New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has offered his preview of the Miami Dolphins at Patriots.com. He has highlighted a few players on the Dolphins that he has undoubtedly told his team to focus their attention on in order to eliminate them from the game.
Belichick starts by highlighting the special teams ability of the Dolphins and how they were able to disrupt a Seahawks kick last week. He also notes the return ability of Jakeem Grant and Jarvis Landry, making the field position battle extremely important this week.
Next, Belichick turns his focus to defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and his ability to just destroy the offensive line. Host Scott Zolak asks if Suh aligns anywhere in particular on the line, and Belichick highlights the battle between Suh and the right guard as a position of note. Rookie Ted Karras or Shaq Mason and his broken hand will have a full plate on Sunday.
Belichick also highlights the speed at the heart of the Dolphins defense. He notes that linebacker Jelani Jenkins was a sprinting champion in Florida, while linebacker Kiko Alonso and strong safety Reshad Jones are quick to make plays.
“This is a fast group here,” Belichick says, “combined with the linebackers that do a great job of penetrating. They can choke it off in a hurry.”
I would expect the Patriots to play to the sidelines and try to give the right guard as much support as possible.
Belichick turns his focus to the offense and highlights two particular players for focus: running back Arian Foster and wide receiver Jarvis Landry.
Foster is “very dangerous with the ball in his hands, however it gets it, running, receiving, hard guy to tackle [with] excellent balance.”
Landry is “another dynamic player, great balance, toughness, run after catch ability; he does an excellent job of finding open spots.”
I would expect the Patriots to dedicate their defensive resources to slowing this duo since they combined for 159 of the Dolphins 214 yards against the Seahawks in week 1 (74.3%). Look for Jamie Collins or Patrick Chung to shadow Foster, while I expect the Patriots to have learned from week 1 and Larry Fitzgerald and will give Landry the necessary double team.
Suh, Jenkins, Alonso, Jones, Foster, and Landry will definitely be in the forefront of the Patriots game plans this week.