Patriots Week 17: 4 Things to know about the Dolphins
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Today on Musket Fire, we’re turning the page on Week 16 and looking ahead to the New England Patriots’ showdown with the Miami Dolphins.
Losers of five of their last six, the Dolphins are the worst team in the AFC East. Now, that’s not so say the Patriots should take this game fort granted, however. Since the Dolphins are a divisional rival, they are very familiar with the Patriots.
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Divisional matchups are never easy—just look at the Baltimore Ravens’ upset win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Or the Seattle Seahawks losing to the St. Louis Rams, at home of all places.
To ensure that Patriots fans don’t underestimate the Dolphins, we’ve compiled a list of four things you should know about the Dolphins. Give it a look:
Next: 4. Parker, Landry are heating up
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4. DeVante Parker, Jarvis Landry are heating up
The Dolphins selected Parker at No. 14 overall in the 2015 NFL Draft to provide another young talent for Ryan Tannehill alongside Jarvis Landry, and that vision is slowly but surely coming to fruition.
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After a quiet start to the season, Parker has been coming on as of late. He snagged four passes for 93 yards last week against the Indianapolis Colts, and another four balls for 87 yards the week before that against the San Diego Chargers.
Here’s a look at Parkers’ 49-yard catch last week, as well as a nice catch, broken tackle and surge for a first down:
WATCH Former Card DeVante Parker Finish With 4 Catches For 93 Yards vs. The Colts #L1C4 pic.twitter.com/CvKlYuOfSm
— Louisville Fan Base (@UofLFanBASE) December 28, 2015
The more Parker heats up, the scarier the Dolphins’ aerial attack will become, as they already have a true No. 1 threat in Landry. The LSU product is the sixth-most targeted player in football, tied with DeAndre Hopkins (154). Landry has made the most of that attention, corralling 104 passes for 1,083 yards and four touchdowns.
The Patriots ought to plug Pro Bowl corner Malcolm Butler on Landry and let Logan Ryan work against the rookie with safety help over the top.
Next: 3. Grimes, Jones are top-notch DBs
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3. Brent Grimes, Reshad Jones are top-notch defensive backs
There are two things you should know about the Miami secondary: Grimes and Jones. In the eyes of many, both were snubbed of Pro Bowl berths this season.
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Grimes has been his usual spectacular self, breaking up 14 passes and intercepting four this season. CSNNE’s Phil Perry compared Grimes to the Patriots’ Malcolm Butler. Both are 5-foot-10, 190 pounds; wear No. 21; came into the league undrafted from Division II colleges.
Meanwhile, Jones has been one of the best safeties in the league this year. In addition to leading the Dolphins in tackles, Jones has recorded a pair of sacks, picked off five passes and returned two of them for touchdowns. Jones was so ticked off after being snubbed of a Pro Bowl berth that he claimed he wouldn’t even go to Hawaii as an alternate.
The Pats must be weary of these two ball hawks in Week 17.
Next: Respectable ground game
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2. Respectable ground game
Something the Dolphins do decently well is run the ball. They rank ninth in the league averaging 4.5 yards per carry.
Interestingly, the Dolphins rank dead-last in rushing attempts. This can be attributed to the Dolphins often playing from behind and having to pass the ball. But the point here is that when the Dolphins do hand it off, they experience measured success.
Lamar Miller probably won’t reach the 1,000-yard mark on the season (he has 188 yards to go), but he ranks 12th among all ball carriers with an average of 4.6 yards per carry. His backup, flashy rookie Jay Ajayi, picks up 4.4 yards every time he touches the ball.
No, the Dolphins ground game isn’t historic by any means, or even one of the best in the league. But Patriots fans should keep in mind that the Miami rushing attack deserves some respect, especially after the Pats got gashed for 143 yards last week against the Jets.
Next: 1. Ramifications of Dolphins losing
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1. Ramifications of Dolphins losing
Yes, the Dolphins have been eliminated from the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to play for in this game.
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In addition to spoiling the Patriots’ hopes at home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Dolphins will be motivated on Sunday to avoid their worst regular season record since that disastrous 1-15 season back in 2007. Should the Dolphins lose in Week 17, they would finish at 5-11.
Of course, the intervening time since 2007 hasn’t been a field of roses. Besides the 2008 turnaround in which they were 11-5, the Dolphins haven’t had winning record. They finished 6-10 in 2011, 7-9 three times (2009, 2010, 2012) and 8-8 in each of the past two seasons.
That being said, a 5-11 record is pretty bad, something that the Dolphins definitely want to avoid.
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Stay tuned on Musket Fire as we bring you thoughts and analysis for the upcoming AFC East showdown.