New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins Breakdown: Monday Night Football Edition

After the recent success of my Atlanta Falcons Matchup Breakdown, I decided to do the same with each week's Monday Night Football game. To view my latest Falcons edition click here. This week's Monday Night Football will be a showdown of AFC East rivals: the New England Patriots (2-1) and the Miami Dolphins (2-1).

Keys to victory for the New England Patriots:

1. Establish the run- As cliche as this may sound, all you have to do is look at the stats. The Patriots rank 10th in the league in rushing and the Dolphins rank 19th in the NFL in rush defense. The Patriots will depend on BenJarvus Green-Ellis as Fred Taylor will miss the game due to a toe injury. Ellis only has 31 attempts in the first three games, so that number needs to increase. Ellis has shown the potential to be the Patriots' workhorse.

2. Get Randy Moss involved!- Moss only has nine receptions so far, which isn't enough for this playmaking wide receiver. Moss is averaging 15 yards a catch, believe it or not that is more than Wes Welker's average of eight yards a catch.

3. Contain Brandon Marshall- Marshall has 22 receptions and a touchdown this season. Rookie Devin McCourty will have the task of covering Marshall but somehow I smell double coverage coming, more on that later.

Keys to victory for the Miami Dolphins:

1. Get secondary offensive weapons involved- By secondary offensive weapons, I mean everyone other than Brandon Marshall. The Dolphins next leading wide receiver is Davone Bess, who has 13 grabs for 149 yards. Getting others involved will mean the Patriots cannot soley focus on Brandon Marshall, but cover everyone else as well. This will give Marshall more one-on-one coverage against a rookie cornerback.

2. Protect Chad Henne- In the first three games, the 'Phins' offensive line has allowed seven sacks. That number is too big if they hope to see improvement from Henne. 

3. Stop the run- This goes right into what I said for the Patriots key number one. The Pats rushing rank is 10th and the Dolphins rank 19th in stopping the run. This heavily depends on defensive tackles Paul Soliai and Randy Starks.

The Patriots offense vs. the Dolphins defense:

Is it safe to say that Tom Terrific is back? He has eight touchdowns and 748 passing yards so far this season! The rest of his stats are pretty impressive as well, so to answer my own question; yes.

The offensive line also is looking good even without Logan Mankins because Dan Connolly has performed well filling in for Mankins. They have allowed only two sacks in three games. When the Patriots do run the ball, the offensive line has paved out 123 yards per game.

We all know the Patriots receiving core is strong but the Dolphins secondary is strong as well. Miami's pass defense ranks ninth in the NFL, with Sean Smith as the number one cornerback. Look for Smith to cover Moss and Vontae Davis to cover Wes Welker. Smith's physical style should help contain an equally physical Randy Moss. However, if Smith gets burnt early watch for some double coverage on Moss.

The Dolphins offense vs. the Patriots defense:

Chad Henne has played well, but needs more protection from his offensive line, as I mentioned earlier. A better protected Henne would result in a better performance. The Patriots defense has five sacks so far including Gerard Warren with two. This will be a major problem for Miami.

Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams have underachieved so far this season, as they rank 16th in the league. They are good enough to rank in the top ten, but the offensive line weakness does not help.

The Patriots top cornerback, Devin McCourty, is a rookie. Brandon Marshall could very well eat him alive, resulting in double coverage. If the Dolphins get the secondary weapons involved, they could shred New England's young secondary.

Prediction:

This should be a very close game. The Dolphins' weak offensive line and the Patriots' weak secondary will be the intriguing part of this game. I think the Patriots will leave Miami with a hard fought win.