What Drake Maye and the Patriots Should Expect in Miami
The 3-8 New England Patriots travel to South Florida this weekend to take on their AFC East rivals, the Miami Dolphins. The two teams battled to a 15-10 game in early October, which resulted in a win for Miami, but New England enters this game as a completely different team. The Pats’ defense will have their work cut out for them with two-speed threats in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle at receiver for the Dolphins. In addition to keeping the top on the defense, they must devise a different scheme to contain the offense as New England has never beaten Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. On the other side of the ball, the Patriots offense will look to build on their promising future with Drake Maye at the helm.
Maye enters Week 12 fresh off his best game as a professional. In six starts, the UNC product has produced nine touchdowns through the air, one on the ground, but has turned the ball over seven times. Against Los Angeles last week, Maye turned in two touchdowns and 282 yards with his only interception coming on the final drive. Miami generates the fifth-highest pressure rate in the NFL, despite using a below-league-average blitz rate. With the worst-rated offensive line in the league and a young quarterback, who is turnover-prone, New England will have to find a way to get the ball out of Maye’s hands quickly.
In addition to the track stars featured on Miami’s offense, New England defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington will be tested for the second week in a row with a motion-heavy offense. Hill and Waddle are fantastic receivers who are utilized to perfection when they are put in motion pre-snap, where they have the opportunity to move full speed at their defenders as soon as the ball is snapped. With cornerback Jonathan Jones on the back nine of his career, the Patriots will have to ask second-year corner Christian Gonzalez and third-year Marcus Jones to run with the two-star receivers. Gonzalez has proved to be effective in two games in his career against the Dolphins, with only 10 targets allowed for just three receptions, 45 yards, and an incredible interception in Week Two last season while covering Hill.
While New England managed to keep the game close in the first matchup this season between the two teams, both enter this week’s matchup with new quarterbacks. Tagovailoa has been phenomenal this season against the blitz, a strategy that the Patriots have often leaned on in 2024. Second-year defensive lineman Keion White will have a lot on his plate as the Miami quarterback tends to get the ball out of his hands faster than any quarterback this season. 2023 All-Pro Christian Barmore will appear in his second game, so it will be interesting to see if he can return to form and add another threat in the pass rush for the Patriots.