No Fish story: This one’s big
Miami’s rise while Patriots struggle makes today must win
FOXBORO — Must win. The times anyone has uttered those two words during Bill Belichick’s run in New England have been few and far between, much less in Week 4 of a season. But losing two straight after winning the home opener against the Texans, and facing an unbeaten division opponent in Miami, the Patriots find themselves staring at a must-win situation today. Sure, it’s early, and it’s still the Dolphins. But starting out 1-3 and sitting three games back in the division is not the place this perennial contender needs to be if it has hopes of making another run at championship No. 6.
“We know there’s a lot of football (left) but we also know we have to turn it around now,” said linebacker Dont’a Hightower. “We don’t want to be looking at the end of October and saying the same thing we’re saying now. We’re trying to attack it head on.”
Devin McCourty wouldn’t go to the must-win level. He only puts games in that category during the playoffs, when a loss means you go home, but that doesn’t diminish the significance.
“We’re in our division now, they’re on top of the division. I think we’ve all kind of been locked in and we’ve got to find a way to win, however that is,” he said. “We just need to go out there (today) and try to find a way to come out with more points than they do.”
The Patriots have had bad starts before. Just dial back to last year. They got blown out by the Chiefs on opening night, won the next two games, but then lost at home to Carolina. At 2-2, people were also in panic mode, but this is a bit different.
No one in the division was making this kind of run, and while the defense was also hemorrhaging yards and points, it didn’t have an anemic offense for an accomplice. It was scoring its usual 30 points a game. Now, not so much.
So there’s plenty more for Belichick and his coaching staff to fix. And fast.
How they fare today at Gillette Stadium, before a quick turnaround to play the Colts on Thursday night, could very well determine the course of their season.
The Patriots laid an egg in Detroit last week. They didn’t respond to the loss in Jacksonville, which seemed somewhat shocking given what we’re accustomed to in the Belichick/Brady era. You have to dig back to 2002 for the last time they lost three straight.
How will they respond against the Dolphins?
“(We’ll respond) like we always do,” said linebacker Kyle Van Noy. “Any time we’re put in a situation, backs against the wall, we stick together and play Patriot football like we know we’re capable of.”
Dolphins coach Adam Gase, meanwhile, was doing his best to downplay the significance of today — and possibly going up three games on the Pats — with a second meeting down the road in Miami. He didn’t want to poke a wounded bear any more than necessary.
“I think it’s a little early for us to even worry about anything like that. We’re getting ready for a tough opponent, at a place that we haven’t really won in a long time, against a Hall of Fame quarterback and a Hall of Fame coach,” he said. “We know that and understand that we have to play extremely well and we have to prepare the right way and do the right things (today). Really, that’s all our focus is on right now. We’re not worried about anything besides that.”
The Patriots have fared much better at home against the Dolphins than in South Florida. They haven’t lost to Miami in Foxboro since the infamous “Wildcat” game a decade ago. So they have that going for them, plus the fact, they always play well at home in general.
But no matter the venue, they’re going to have to play much better than they showed against the Jaguars (31-20) and Lions (26-10). These weren’t just losses. These were games where the Patriots were largely outplayed across the board.
“We’re trying to turn the page . . . . What’s happened in the past couple weeks has no bearing on what’s going to happen this week,” said special teams captain Matthew Slater. “We have to try and go out, be competitive, win the week, come out and play well and execute. We all need to step our game up. Everyone needs to play better with the injury situations we have and what’s been going on.”
Earlier in the week, the Patriots placed running back Rex Burkhead and linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley on injured reserve. They are both eligible to return Week 12, but their absences weaken areas that are already lacking.
The Dolphins, 6-10 a year ago, weren’t expected to do much this year after basically purging the locker room of several star players, among them defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and wide receiver Jarvis Landry.
And yet, they’ve ripped off wins against the Titans, Jets and Raiders. Their early success stems from the return of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who didn’t play last season because of a knee injury, and an improved defense, particularly against the run (seventh best in the league).
The Dolphins want to prove they’re no fluke and further bury the longtime dominant team in the AFC East. The Patriots, meanwhile, are trying to avoid a hole that will be tough to rally from.
“We’re tired of losing. That’s the bottom line,” said McCourty. “You can try to make a bigger deal of it ... when you lose two, we really want to go out there and win. We haven’t felt that feeling in a while.”
Prediction: Patriots 26, Dolphins 20