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Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (17) celebrates his touchdown against the New England Patriots with teammates on the field during the second half at Hard Rock Stadium last season. Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

Dolphins-Patriots Week 2 Five Biggest Storylines

Originally posted on Miami Dolphins on SI
By Alain Poupart | Last updated Sep 14, 2025 9:30 AM ET

The Miami Dolphins will look to rebound from their poor Week 1 showing when they face the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium in their home opener Sunday.

The Dolphins have won the teams' last four meetings and have a 7-0 record against New England with Tua Tagovailoa as their starting quarterback.

Based on Miami's performance in the 33-8 loss at Indianapolis last weekend, this is not your typical Week 2 matchup ... and we analyze the five biggest storylines:

WILL THE DOLPHINS PASS RUSH SHOW UP?

The quartet of Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, Chop Robinson and Matthew Judon is supposed to wreak havoc on opponents and make things easier for the entire Dolphins defense, but the pass rush was just about nonexistent in the opener against the Colts. New England has a promising young quarterback in Drake Maye, and the Dolphins simply must affect him with pressure or it could be another difficult afternoon for the defense.

NEXT MAN UP ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE

The depth of the offensive line was a concern for the Dolphins heading into the regular — the media's words, not the team's — and it's going to be tested early against New England. With right guard James Daniels on IR and right tackle Austin Jackson out with a toe injury, it's going to be up to Kion Smith and Larry Borom to protect Tua Tagovailoa's blind side. We'd imagine the Dolphins would find ways to give them some help throughout the game, but they'll still have to perform against a New England defense that produced five sacks in its season-opening loss against the Las Vegas Raiders.

IS THIS THE WEEK FOR A BIG PLAY ON OFFENSE?

This topic has been beaten to death over the past several days, weeks and even months, but it's going to be brought up as long as the Dolphins continue to go without big pass plays on offense. The stat of Tyreek Hill not having a reception longer than 30 yards since the 2024 opener against Jacksonville surfaced this week, but we also should mention that Jaylen Waddle also doesn't have a catch longer than 36 yards in that same time span. The Dolphins are spending way too much money on those two wide receivers for them to be possession receivers, so the time has come to go deep.

SCOUTING SCHOOLER

Based on what we saw at Indianapolis last week, it's difficult (if not impossible) to envision the Dolphins running away with this game, therefore the margin for error won't be very large. And one thing the Dolphins can't have is a game-changing special teams play. And this is where we bring up New England special teams Brenden Schooler, who blocked a Dolphins field goal in 2023 and then blocked a Dolphins punt last season. This type of thing can't happen in this game.

WILL TUA BOUNCE BACK?

Regardless of how you view Tua Tagovailoa as a quarterback, one thing that's almost undeniable is that he's efficient more often than not. But he was far from that against the Colts in what might have been the worst performance of his career. Like the rest of his team — perhaps more than anybody else on the team — he needs a bounce-back performance and to deliver the kind of efficient quarterbacking he produced for more of last season, even if the deep passing isn't there. The turnovers simply have to be eliminated.