Call it tough luck in the end, but the 16-12 defeat by the Miami Dolphins against the Seattle Seahawks still has its upsides for the boys from South Beach. The Dolphins outplayed the Seahawks for the most part of their season opener on Sunday, but that was until Russell Wilson’s magic kicked in.
Miami got a solid day from oft-maligned quarterback Ryan Tannehill (186 passing yards, one rushing touchdown and no picks against Seattle’s vaunted defense), as well as its stop unit. The Dolphins turned the table of sorts on the Seahawks by creating a pair of turnovers themselves, showing plenty of promise that this year’s defense has a new, meaner personality indeed.
The ‘Fins mustn’t let Week 1’s loss get them down too much with their reviled rival on the horizon. Then again, they’ve got to like their odds against the Patriots this coming Sunday, as they’ve actually won three of their last five meetings in the regular season. And despite a spectacular showing from the Pats’ Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday night, the Dolphins will still take a Brady-less New England team any day of the year.
With Bill Belichick at the helm, it really appears that the New England Patriots can do no wrong, as evidenced by their 23-21 road upset of the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night.
What makes the win even sweeter for New England is that backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a superb starting debut filling in for Tom Brady and without standout tight end Rob Gronkowski (hamstring) at his disposal. Garoppolo finished with 264 passing yards with a touchdown, with four of his receivers getting no less than three catches and 40 yards apiece.
However, not every aspect of Week 1’s opener was positive for the Pats. They fumbled the ball thrice and lost two of them, with Garropolo accounting for a couple of those coughed balls. They better watch out for the opportunistic and revitalized Dolphins D at that. Plus, they were really fortunate that Arizona’s kicker just shanked a doable game-winning field goal in the dying seconds of Sunday’s game.
Nevertheless, getting to play right back in the confines of Foxborough is enough of an advantage in and of itself. The Patriots have only lost one regular-season contest at home in each of the past two seasons, and Miami was nowhere near victorious in their previous clashes with the Pats over in Beantown during that span.
Writer’s Prediction
The Patriots (-6.5) win another nail-biter, 24-20.
