The Patriots first-half zone struggles stemmed from Miami attacking their off-coverage corners on deep outs. The Pats were playing Cover-2 at a top-five rate entering the week, and opposing coordinators seem to have a bead on Kuhr's tricky Cover-2s. Above, CB Christian Gonzalez bails into the deep half of an inverted Tampa-2 zone, and WR Malik Washington breaks off a deep out in front of him for a 23-yard gain.
New England entered the week ranked 30th in pass EPA in zone coverage, and after Willis was efficient vs. zone again this week, that ranking likely won't improve after Sunday. New England needs to be more consistent in zone structures to complement its great man-coverage schemes.
**5\. Patriots Offensive Line Makes a Halftime Adjustment, Settles in for Second Half**
Like many of their splits by half in this game, the Patriots pass protection struggled in the opening two quarters but improved in the second half. The Pats opened the game with the same starting five they played with in Chicago: LT Campbell, LG Rouse, C Wilson, RG Pryor, RT Moses. According to NextGen Stats, Maye was under pressure on 57.1% of his first-half drop-backs (two sacks). Both of Miami's sacks came on stunt schemes, where the Pats O-Line struggled to pass off loopers to allow routes to develop downfield.
At halftime, the Patriots inserted top backup Ben Brown at left guard for Walter Rouse, and although it's a group effort, the pass protection settled down. Maye was under pressure on only 38.5% of his drop-backs in the final two quarters, and the downfield passing game produced better results. As always, we'll take a closer look at the line play in After Further Review, but the second-half pressure rate suggests Brown and the O-Line came together as the game wore on.
**6\. Patriots Run Defense Shuts Down Dolphins RB Ollie Gordon (19 carries, 69 yards)**
Heading into the matchup, we discussed the Dolphins third-ranked rushing attack in explosive run rate and how Miami's lead back, Ollie Gordon, was a problem. On Sunday, the Pats held the Dolphins rushing attack to just a 33% success rate while stuffing Gordon five times (two runs over 10 yards). The leaders in the stuffed-run category were LB Christian Elliss and DT Cory Durden, who each had two run stuffs. Durden, in particular, stood out at first glance for his power into the line of scrimmage.
Along with strong run defense, the Patriots also sacked Willis five times in the first half. Durden got credit for 1.5 sacks, and rookie Gabe Jacas also got a full sack when he came free as the looper on a stunt scheme. Overall, Willis was under pressure on 45% of his drop-backs, while the run defense held strong, making this a "win" for the Pats defense in the trenches against the Dolphins offensive line.
**7\. Patriots Ride RBs Rhamondre Stevenson, Corey Kiner in Offensive Backfield**
As expected, Stevenson played a bulk of the snaps with the Patriots down second-year RB TreVeyon Henderson (illness). The Pats lead back played 45 snaps (76.3%), while Kiner mixed in on 11 plays and had two "10+" runs. The scheme that got Kiner rolling was "split-flow" zone, where the line blocks outside zone in one direction while the tight end "sifts" across in the other direction. Kiner hit runs of 20 and 10 yards on split-zone, with a smooth cutback on his 20-yarder. Stevenson also had nine successful runs by grinding out some dirty yards. Overall, the Patriots had a 45% rushing success rate in a solid ground game.
**8\. Patriots Special Teams Have a Boom-or-Bust Day vs. the Dolphins**
Lastly, the special teams units were a mixed bag in Sunday's game. K Andy Borregales missed a 40-yard field goal wide right in the first half (10-for-12 this season). To be fair, Dolphins K Zane Gonzalez had a 43-yard miss kicking in that direction as well. The Pats also allowed two big kickoff returns to Dolphins RB Jaylen Wright, who had a 43-yard return and a 36-yard return. On a positive note, punt returner Marcus Jones had a 26-yard return in the first quarter that set the Patriots up with good field position. Although all four kickoffs were touchbacks, RBs Lan Larison and Corey Kiner handled kickoff return duties on Sunday.
After recovering from a shaky first half to start 3-0 in the division with a win over the Dolphins, the Patriots will now turn the page to Gronk Hall of Fame weekend vs. the Packers in Week 9.