The first win of the New England Patriots’ Mike Vrabel era was a thriller. Taking on the Dolphins in Miami, the first-year head coach and his team emerged with a 33-27 victory from what was a back-and-forth division battle.
The Week 2 shootout saw several noteworthy performances, for better or worse, and an improved Patriots team across the board. A look at our weekly grading chart, however, shows that not every part of the team played an equal part in New England breaking its five-year losing streak in Miami.
Patriots position grades for Week 2
Quarterback: Drake Maye has 14 starts under his belt now, and Sunday’s might have been his best one so far. The sophomore looked significantly more comfortable and decisive with his reads, cut down on the unforced errors that plagued him in Week 1, and showed the dual-threat talent that made him a first-round pick last spring. Both of his touchdown passes were impressive as was his scoring run, while his third down conversion to Rhamondre Stevenson saw him combine poise, pocket movement and touch. There were plenty of positives to build on. | Grade: A
Running back: After last week’s pass-heavy game script, the Patriots made an effort to get their running backs more involved. They did, and the group delivered. The star of the show was Rhamondre Stevenson, who looked like the player of old as a runner while also setting a new career mark with 88 receiving yards. The only blemish might have been rookie TreVeyon Henderson struggling in pass protection and finding limited success on the ground. | Grade: B
Wide receiver: Mack Hollins and Kayshon Boutte both found the end zone, while Stefon Diggs was again actively involve in the mix. Overall, however, the group had a quiet day against a Dolphins secondary that fielded several “break glass in case of emergency” options at cornerback. Supposed go-to receiver DeMario Douglas in particular continues to be quiet, catching just one 8-yard pass all day. | Grade: C
Tight end: The tight end group saw a similar level of involvement as the wide receivers, meaning that there were positive moments but the contributions were far from consistent. It was encouraging to see Austin Hooper finish with three catches for 38 yards, but Hunter Henry was quiet outside of one catch and an illegal shift penalty. The run blocking was also a bit mid. | Grade: C-
Offensive line: Going against a talented defensive front, the Patriots’ new-look offensive line did its job. Drake Maye was pressured on 22.5 percent of his dropbacks, a clear improvement from last week’s 39.2, and despite being sacked on three occasions generally had enough time and space to make proper reads without a sped-up process. The run blocking also was solid for the most part, allowing New England to gain an average of 4.1 yards per scripted run. One area to clean up, though: penalties. The group was flagged five times, including three Morgan Moses false starts. | Grade: B
Defensive line: Even though they did not overwhelm the Dolphins’ makeshift offensive line, the Patriots defensive line played a pretty good game overall. The pass rush can best be described as quality over quantity: Tua Tagovailoa was taken down five times, with all of those sacks coming on either third or fourth down, including Milton Williams’ game-clincher with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter. New England also was solid against a potent Miami run game, with one 18-yarder by wide receiver Malik Washington as the only big play given up on the ground. | Grade: A-
Linebacker: It might be too early to ring the alarm bell on free agency pickup Robert Spillane, but the team captain another rough outing against Miami. His pass defense was suspect, as was his tackling: Spillane missed five of eight tackle attempts. He was in good company in that regard, with Christian Elliss also missing three. Not all was bad for the group, though. Marte Mapu had an interception, while both Spillane and Elliss looked good playing downhill versus the run. | Grade: D+
Cornerback: Going up against a talented wide receiver group headlined by Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, the Patriots’ cornerbacks had to operate without Christian Gonzalez for a second straight week. Needless to say, having the All-Pro in the lineup would have helped. With him absent, however, the group had its fair share of issues. Gonzalez’s nominal replacement, Alex Austin, found himself on the wrong end of the stick particularly often: he surrendered a team-worst 98 yards and a touchdown on seven targets before seeing his responsibilities change in favor of Marcus Jones. | Grade: C-
Safety: Even though New England managed to reduce the number of “X-plays” given up, they were still a problem overall. That was in part because of the safeties, and in particular rookie Craig Woodson, being late to diagnose and react to certain reads and route combinations. More experience will help with that, but there were definitive issues on Sunday. | Grade: C-
Special teams: The Patriots’ special teams operation continues to run hot and cold. On the one hand, the group surrendered a punt return touchdown, had four penalties and missed a pair of missed extra points. On the other hand, rookie kicker Andy Borregales finished strong, Bryce Baringer averaged 68 yards on his two punts, and Antonio Gibson took a kickoff back 90 yards for a touchdown. | Grade: C
Overall, the Patriots can feel good about their performance in Miami. There is plenty to clean up, and some individual performances deserve scrutiny, but the game was step in the right direction after a disappointing season opener. Now, it’s all about making the necessary adjustments and keeping momentum alive against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3.
How would you grade the Patriots’ performance in Week 2, though? Do you agree with our assessment? Please head down to the comment section to discuss.
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