The New England Patriots appear poised to provide one of the most unique challenges in the NFL this season: they’ve aligned their offensive personnel to run the football relentlessly and with a lot of power up front. That will make today’s matchup between the Dolphins and the Patriots a fascinating one to watch play out; as this will be strength on strength.
The Dolphins didn’t exactly shine from a statistics perspective last season in run defense, but the Dolphins’ defensive front has a deep group and should challenge New England effectively.
How can the Dolphins disrupt New England in Week 1 and secure a win? Here are a few items for a recipe for success.
Put your corners to work
The Dolphins’ defense boasts one of the top cornerback duos in all of football with Byron Jones and Xavien Howard as a 1-2 punch. And the Dolphins would be wise to call upon that pair to help funnel the field against New England. The Patriots’ wide receiver corp is not where they’re going to find their identity as a football team and so the Dolphins can use their talent advantage here to shut down area of the field and help funnel the run defense into a tighter portion of the field.
Howard and Jones must play well to give Miami the chance to turn this game into 9 on 9.