Monday Night Football 2011: Patriots Will Join Steelers in Week 1 Epic Fail Club

Week 1 in the NFL is ripe for shock and surprise. The New England Patriots are going to cap this week off with one of the biggest surprises of all. They are going to look shockingly inept in a loss to the Dolphins.

The Patriots won't lose by the giant margin the Steelers did, but they don't have to for this one to be a shocker. The Patriots are expected to roll over the Dolphins.

Footballocks.com currently has them listed as a 7.5 favorite. This is an understandable spread given the Patriots defeated the Dolphins by a combined score of 79-21 in their two 2010 meetings.

The Dolphins are going to shock the Patriots with an adept passing game. Their offensive line is terrific in pass protection, and they will have a healthy Jake Long in this one. SportingNews.com reports that, despite not having played a down in the preseason, Long is ready to go.

And a healthy Jake Long is an effective Jake Long.

The Dolphins will give Chad Henne plenty of time to throw, and he will be ready to take advantage of it. Henne is coming off of a very solid preseason that was highlighted by his Week 3 performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Henne was 10/13 with 175 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs.

He will also be facing a young Patriots secondary that will have few answers for Miami's physical receiver Brandon Marshall.

The Patriots secondary has not looked good this preseason. In the pivotal third game of the preseason they were torched by Lions' QB Matthew Stafford. Stafford was 12/14 with 200 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs.

Of course, the Dolphins will also have to slow down Tom Brady if they want to be successful in this one. They are going to do this by putting constant pressure on Tom Brady. The Patriots offensive line is not a dominant group. LT Matt Light has deteriorated to a liability and RT Nate Solder has not matured into anything beyond a liability.

Cameron Wake is going to feast on these guys, and make Tom Brady's passing life very uncomfortable in the process.

My Prediction

Dolphins 24

Patriots 17