By: Hussam Patel
They came. They saw. They conquered. Who knew of all games, this would be the week where the running game would get going and exceed over 100 yards. The entire hype of this game was going to be how Tua did in the passing game against Bill Belichick- a daunting task was ahead of the rookie southpaw slugger. The Dark Emperor was 21-5 against rookie QBs heading into this game. Boy, we’re we all wrong. It wasn’t Tua taking over the game it was a combination of rebel maulers to pave the way for A-Wings and X-Wings. That is Salvon Ahmed, Matt Breida, Patrick Laird and Lynn Bowden JR did the dirty work behind an offensive line of Jackson, Kindley, Karras, Davis and Hunt. The unheralded way to win dropping bombs on TIE Fighters of New England and making dents large enough for its RBs to fit through the gaps and do damage.
No I was not paid to do Marketing for Disney’s “Mandalorian” I’m simply imploring you to watch the show. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Coming into this game the Patriots were not good at Stopping the run game, giving up 2,035 rushing yards and a measly 4.5 rushing yards per game. Cam Akers, Kyler Murray, and Kenyan Drake ran over this entire defense. Gone are the days of Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour, and Tedy Bruschi where they could stop the run. The Patriots had a leaky run defense, Brian Flores and Josh Boyer took notice.
The Dolphins (9-5) beat the Patriots (6-8) because they pounded the rock and got the ever important ground game going, after struggling to rush all season, Salvon Ahmed (122 yards rushing) and Matt Breida (86) destroyed the Patriots on the ground, totaling 250 rushing yards.
Rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa rushed for two touchdowns and overcame an early interception to manage the game well enough to overcome a New England squad with a weak offense. Miami won without key offensive play-makers in: DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, Jakeem Grant, Mike Gesicki and Ereck Flowers.
Historically Rookie QBs struggled against Belichick and attacking the secondary, why not change up the game plan and attack the Patriots glaring weakness, a very Belichick type of move by Flores and Gailey. As mentioned on the podcast. The Patriots could not set the edge leading to long runs by Salvon Ahmed and Matt Breida
This same game plan can be inserted in Saturday Night's Prime-time match-up against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders are not effective in stopping the run and setting the edge. With an upcoming run game in Miami this will be a fearful offense in the RPO game.
Onto the Raiders.
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