The Miami Dolphins made good use of their first game of the season, taking a trip up to Gillette Stadium and taking down the New England Patriots by a close score of 17-16. It was just the second time the Dolphins have won in Foxborough since 2009.
Battle of Former Teammates: Tagovailoa Wins Round One
Former teammates at the University of Alabama, both 23 years of age, quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones faced off in both players’ first career week-one start. While Jones of the Patriots had a good first career start, it was not good enough to grab the win against the Dolphins.
“Feels good to win. Credit to the players, our coaching staff, offensively, defensively, in the kicking game. Tough game,” Dolphins head coach Brian Flores said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game coming up here in this environment against a good, well-coached team. We just battled, and we knew we were going to have to battle. I think our guys did that and we were able to come out with a win, so it always feels good. A lot of corrections we have to make obviously, but it’s good to get a win.”
The second year hope of Miami, Tagovailoa, may not have played the better game statistically, but he grabbed the win, and that’s what matters in the NFL.
Tagovailoa completed 16 of his 27 passing attempts for 202 yards, as well as recorded one touchdown and one interception. However, running it four times for a total of one yard, Tagovailoa also had a rushing touchdown to his credit in the game. It was a three-yard touchdown run to give the Dolphins the first lead of the game, with 5:29 remaining in the first quarter and the first points for either team in the contest.
Jones connected on 29 of his 39 passing attempts and only took one sack, racking up 281 passing yards, as well as his first career passing touchdown. Wide receiver Nelson Agholor came in handy for Jones today, catching the TD, as well as five passes for 72 yards. The TD came with 2:30 to play in the first half and gave the Patriots a three point lead at the time.
Game Tied at Half, But Miami Marched Down the Field Easily to Open the Third
However, the score was tied at 10 after the break thanks to a Jason Sanders 48-yard field goal as time expired.
Almost right out of the gates at halftime, the Dolphins connected on a three-yard pass from Tagovailoa to the rookie slot receiver Jaylen Waddle for his first career TD reception. This gave the Dolphins a 17-10 lead, as well as the lead for the rest of the game. Additionally, Waddle finished the game with four receptions for 61 yards, marking the third-most all-time for Miami rookies in their debuts.
New England did manage to add an additional six points to their side of the score before the end of the game, having two drives going for upwards of 50 yards ending in field goals.
Xavien Howard Makes Game-Changing Play
It even looked like the Patriots had a comeback on their hands, getting the ball back on the 50-yard line with just over eight minutes left in the game after a Tagovailoa interception. But cornerback Xavien Howard had other ideas.
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Unfortunately for the Foxborough faithful, after driving the ball down to the Miami 11-yard line, Damien Harris fumbled the ball after a two-yard run. That fumble was recovered by Howard, who had a quiet game, being mostly avoided by Jones and New England. However, he came in and punched the ball out with 3:35 remaining on the clock.
“Oh man I knew they were going to try and run the ball in the red zone,” Howard said. “And putting everything on the line and just punching the ball out, really.”
Both New England backs, Harris and rookie Rhamondre Stevenson, had fumbles in the game.
Tagovailoa: Dolphins Did Lots of Good Things, Still Have Things to Fix Before Buffalo Game
Miami then was able to get a critical first down and kneel it out in Gillette to run out the clock and hold on for the win. The Dolphins have won three of their past four road games dating back to last year and have now won three of their past four games against New England.
“I think offensively we started out the way we wanted to. We started out fast – getting on the ball, trying to force communication on the defensive side. I think we played complementary football, but to an extent we didn’t take advantage of a lot of the opportunities the defense gave us with a lot of the turnovers,” Tagovailoa said. “But I thought overall there are a lot of things we need to clean up offensively. I think the defense gave us a lot of opportunities and we just got to make use of those.”
The Dolphins are now 30-25-1 all-time in season openers and 19-16-1 all-time when opening the season on the road. They’ll return home for their home opener on Sunday for another division matchup, this time against the Buffalo Bills.
– Christian Chappell is a Sports Contributor for Full Press Coverage Miami Dolphins. Like and follow on Follow @cmoneypc Follow @FPC_Dolphins and Facebook.
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