What to Watch For: Dolphins at Patriots
Sunday, September 18, 2016
The New England Patriots (1-0) open Gillette Stadium on Sunday when they face the (0-1) Miami Dolphins at 1 p.m.
See What to Watch for in the Slideshow Below
The last time the Patriots faced the Dolphins was in the final game of the 2015 season when Miami won 20-10, costing the Patriots home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wasted no time reminding everyone of that game earlier this week.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“There are some new faces down there but I'd say the thing that's most etched in my mind, and I'm sure our teams, is the last time we went down there it was a pretty rough day for us,” said Belichick.
Revisiting that Game
The Patriots went into the game last December with a game plan that seemed to indicate they were just looking to get out of there healthy.
Tom Brady only threw the ball 5 times in the first half, ending the game with a total of 12 completed passes for 134 yards.
Rob Gronkowski had only two catches for 18 yards and neither came in the first half. Brady handed the ball to Steven Jackson 14 times who rushed for just 35 yards to lead the team.
“It wasn't very good; bad coaching, bad playing, just bad period,” Belichick said about the game.
However, when pressed on it, he was "on to this week's Dolphins game" in typical Belichick fashion.
Belichick said talking to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, “The 2015 review, I'm sure you did that. That was great. I'm sure you did a great job on it. We're really past it. We're on to 2016. We're playing the Dolphins.”
When pressed even further on the approach taken to that game he said, “We approach every game differently. I mean we have different players, they have different players, they have different coaches. It's obviously going to be different. Every game is going to be different. Just like a double-header in baseball is different. You've got two different pitchers pitching. Yeah, it's different.”
Belichick added, “Last time we played that team it didn't go very well, so I hope we can play them more competitively this year.”
The Patriots will look for some revenge against the Dolphins and to nail down a 2-0 start to the season.
Related Slideshow: 5 Things to Watch For: Dolphins vs Patriots
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