Dolphins escape Foxborough with 17-16 victory over New England

This is almost certainly not how the Miami Dolphins drew things up for Week 1. Miami was outgained by nearly 140 yards, conceded 11 conversions on third down, struggled with their rhythm offensively and were generally on their heels against the New England Patriots for the majority of the game.

But a win is a win.

And that’s exactly what the Miami Dolphins found with their annual trip north to Foxborough to play the New England Patriots, escaping Week 1 with a resilient 17-16 victory over their division rivals to secure their first season opening-win under the direction of head coach Brian Flores.

Miami utilized a nifty opening script offensively and a sound adjustment to the offensive plan against New England to open the second half to secure two trips to the end zone in their 17 point offensive effort; which was close to the vest and generally conservative against Bill Belichick and one of the most opportunistic defenses in the NFL. Miami did what New England could not — beat themselves in the process.

Many of the Dolphins’ miscues in Week 1 were questionable, such as a brutal roughing the passer penalty called on Elandon Roberts on a 3rd-down sack that set up New England with their only touchdown on the game. But the Patriots’ miscues? They were self-inflicted — including several personal foul penalties that cost the Patriots valuable field position.

And then there were the two fumbles.

Eric Rowe ripped the ball out on one occasion, but the game-changing play came from 2020 Defensive Player of the Year candidate Xavien Howard, who punched the ball out of RB Damien Harris’ hands down in the red zone in the final minutes of the game; taking the potential go-ahead points off the board and setting the Dolphins up with a possession that would go on to ice the game. After the fumble, Miami would run out the rest of the clock on the ground, showing the resiliency in a critical game situation to push the ball for the needed first down; draining New England of all three of their timeouts in the process ahead of the 2-minute warning.

It was all ‘Victory formation’ from there for the Dolphins, who will now shift their focus to another marquee name in the AFC East — Miami hosts the Buffalo Bills next weekend for their home opener. And best of all? Miami will hold sole possession of first place in the division in their hands entering Week 2; the rest of the AFC East lost their opening games on the first Sunday of NFL regular season action this fall.

There will be plenty to fix. But a road win in the division to open the season is a notch in the belt of this team that has eluded the Dolphins in 2020; and you’ll likely find a soul complaining about the end result tonight, no matter how ugly it was at times.