Patriots vs. Dolphins: Analyzing the Week 8 Match-Up

Dec 14, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill (17) throws the ball during the second half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots won 41-13. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Short weeks in the NFL are just brutal.  You spend all week preparing for Sunday’s game, researching teams and watching replay, poring over crucial details and game plans with a fine-tooth comb, you’re the first to show up and the last to leave, and before you know it, it’s all over and it’s time to go and write another football column.

Oh, you thought I was talking about how hard short weeks are for the players?  Sorry about that.  

I guess it could’ve been worded a little more clearly.  Word is some pretty prominent football players aren’t huge fans of playing after three day’s rest either.

In an ironic twist, the Dolphins and Jets games this season, according to everyone and everyone, right before week 1, were supposed to be a division-championship-preview slugfest and a comedy of errors from a team that was banished to laughingstock fat-kid-in-dodgeball hell, respectively.  

Turns out, we might have all gotten that backwards – suddenly, it’s the Jets that are kicking ass and taking names, and the Dolphins that looked like they  might rival the “Dream Team” Philadelphia Eagles (remember that?) as the biggest free agency shopping spree turned meltdown of epic proportions.

I say “looked”, meaning past tense, because ever since Miami told former head coach Joe Philbin to pack up and not to let the door hit him on the way out after Week 4, the Dolphins have scored 82 points in two games and made the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans look like the other guy on a 90’s Michael Jordan poster.  

Granted, with either of those two teams, that’s not the most difficult thing to do, but still, we’re talking about a Dolphins team that got beat by Jacksonville in Week 2.  Yes, Jacksonville is still a punchline, and they will continue to be one until they can win more games than Homer Simpson has fingers on his hand.

Regardless of whether Miami is going through their own “We’re on to Cincinnati” phase or whether they’ve just crushed two teams that might both be gunning for next year’s #1 draft pick, now we know for a fact that the Dolphins can lay the smack down if given the opportunity.  Heck, the Dolphins in the last couple weeks have looked like what everyone expected the Colts to look like this year.

Enough with the comparisons.  We’ll start by looking at the guy tasked with running the show.

Next: First Up: The Other Quarterback From Texas A&M