The New England Patriots, after a tremendous last season with an appearance in the playoffs led by rookie quarterback Mac Jones, let fans down in their opening game against the Miami Dolphins.

Despite being only the first week, fans were led to believe that Jones had improved and became more comfortable in the pocket, but, as a fan of the team myself, I couldn’t help but feel like that wasn’t the whole truth.

Mike D’Abate, writer for MSN’s Patriot Maven on FanNation, described Mac Jones’ performance in the preseason finale as “uncharacteristic” and “costly”, yet he reported that Bill Belichick was confident in Jones’ ability.

In Sunday’s game, Jones was intercepted once, sacked twice, and fumbled the ball resulting in a touchdown for Miami.

Compared to Jones’ 2021 regular season debut against Miami where he was 20-30 for completions, sacked twice, and had one interception, Jones’ performance seems to have degraded.

Not only did the Patriots fail overall to build momentum or put points on the board, but they were also completely shut out for the entire first half of the game.  

Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins were like a new team with a fire lit under them as Tagovailoa threw for 270 yards with 23-33 completions. Even with being sacked three times during the game, the Tagovailoa and Tyrek Hill duo was enough to throw off the Patriot defense.

Hill was targeted 12 times and ran for a total of 94 yards while Jakobi Meyers was only targeted six times and ran for 55 yards.  

Overall, the Miami Dolphins were able to outperform the Patriots on offense and defense. However, the Patriots were able to come back from a 1-3 start to the 2021 season which means that there is still hope.

Even with a slow beginning, there is a good chance of a comeback in the near future once the team begins to find traction and leaves the offseason mindset in the past.