The New England Patriots will host the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football as they look to continue their undefeated season. The Patriots come into this week eight matchup with a 6-0 record and in first place in the AFC East while the Dolphins come in at 3-3 and in third place in the AFC East.
The Dolphins have won two consecutive games since firing Joe Philbin after they were blown out in London by the New York Jets. New head coach Dan Campbell has taken over and really inspired his team to play good football.
Last week against the Houston Texans everything went right for Miami as they jumped out to a huge lead and never looked back. Lamar Miller was the star of the game and he has been great the past two games running for 288 yards and two touchdowns after having just 131 yards and no touchdowns in the first four games.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill has also been very good the past two games throwing five touchdowns and only one interception in the two victories but he will face a much tougher test this week as he takes on the Bill Belichick led defense. Tannehill had yet to find a rapport this season with his favorite receiver Jarvis Landry but last week Landry caught two touchdown passes and they seem to be back on the same page. Landry has also returned a punt for a touchdown this season and he is a player to watch for tonight.
The Patriots have been steady again this year like they usually are and it's all because of Tom Brady. Brady is having himself another fantastic season as he has thrown for more than 2000 yards with 16 touchdowns and only one interception. Last week was classic Brady as he picked apart one of the best secondaries in football (the New York Jets) despite the team dropping a ton of passes.
Brady's favorite target this season has been Rob Gronkowski, of course, as he has 34 catches for 533 yards and six touchdowns. The Pats did get Brandon LaFell back from the PUP list last week but he looked extremely rusty and dropped six passes so it will be interesting to see if he shows up this week.
Dion Lewis is expected to play for the Patriots after missing one game with an abdominal issue but the Patriots haven't done much running of late. Last week Brady led the team in rushing yards with 15 and despite the fact that both Lewis and LaGarrette Blount are averaging over 4.5 yards per carry neither has more than 200 rushing yards this season.
This is a big game for Miami as they came into this season with expectations of making the playoffs but started out 1-3. A loss wouldn't kill their hopes but a win would show that they can contend with anyone and that they are as good as people thought before the season. It won't be easy though as the Patriots are 12-1 against the Dolphins at Foxborough with Brady at quarterback and Tannehill has never won at Gillette Stadium in three tries and his numbers are particularly good.
The game kicks off at 8:25 Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Patriots radio broadcast go here and for the Dolphins radio broadcast go here.
