Sunday’s game between Tua Tagovailoa’s Miami Dolphins and Drake Maye’s New England Patriots could be the beginning of many matchups between them.
Tagovailoa signed a long-term contract with the Dolphins this offseason, and based on Maye’s performance in his first seven games, Tagovailoa believes he’ll be facing the No. 3 pick from this year’s draft for a long time.
“I respect his game a lot,” Tagovailoa said. “He’s a rookie, so there’s going to be bumps along the way, but you see a lot of flashes of things that he can do, not just inside the pocket, but outside of it too.
I have a lot of respect for him and look forward to competing against him.”
But Maye’s main goal right now is to help the Patriots beat their division rivals, a team that has had the upper hand in recent matchups. Tagovailoa is undefeated against the Patriots with a 6-0 record, and Miami coach Mike McDaniel has a 4-1 record against New England.
“It means nothing for this week,” McDaniel said on Wednesday. “I think the biggest mistake in the NFL is overindulging in stats from past teams. It’s Miami Dolphins versus the New England Patriots on Sunday.”
This season, the Dolphins (4-6) have won two straight games and are hoping for a playoff spot, while the Patriots (3-8) are clearly focused on rebuilding.
In Week 5, the Dolphins defeated the Patriots 15-10 without Tagovailoa, who was on injured reserve with a concussion. The Patriots had also not yet started Maye and instead used veteran Jacoby Brissett.
This Sunday, the Dolphins have a chance to sweep the Patriots for the first time in consecutive seasons since 1999-2000.
“I don’t know if I can put a finger on it,” tight end Hunter Henry said about the team’s struggles against Miami. “I think it’s just that we need to go down there, execute, play our brand of football — not turning the ball over, playing from ahead, and being the team to take the fight to them.”
Maye is coming off one of his best statistical performances in last week’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams. He completed 30 out of 40 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns but also fumbled after being sacked deep in New England territory, which led to a Rams touchdown.
“I think the big thing about football is that football is easy, but people are complicated,” Maye said. “The best thing to do is simplify it, be on the same page, and I think we’re learning that and figuring it out.”
The Dolphins will be preparing for Maye’s ability to scramble.
Maye is averaging 9.3 yards per rush with 260 yards on 258 attempts. The highest single-season rushing average for an NFL quarterback is 8.5 yards by Michael Vick in 2006 (123 attempts for 1,039 yards).
“The thing with all these new young quarterbacks,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said, “is that when plays break down, they have the ability to create extended plays.
This is not me saying he’s Josh Allen, but you have to approach him like Josh Allen in a way, trying to funnel him in certain directions and contain his rushing ability as much as possible.”
