Patriots vs. Dolphins: 10 Burning Questions for Monday Night Football Week 1

NFL Week 1 is a culmination of an entire offseason's worth of work for the 32 teams in the league through free agency, the NFL draft, training camp and the preseason.

For fans of the teams, though, it's a culmination of anywhere from six to eight months worth of waiting, speculating, analyzing and criticizing.

All the anticipation in the world won't bring any clarity before the teams take the field in their first contest of the year. The questions created through the curiosity of the masses won't clarify in the matter of one week, but the spotlight will nevertheless be shining brightly on those things that fall into question.

Here are just 10 of the biggest questions heading into Monday's AFC East showdown at 7 p.m. in Miami.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @erikfrenz.

Can Miami Exploit New England's Lack of Depth at Safety?

Go ahead. Criticize Bill Belichick for irrational moves at safety. Call him out for cutting James Sanders one week, Brandon Meriweather the next week and getting rid of two guys who played 70 and 80 percent of the snaps at safety. I don't blame you for your lack of confidence in that position.

Hopefully, we can all commiserate over our stupidity compared to Belichick's genius come the end of the season, or maybe the Patriots will get beat deep consistently for lack of a top-flight safety.

Luckily, the Patriots play a Miami team that struggled mightily to move the ball through the air, much less to make a big play in the passing game. His 6.7 yards per attempt ranked 24th in the league among starting NFL quarterbacks.

The concern is that this game will awaken a sleeping giant in Brandon Marshall, whose 2010 season wasn't bad but wasn't much more than pedestrian, either. 

Can Chad Henne Limit His Bad Decisions?

Efficiency kills in NFL football games, but inefficiency is suicide. 3.9 percent of his passes thrown were interceptions, ranking better than just three other quarterbacks: Brett Favre, Eli Manning and David Garrard.

If there's a reason to believe the light will come on for Henne this year, please point me in that direction. Because really, I haven't heard anything about it.

The fact of the matter, though, is that Miami could have game-breaking receivers on both sides of the field, but if Henne's not making the right reads and not putting the ball in a position where his guy can get it, it means nothing.

Can New England's Offensive Line Hold Up vs. Miami's Front Seven?

One stat we use over at Cold, Hard Football Facts to measure the battle of the trenches is the Offensive Hog Index and the Defensive Hog Index. These take the numbers for rushing yards per attempt, negative pass play percentage and third down conversions.

This game could come down to those numbers. Let's take a look at the numbers for New England's O-Hogs and Miami's D-Hogs:

Ranking	Team	YPA	#	NPP%	#	3rd%	#	Avg
1	New England Patriots	4.35	10	5.64	3	48.22	2	5.0
5	Miami Dolphins	3.58	4	9.24	11	37.17	11	8.7

There may be many statistical battles where the Dolphins lose to the Patriots, but they have a fighting chance if they can get pressure on Tom Brady early. Miami may have allowed an 85.03 passer rating on defense last year, but he only gave up 57.37 percent completions.

This is all due in no small part to the big role Cameron Wake plays on the defense. He is the pressure guy, racking up 14 sacks and many, many more pressures last year. Incidentally, the Patriots have had a tough time with edge pressure recently. This was exposed against the Lions in the preseason, and as WEEI's Christopher Price pointed out on the most recent "Pats Propaganda and Frenz" podcast, they have a defense capable of attacking an offensive line much like Detroit did in that preseason game.

Read more on this in a piece recently posted to Bleacher Report.

Who Covers Reggie Bush?

Reggie Bush has been explosive since he entered the league, but he hasn't been the feature back or the touchdown threat that one would like to see when taken with the second overall pick.

The natural fit here would seem to be Gary Guyton, but that could be a bad idea considering Miami's past struggles in trying to cover running backs.  According to Mike Dussault of Pats Propaganda (via Football Outsiders), the Patriots ranked 30th in the league against running backs in the receiving game.

Last year, it was Dane Fletcher who received spy duty on Ray Rice. Bush is a different cat, even if not a "wildcat." Bush's immense speed in the open field will likely put the Patriots defense to the test. Can they effectively take him out of the game? Will they allow Bush to have a big game in their endeavor to shut down Brandon Marshall?

These are all important questions in the overall perspective of this game. Unfortunately, they are also questions that can't be answered until the game's conclusion.

Will Special Teams Be a Big Factor Once Again?

To say Miami's special teams were terrible last year would be an insult to the word "terrible." New England scored three special teams touchdowns against Miami last year.

A 103-yard kickoff return by Brandon Tate, a 94-yard punt return by Julian Edelman and a blocked field goal by Patrick Chung returned 35 yards by Kyle Arrington accounted for three New England touchdowns against Miami in their two games. This doesn't count the blocked punt by Chung, which resulted in a field goal for the offense.

The Monday night meltdown last year even resulted in the firing of special teams coach John Bonamego. 

What Factor Does Home Field Advantage Play for the Miami Dolphins?

It's going to be hot at Sun Life Stadium. Summer vacation ended way too soon for most, but the season itself hasn't officially ended yet. Luckily for New England, this isn't a day game—but it's still going to be hot at Sun Life on Monday night. 

That hasn't helped Miami recently, though, as they have lost five straight home openers going back to 2006. That being said, the last time the Patriots won their first road game of the season was back in 2008, and the last time Brady did it was in 2007.

Since Brady's return in 2009, the Patriots have gone .500 on the road. They had a bad year on the road in 2009 and picked it up last year, and this game could go a long way in determining whether the Patriots will be Jekyll or Hyde on the road this year.

The Patriots most recent venture to Sun Life Stadium was a hugely successful one, with New England routing Miami 41-14. Coincidentally, that game was also aired on Monday Night Football.

Has New England's Defense Made the Right Moves?

Andre Carter. Albert Haynesworth. Shaun Ellis. Mark Anderson. If you were an unemployed defensive linemen this offseason, you at least got a look from the Patriots. Those were huge additions for a Patriots defense that was criticized mainly for its trench play last year.

They couldn't get to the quarterback. They couldn't put the brakes on an offense on third down. They couldn't stop Mark Sanchez—hardly a world-beating quarterback in any right—from putting up three touchdowns and a 127.3 passer rating.

Now, it is the Patriots defensive line that looks like world-beaters. On paper, anyway. Putting Carter next to Haynesworth next to Vince Wilfork next to Ellis? Any combination of the aforementioned four?

Good luck defending that.

So far, though, we've only seen it come together in the preseason. It will be tough to gauge success based on one game, but this will at least give the team a good barometer of areas it needs to improve on. 

What Will Albert Haynesworth's Impact Be?

The talk of the town throughout training camp has been the conditioning of Albert Haynesworth. 

The excitement centers around pairing Haynesworth with Pro Bowl NT Vince Wilfork. At their best, the two have the potential to be the most dominant interior defensive linemen in the league. The question is, will Haynesworth be at his best? And how much of his best will he be able to give the Patriots?

He looked good in preseason, but that was in limited snaps. Working Haynesworth into game shape could be a process, and Monday will be the beginning of that process. If Haynesworth is out there—even for just 15-or-so snaps—Mike Pouncey and the rest of the Dolphins' interior offensive line could be in for a grueling test.

But how many snaps will he play? Only time will tell. 

Will Chad Ochocinco Show Signs of Progress?

Three catches. 23 yards. One touchdown. Not exactly a glowing stat sheet from the 2011 preseason for Chad Ochocinco—especially when you consider the touchdown was a gimme and there was at least one game where Ochocinco looked particularly lost.

More or less, he and Brady just looked out of sync. The stat sheet isn't the only reason, either. He had a shaky training camp with a lot of peaks and valleys—mostly valleys, due to an inordinate amount of drops.

He will also have to show incredible route-running discipline if he wants Brady to throw him the ball. If Ochocinco's not where he's supposed to be, Brady will just look elsewhere.

Ochocinco doesn't need to have five catches and a touchdown to "show signs of progress," but he certainly can't be dropping the ball like he was in training camp. 

Who Will Win?

The Vegas spread has New England as a 6.5 point favorite over Miami, but as we all know, that means next to nothing. Sure, Vegas is right about 65 percent of the time, and the Patriots are the decided favorites in almost every phase of the game, but that's why they have all those "any given Sunday," "that's why they play the games" cliches.

Legitimately, as stated in a previous article, if the Dolphins front seven brings it on Monday night, this game will be a lot closer than people think. The battle between the Patriots offensive line and the Dolphins' front seven is where the war will be won.

In the end, a game that close comes down to the better quarterback-head coach combination, and the Patriots have a clear advantage in both of those areas.