3 takeaways from the New England Patriots' defeat at the Miami Dolphins as Tyreek Hill has debut to remember

The Miami Dolphins hosted the New England Patriots in an opening week AFC East divisional matchup. The Dolphins looked very good in Week 1, which can't be said of the Patriots. Mac Jones and the New England offense struggled mightily, while Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa displayed a budding chemistry.

Here are my three biggest takeaways from the Patriots-Dolphins game:

#1. With Miami trading for Tyreek Hill, they’re going to HEAVILY utilize him

New England Patriots v Miami Dolphins

It’s not like this was much of a mystery. Trading a first-, second-, two-fourth- and a sixth-round pick for a receiver and then paying him a massive four-year extension usually means you plan on using him. The Dolphins clearly have plans on how they want to get returns on this investment.

However, even I was surprised with the way Hill dominated the target share and all the different ways they put him on the scene. His 12 targets on the day were one more than the number two, three and four in that regard had combined (38.7% target share). Unlike the popular belief that Miami head coach Mike McDaniel would use Cheetah’s pure speed as a deep threat, I saw this as another YAC weapon.

Hill was asked to sit down underneath on quick routes out of the slot, they dumped it off to him in the flats off bootlegs and flipped the ball to him on quick screens and end-arounds. They also drew a deep comeback for him and he made an awesome grab on a 50-50 ball down the left sideline (where the receiver had already slowed down initially since he motioned right into a wheel route that led him into coverage, yet he was able to snatch the ball away from Patriots rookie CB Jack Jones) to bail out his quarterback.

Altogether, on his eight catches plus one carry, he reached exactly 100 yards and was a huge factor in even getting the offense to 20 points. The revamped rushing attack was disappointing and ended up gaining just 65 yards on 23 attempts.

#2. The Patriots offense doesn’t scare opponents with any element and the Patricia-Judge experiment is off to a bad start

New England Patriots v Miami Dolphins

Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson had a couple of nice carries to start the day. But after 25 yards on their four opening drive attempts, that run game was bottled up for just 53 yards the rest of the match, with just one carry for more than seven yards until the final whistle blew. The quick game was exactly what they were able to throw for, as Miami was ready to rally up and stop them for minimal yardage.

While Miami’s defensive coordinator Josh Boyer didn’t go with all-out blitzes a whole lot, he felt comfortable bringing pressure on certain downs. Their safeties came off the edge routinely, and he trusted his DBs to stick to their guys. We saw Mac Jones test that to some degree with go routes, but the first one to DeVante Parker in the end-zone was batted into the arms of Jevon Holland by Xavien Howard. Other than one great high-point grab by Jakobi Meyers down the right sideline, Jones wasn’t able to cash in on any of those.

Other than their one touchdown drive of the afternoon, New England made it into field goal range (inside 60 yards) just once (their opening possession), which ended in that Jevon Holland pick. They basically used just two personnel groupings throughout the day, and their run game didn’t create any issues conceptually. They simply don’t have the dynamic weapons to really scare defenses.

A memorable moment for this unit was on their second drive of the day. Jones was just sacked and they rushed back to the line to just get a play off before the turn of quarter number one - only to hand the ball off on an inside zone. This led to another two-yard loss and set up third-and-19.

#3. Tua Tagovailoa may hold the Dolphins back from being a legit contender

New England Patriots v Miami Dolphins

Looking at Tua Tagovailoa's stat-line of 23-of-33 for 270 yards and a touchdown without an interception, it just lies in your face. I’m not saying he had a really bad day necessarily, but this was a chance for him to make a statement in Week 1, against a clearly inferior team and I came away very underwhelmed.

He obviously had that horrible miss to a wide open Tyreek Hill, where the ball nose-dived about ten yards short of the target after he initially bobbled the snap. Then in the fourth quarter, he nearly fumbled the ball twice or could have been flagged for intentional grounding and two other times in that final period his running backs saved drives (by making a couple of tacklers miss on third-and-long after Tagovailoa literally flipped it out to them on check-down whilst falling away).

When they weren’t operating on-script and the man was open with room to run, it felt problematic as he tried to find a path to escape. According to PFF, the Dolphins QB had two turnover-worthy plays in the fourth quarter and he was saved by Tyreek Hill on that 50-50 ball that led him right into coverage.

So much of the Dolphins' offensive production came after the catch and I didn’t feel like there were any game-changing throws. Miami controlled this game throughout the day and were +3 in the turnover department, yet it didn’t quite feel out of reach. Put simply, Tagovailoa wasn’t able to put the game away. I just don’t know what to expect if their defense doesn’t hold opponents to less than 20 points.

Check out my piece on the full week one slate at halilsrealfootballtalk.com !