Patriots vs. Dolphins: Full Report Card Grades for New England
The New England Patriots' 31-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday was the ultimate tale of two halves.
In the first half, the Patriots were cruising with Jimmy Garoppolo looking like one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Garoppolo threw three touchdowns and at one point completed eight consecutive passes. Then, the wheels fell off.
After Kiko Alonzo pummeled Garoppolo into the ground, injuring the quarterback's shoulder and knocking him out of the game, the Patriots had to turn to their third-string rookie quarterback, Jacoby Brissett. The Dolphins gained momentum, but the Patriots found a way to prevail.
Looking at the positives, the Patriots are sitting at 2-0 without Tom Brady and after a game where they had to play their No. 3 quarterback. On the other hand, Garoppolo looked like he injured his shoulder pretty badly and might not be able to play with the short turnaround between now and Thursday night's game against the Houston Texans.
The Patriots are now more than ever counting down the days until Tom Brady can return from his suspension.
Read on for full grades and analysis of each positional unit from New England's second win of the season.
Quarterback(s)
1 of 10
Wow.
Those are the only words for Garoppolo in his performance against the Dolphins. The 24-year-old came out slinging the football as he completed his first eight passes. Garoppolo finished his day 18-for-27 for 234 yards and three touchdowns, but sadly his day ended early.
Alonzo knocked Garoppolo on his throwing shoulder and silenced all of Patriot Nation, sending them into a panic.
Prior to the injury, Garoppolo had exceptional vision as he was looking off defenders, throwing with some serious velocity and making near-perfect reads on almost every play. The offense was gelling once again and the Patriots looked like they were in great hands. But this is football, and one play can change it all.
When rookie Jacoby Brissett took over the offense, the team lost life. It's tough to be too hard on Brissett, who came into a difficult situation and completed six of his nine passes. But the offense went a bit stagnant and now questions must be answered about what the Patriots can do as they wait for Brady to return from his suspension.
Grade: Garoppolo, A
Brissett, B-
Running Back
2 of 10
LeGarrette Blount, the track superstar?
It isn't every day that we get to see a 250-pound RB hurdle a defender, but it was quite the treat. Blount was an animal on that run as he rumbled his way to helping the Patriots secure a victory.
When the Patriots have a 100-plus-yard rusher, they tend to win football games. Blount delivered for a team that desperately needed his power-back services after Garoppolo's injury. He took pressure off of Brissett late on the final drive as he moved the chains and killed the clock despite a Stephen Gostkowski missed field goal.
Blount finished his day with 29 carries for 123 yards and a great touchdown run with Brissett in the game. He put the team on his back late, so it's tough to knock Blount's runs that went for merely a yard, even though there were quite a few of them.
Grade: A-
Wide Receiver
3 of 10
What's the key to helping a young and inexperienced quarterback? The simple answer is to get the ball out of that quarterback's hands early. Thanks to the Patriots' wide receivers, they were able to just that.
Julian Edelman is a true joy to watch as his exceptional acceleration and ability to make sharp cuts on a dime allow him to get open on virtually every play within two seconds. The ball was flying out of Garoppolo's hands before the defense could count to "Two-Mississippi." Edelman has been money for Garoppolo, and that continued all throughout the game while they were playing together.
But let's not give Edelman all of the credit. Danny Amendola hauled in two touchdown catches, made some nifty moves with his surprising strength and was a steady presence for the team with four catches on four targets.
And then there's Chris Hogan, who had four catches for 59 yards and looked crisp as the team's No. 2 or No. 3 receiver.
Grade: A
Tight End
4 of 10
Last week it was no Brady, no problem.
This week it was no Gronk, no problem.
Martellus Bennett, also known as Martysaurus Rex, was an absolute beast on the field for the Patriots. While he is no Rob Gronkowski, Bennett proved why the Patriots wanted to trade for him and that he can be a weapon for them.
Before jumping into his stats and performance, let's give Bennett some major props for playing nearly the entire game from a snap-count perspective. To have an iron-man tight end like that is a major asset to this team and the type of offense it runs.
As one of the elite blocking tight ends in the NFL, Bennett was exceptional once again. He provides help on the pass rush and powerful blocks in the run game.
But let's not forget about his monster contributions in the passing game. With five catches for 114 yards, including a beautiful route on his touchdown grab, Bennett did his best Gronk impression all game long.
The highlight of his day was a massive stiff arm on Dolphins No. 1 cornerback Byron Maxwell, who is a big guy. But on Sunday he learned not to get in the way of a 275-pound Martysaurus Rex.
Grade: A+
Offensive Line
5 of 10
The offensive line fell into the tale-of-two-halves group for the Patriots.
With Garoppolo in the game, the offensive line was cohesive planting pass-protection blocks and matching up well on blocking assignments. Garoppolo may have been releasing the ball quickly, but the line had a tough task of slowing down an aggressive Dolphins defensive front.
Then the Dolphins pass rush started to gain some momentum and the offensive line lost a little bit of its mojo. It was a scramble to reestablish themselves with Brissett in the game, but they managed to recover especially late with the run blocking. With pull blocks, the Patriots were able to move the chains late by opening up some running room for Blount.
Grade: B
Defensive Line
6 of 10
The defensive line got off to a fast start against the Dolphins when they forced a Ryan Tannehill fumble early on and then forced and recovered a Jay Ajayi fumble in the third quarter. But outside of the early game, the Patriots defensive line had a non-existent pass rush.
Then, Chris Long came to save the day late in the game. Long looked like a 23-year-old, fiery edge-rusher rather than a nine-year veteran of the league who is 31 years old. Long had four QB hits and two of those led to interceptions. He also landed one sack on Tannehill and even had a perfectly timed pass breakup by jumping up at the line and getting his hands up.
It's tough to say the Patriots did a great job with stopping the run because the team had a 31-3 lead and forced the Dolphins to air it out for the duration of the game.
Grade: B
Linebacker
7 of 10
The Patriots had a tough task of playing a game without their master and commander on defense, Dont'a Hightower. Hightower, who is nursing a knee injury, couldn't suit up for the game and be the signal-caller of the defense.
Yet Jamie Collins came through with a pretty good game as the defense's quarterback. With five solo tackles and a pass breakup, Collins looked as agile as he always does. After a scary moment where Collins collided with safety Patrick Chung and appeared to injure his neck, Patriot Nation had to be hoping they didn't lose their other star linebacker to injury. But Collins made it back into the game.
He also hauled in a nice interception.
Grade: B-
Secondary
8 of 10
The secondary was a classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker tag-teamed the Patriots defense by each going for 100-plus yards and amassing a combined 18 receptions. While some of this is the product of being down by 28 points, the secondary cannot allow themselves to play that poorly. They were giving up space and all-around looked pretty bad during the Mr. Hyde moments of the second half.
On the other hand, Duron "The Closer" Harmon delivered for the team and offset the blows from the woes of the defense. Harmon looked like a pretty good safety despite being No. 3 on the Patriots' depth chart. It's safe to say the fourth-year is getting closer and closer to earning his big payday at the end of this season, though it likely won't be with New England.
The Dolphins pressured the Patriots late as they threatened to tie the game, but Harmon's coverage landed him an interception that sealed the win for New England.
Grade: C+
Special Teams
9 of 10
Who replaced Stephen Gostkowski with the preseason version of Robert Aguayo?
Mr. Reliable just couldn't deliver when the Patriots needed him to give them a two-score lead late in the game. The offense did a great job of setting up Gostkowski for a 39-yard field goal he can normally make with his eyes closed. But Gostkowski choked in the moment and allowed the pressure to be placed on the defense.
It wasn't a good look for the veteran kicker, and honestly a miss like that is unacceptable in the eyes of Bill Belichick.
Meanwhile, Ryan Allen's punts were less-than-stellar.
The special teams woes aren't going to sit well with Belichick and his staff, who expect perfection in that aspect of the game.
Grade: D-
Coaching
10 of 10
Similar to last week against the Cardinals, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels called a gem of a game for Garoppolo. He was calling plays that got the ball out of his quarterback's hands quickly and calling routes that the receivers could consistently get open on.
Even when Brissett came into the game, McDaniels tried to set him up for success by calling plays suited for Brissett's athleticism. With a combination of rollouts and a lot of handoffs, McDaniels minimized the opportunity for mistakes with a rookie quarterback in the game. Even though the team went flat in the second half, McDaniels drew up a solid final drive that did position the team for a game-clinching field goal, but Gostkowski missed it.
On the defense, the team struggled to slow down Tannehill, who completed 20 of 21 completions at one point in the second half. That's unacceptable, and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia needed to make adjustments.
Grade: B-
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