The New England Patriots will play the Miami Dolphins in Week 1 of the NFL regular season at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Sunday afternoon.
The New England Patriots were 1-2 during the preseason after defeating Carolina and losing to Las Vegas and the Giants. New England will be starting Mac Jones at quarterback, but did lose their offensive coordinator from last year. Damien Harris will be the starting running back for the Patriots, while Nelson Agholor and DeVante Parker look to be the leading receivers. The New England defense is going to have to play very strong this season, as the offense doesn’t look like it will be anything special.
The Miami Dolphins were 2-1 this preseason after losing to Las Vegas and defeating Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. Miami will be starting Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback and will look for him to have a big year, as they were able to get him some help in the off-season. Tyreek Hill is now a Dolphin and will give defenses fits having to stay over the top of him. Chase Edmonds and Raheem Mostert will head up the backfield for the Dolphins. The Miami defense is not considered a strength, but should be able to play well against the Patriots.
New England is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games on grass and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against the AFC. The under is 4-0 in New England’s last 4 Week 1 games. Miami is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 home games and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 Week 1 games. The under is 6-2 in Miami’s last 8 games against the AFC. The home team is 16-5 ATS in these two teams last 21 head to head meetings.
This could be a special season for the Dolphins and expectations are high, but they need to start the year strong with a win here. New England will play tough like they always do, but they just don’t have the weapons to keep up here. If Miami can start fast and move New England into more of a pass first offense, the Patriots are in trouble. I like Miami to win here.
AUTHOR: David Racey
