Dolphins Lose Back-and-Forth Battle With Patriots

The Miami Dolphins dropped another one against the New England Patriots on Sunday, losing 33 to 27 in the team’s home opener in Week 2. 

It was a back-and-forth game that included plenty of scoring, a few timely stops, and even back-to-back kick return touchdowns. However, Miami’s sloppy and inconsistent play ultimately cost it an opportunity to get its first win. 

Now at 0-2, with two pretty rough showings, there will be a lot of big-picture conversations asked in South Florida this week. Here’s our recap of the action from Sunday. 

Drive By Drive Recap 

The game did not get off to a good start for the Dolphins. New England took the opening kick and drove 68 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown. However, kicker Andres Borregales, a Miami Hurricane alum, missed the extra point. 

Miami’s offense followed that up with a three-and-out, but it could’ve been worse because Tua Tagovailoa had a bad interception taken off the board after offsetting penalties resulted in a replay of third down. 

The Patriots took the ball and drove right back down the field again. This time it was 70 yards on 11 plays, capped off by a beautiful touchdown throw from Drake Maye to Kayshon Boutte in the left corner of the end zone. Jack Jones had good coverage, but Boutte made an incredible play. 

Borregales missed the extra point again, resulting in the score being just 12-0. 

The Dolphins’ offense woke up on the next drive, as they attacked the Patriots in the flats with De’Von Achane and Tyreek Hill. The eight-play, 80-yard drive was capped off by Tua Tagovailoa hitting Jaylen Waddle for a touchdown. 

On the Patriots’ ensuing possession, the Dolphins’ defense finally kept them out of the end zone. New England’s 15-play, 71-yard drive resulted in a field goal after the teams traded bad penalties. Rookie Kenneth Grant deflected what looked like a touchdown pass on third and goal. 

The Dolphins capitalized on some momentum, taking the next drive into the end zone. Tua hit Achane over the middle of the field in 1-on-1 coverage against linebacker Robert Spillane, allowing Achane to get inside the five roughly untouched. He then plowed through a tackler for the score.

Miami wanted to go for the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 15, but Patrick Paul was called for a false start, forcing them to kick the extra point to make the score 15-14. 

The Patriots took a knee with 33 seconds left in the half, which technically counts as the Dolphins’ first defensive stop of the season. 

Miami came out of the half and finally got its vertical passing game working. On third and 13, Tua hit Tyreek Hill for a 47-yard gain. The ball was horribly underthrown, but Hill made a nice adjustment to make the catch. 

The Dolphins settled for three after an illegal motion penalty wiped a third-down conversion off the board, making the score 17-15. Miami’s defense answered with its first real stop of the 2025 season, thanks to a third-down sack by Jordyn Brooks. 

The Dolphins’ offense continued to look closer to its usual self, as they drove 30 yards on eight plays for another field goal to make the game, 20-15. Aaron Brewer had a holding penalty that wiped out a potential first-and-goal. 

Miami’s defense then went back to its old ways, as New England answered with a five-play, 83-yard touchdown drive and 2-point conversion to make the score 23-20. Jaelan Phillips missed a sack on third down from the Pats’ 24, resulting in Maye hitting Stevenson for a 55-yard gain on a wheel route. Maye then scrambled into the end zone two plays later. 

Miami and New England traded stops on the ensuing drives, but then Malik Washington made an incredible punt return, putting the Dolphins ahead 27-23. He bobbled the ball at first but broke multiple tackles on his way to the end zone. 

It was Miami’s first punt return touchdown in five seasons. 

Unfortunately for the Dolphins, New England ran back the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Antonio Gibson took it 90 yards for a touchdown after bouncing off a tackle, giving the Pats a 30-27 lead with 7:06 left. 

The Dolphins’ offense then imploded on the ensuing possession after a few first downs. Two offensive procedure penalties, a brutal pass protection rep from Larry Borom, and a Tua INT gave New England the ball back just before the two-minute warning. 

Miami’s defense – aided by the Pats’ poor play — got the stop with 1:47 left and even saved one of Miami’s timeouts. However, the Dolphins’ offense couldn’t finish the final TD drive. 

After two straight offensive procedure penalties, Tua was sacked on fourth down, ending the game and Miami’s chance at a comeback. 

Offensive Recap

It was hardly an ideal showing for the Dolphins’ offense, but it showed some signs of life. Achane led the way for most of the game, recording 30 rushing yards, along with 82 receiving yards. 

Tagaovailoa’s arm strength still looked somewhat questionable, but he hit far more passes downfield, and his decision-making was a lot better for the first three quarters. He completed his first nine passes and finished the game 26-of-32 for 315 yards, two touchdowns, and one INT. 

Tua played well for most of the game, but he — and the Dolphins’ offense — faltered when it mattered most. His interception was a play where he needed to make something happen, but it wasn’t a good decision, regardless. 

However, Miami had two offensive operation penalties and a sack before that, putting them way behind the sticks. Roughly the same thing happened on the Dolphins’ final drive. 

The Dolphins had two offensive procedure penalties after getting deep into New England territory, and Milton Williams closed the game with a sack on fourth down.

He even beat Kion Smith on the play, making it a perfect encapsulation of the Dolphins’ OL personnel and offensive procedure failures in the Mike McDaniel-Chris Grier era. 

Perhaps the best sign for the offense was seeing Hill and Waddle get more involved in the game, even catching a few passes downfield. Hill finished with six catches for 108 yards, while Waddle finished with five catches for 58 yards and one touchdown. 

Defensive Recap 

Miami’s defense was horrible in the first half. It allowed the Patriots to convert several third-and-longs and bailed them out with a couple of penalties. 

If it wasn’t for some missed extra points and Grant’s deflection on third and goal, the game might’ve gotten out of hand like it did against the Colts. Miami had several miscues in the secondary and was getting pushed around in the running game. 

Maye was 12-of-14 for 129 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, while adding 27 yards on the ground. Rhamondre Stevenson added nine carries for 58 yards and was running through a lot of tackles early. 

Maye finished the game, completing 19-of-22 for 211 yards, two touchdowns, and 31 yards on the ground and one touchdown. The first-round pick got pretty much everything he wanted during this game. 

Outside of his throw to Boutte in the end zone, he was taking advantage of the Dolphins’ soft zone coverage. Like last week, Miami did not appear to be sticky enough in the underneath areas of the field. 

Regardless of Miami’s timely stop at the end of the game, it’s hard to feel good about this unit at all. They look sloppy and outmatched in pretty much every facet. The Dolphins did have three sacks in this game, but they had to do a lot of blitzing to get them. 

The defense allowed 333 total yards, and New England punted just twice. The Pats were also seven of 12 on third down — Miami needs to ask some hard questions about this unit. 

The Dolphins now have a quick turnaround and will play the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night. Buffalo is 2-0 this season, and Miami hasn’t beaten them since 2022.