Miami Dolphins Set To Face Best Team In AFC

It pains me to say it but the New England Patriots are by far the best team in the AFC. Better than Denver, better than the Indianapolis Colts, and yes homerville, better than the Miami Dolphins. What makes New England so good year after year after year? All things being equal, it’s their coach. Again…sadly.

When people look at the Patriots on the field they see Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski but quick, name their starting running back. Quick name their other tight end, their wide-receivers. Unless you live inside a stat machine you had to give a little pause to think about it. The Patriots are not winning with Mike Wallace types or even a Lamar Miller. They are winning with guys named Brandon Lafell, Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman and a platoon of Jonas Gray and Legarrette Blount and some cast off tight end named Tim Wright.

Outside of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski the team isn’t much at all. This was evident early in the season when the Patriots were nothing like they are today and when Gronkowski wasn’t healthy enough to be a part of the offense. Defensively the team wasn’t any better and you would be hard pressed to name their cornerbacks, all of their line backers and their defensive lineman outside of Vince Wilfork. We know their names because we play them twice a year but they are all far from headliners across the NFL.

This week the Miami Dolphins will be tasked to stop them. Delay their division victory party and they will be asked to do it in front of the Patriots’ home crowd.

It literally is a tale of two teams who have taken different approaches to winning. The Patriots have built a dynasty in the AFC East but much of that can be attributed to a lack of effort within the division. They play the Jets, Bills, and Miami twice and for the most part over the last decade that has been equal to five wins a season. Consider that the Patriots consistently finish the season with 10 or 11 wins with five of those games on average against division rivals the Patriots are winning five or six games off the rest of their schedule. That’s close to .500.

So why are they so much better? For starters they are very well coached and very well managed on the field. Bill Belichick manages more than just timeout, the play clock, and challenge flags, he manages the game itself and he doesn’t just coach his players, he coaches his coaches as well. The Patriots don’t stop. They will fight to the end even when they hold a 24 point lead. They finish games the same way the started and that is how they coach. There is no prevent style of defense and there is no running out the clock.

The Dolphins have had two blowouts this season, the Oakland Raiders game and the San Diego game. New England have blown out the Vikings, Colts, Broncos, Lions, and Bears. Oh My. Blowouts don’t necessarily mean you are a better team but it does show the commitment to winning. Take Denver for example, the Patriots took control and didn’t let up. They piled 43 points on the scoreboard while the Dolphins stopped attacking in the 4th quarter and eventually lost. The Patriots are the best in the AFC because they don’t take their foot off the gas until the game clock expires.

This is what the Dolphins will face this weekend. It’s not the same team the faced in week one, so many weeks ago when fans thought the team had indeed turned a corner. Miami will face a very improved defense while trying to fix the problems they have with their depleted line. They will face a full strength offense powered by Tom Brady and Gronkowski and a slew of other contributing players who do exactly what they are told to do and no less. Yet for all of what New England has, Miami can still beat this team. Miami can beat any team when they want to.

It is going to take a New England style of play on Sunday to beat the Patriots. The Dolphins will need to put their foot on that pedal and keep it there for 60 minutes. The Dolphins have to attack they can’t play passive and they can’t play to not lose. It’s time Joe Philbin takes a page from the Patriots book of winning and play not to win, but play to make a statement.