This was a game that the Pats would have won if the Pats could have played something close to clean football. However, they could not, and as a result they were all but done before the first half ended.
Neither the Patriots nor the Dolphins looked like a good team, Tua looks like an accident waiting to happen out there (although having elite receiving talent helps him tremendously). I will not be shocked if both of these teams end below .500.
The difference today was that the Pats offense spent a whole half unable to get out of its own way. Ended a strong initial drive with a turnover and at least a 6 point swing (the would have had a FG and Miami drive for one). Followed up a nice third and long conversion with an OL breakdown that led to a drive-killing "no chance" sack. Then got the ball deep in their end and another OL breakdown led to an untouched rusher getting a strip sack touchdown. So, Pats were a -13ish on turnovers and trailed 10-0, which tells the story of how bad Tua was and that the Pats D had held the team in it. Until 18 seconds left in the half, when a terrible coverage breakdown led to a Miami big play TD to close out the half.
Pats O ran one nice drive in the second half then back to their unable to move the ball ways.
Defense gave up a FG they didn;t need to give up because of a bad missed tackle by Bryant.
Pats finally started throwing deep balls when the game was basically gone, and Mac 1) overthrew Agholor and 2) hit Bourne for a 41 yard gain. But then Mac threw an over the middle pass that set Agholor up to be mugged, leading to a fumble/turnover.
At the end of the day, this loss was all about the breakdowns, mostly on offense but also a couple of crucial ones on D. If the turnover battle is even instead of 0-3, the Pats win this one without much difficulty. But, alas, the turnovers count.
The three goats:
1. Bill Belichick. He tried some newfangled things on offense, both in terms of coaching (no coordinators, an OL coach who has to toggle between calling plays and coahcing the OL) and blocking schemes. And the team, and especially the OL, wasn't ready to execute. That buck has to stop at the head coach/head of the football operation.
2. The offensive line, esepcially pass blocking. Two free untouched to the QB drive killing sacks, one a strip sack TD.
3. Mac. At times he was good, he was dealing with an unreliable OL, but, the failure of the last drive, when he hit the deep ball to Bourne, was because he was unable to hit the shorter stuff - and when he did he set Agholor up to get blown up, leading to a turnover.
I would not be surprised if both of these teams finish below .500. The Dolphins did not look good, and because of turnovers and inability to make big plays* by the Pats, they handled the Pats easily. Maybe the Pats clean up their act and become good, maybe they don't. Neither would be a shock to me.
* When given time and able to step into a bomb, Mac's arm looked fine. When he needs to throw an out or rifle one into tight coverage over the middle, his arm looked awful. When his pocket collapsed and he had to rush his throws, also not great. Maybe they need to throw deep a whole heck of a lot more often than they do, to loosen defenses up.
Edit: Mac going for X-rays after the game. Maybe an injury is part of why he looked so awful (other than the deep balls) on that last drive. That would not exectly bode well for the team.
