held off Miami in a game that featured wild swings, huge special teams plays and a startling lack of defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[21,74,18],"class_list":["post-32644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nBack-to-back TDs on special teams<\/h2>\n
More Dolphins defensive struggles<\/h2>\n
Tua Tagovailoa bounces back<\/h2>\n
\nThe Dolphins\u2019 running game was good, but they had to lean more on Tagovailoa after getting into a quick 12-0 hole, and Tagovailoa mostly delivered.<\/p>\nPatriots exposed without Christian Gonzalez<\/h2>\n