slides: What to Watch For: Dolphins vs. Patriots

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

The New England Patriots (6-0) host the (3-3) Miami Dolphins tonight at Gillette Stadium. The Dolphins have beaten the Patriots two of the last three times they have played.

See the What to Watch For Slideshow Below

"They're playing great. They've got a lot of great players. You know, every time we've played these guys, they've been a challenge. So we started off last year and lost to them in the first game of the year. We battled back against them in the second half of last year," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in his press conference this week.

Dolphins Turning it Around

The Dolphins started the season 1-3 and fired coach Joe Philbin after a loss to the Jets. Miami went to interim coach Dan Campbell and have since won two straight games and are playing much more inspired football.

"I would just say that the guys have played for one another, which is the most important thing when you're talking about team and teamwork and that's kind of the way everything has been. It's competing against one another, competing for one another and then having it spill out into Sunday obviously," said Campbell.

A win for the Dolphins would get them to 4-3 and back in the AFC East and AFC playoff race. However, Miami hasn't won a game in New England since 2008.

For more on the matchup, see the what to watch for slideshow below.

Related Slideshow: What to Watch For: Dolphins vs. Patriots

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Thursday Night Football

The dreaded Thursday Night Football game.

The quality of the games are usually not great, the matchups, other than a couple, are usually not terrific and the majority of NFL players don't enjoy them. Players argue that for a league that has serious concussion issues, an extra game on short rest is not the best way to prevent more from happening.

Don't be disappointed if the game isn't pretty or if the Patriots don't play all that well.

Just a win and no significant injuries is all we are looking for out of tonight's game. Then 10 days off.

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Brandon LaFell

Brandon LaFell returned to the lineup last week after being on the PUP list for the first six weeks and it did not go well.

LaFell was targeted eight times and had six drops, a couple of them coming on third downs. After the game, LaFelll said he would have given himself a grade of an F.

LaFell could have a big game, given he will have fresher legs then just about everyone else on the field.

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Running Game

The Patriots are 6-0 and have the worst running game in the NFL..

Last game against the Jets, New England's lead rusher was... Tom Brady with 15 yards.

While Brady throwing the ball 50 times per game is fun to watch and pretty when it works, not sure that is a good strategy going forward.

Lets see if the Patriots try to establish a run game with Blount and Dion Lewis who appears to be a game time decision.

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Malcolm Butler

Teams have not been afraid to throw at Malcolm Butler so far this season. Last game, Butler saw time on both Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker and the two receivers combined for well over 100 yards.

The Dolphins don't have a big name receiver like the Jets, Steelers or Colts did so it's hard to say who Butler's primary cover will be.

With that said, Tannehill's two main targets to this point have been Rishard Matthews, who leads the team with four touchdown catches and Jarvis Landry, who leads the team with 36 receptions.

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Another O-Line Challenge

The Patriots offensive line has another challenge this week when they go up against a Dolphins defensive front that consists of Cameron Wake and Ndamukong Suh.

Wake leads the Dolphins with six sacks on the season and Suh has two sacks. Suh his scary just on his own as he is one of the dirtiest players in the game, having been fined 8 times and suspended twice in his career.

Suh has stomped on players, kicked players in the groin (Matt Schaub) and stepped on Aaron Rogers intentionally, among other things.

Similar to what we have seen over the last couple of weeks, expect the Patriots to try and go no huddle whenever they can to limit the pass rush as well as quick passes.

Photo courtesy of Keith Allison/flickr