mornelithe said:
Only a sith deals in absolutes. It'll be a far more competitive game than the first in the season with a inconsistent O-line, Gronk fully healthy, and 80+ degree weather which history shows heavily, heavily favors Miami. |
It'll probably be a good game, no question about that here. Dolphins usually play New England tough even when they're huge underdogs, so I'm expecting it to be closer than the last few Patriots games. But that's as far as it goes; saying New England is going to get dominated on their own home turf in December is lulz-worthy. The Patriots have improved so much since that week 1 game that the present day version and the beginning of the season version could be mistaken for entirely different teams.
It's also worth noting that before we proclaim Miami's defense as the immovable object that will suddenly shut down the Patriots offense, the Dolphins really haven't been that impressive against generally any offense that isn'tt utter garbage. 27 points to Green Bay (including giving up a game winning touchdown at the end), 34 to the Chiefs, 29 to the Bills. Shutting out the Chargers certainly earns high marks (even if the Chargers offense now can't even put up 20 on Oakland), and shutting out the incompetent Week 1 Patriots in the second half is good as well, but the Dolphins defense is by no means some bastion of greatness. If the Chiefs can score 5 touchdowns on the Dolphins, I have some serious doubts that the vastly improved Patriots can at least avoid being dominated on their own home turf in December.
