In a 17-game season, it’s difficult to label a Week Two contest as a must-win. But that’s exactly what Sunday’s game against the Dolphins in Miami represents for the New England Patriots.
With a soft early schedule, getting off to a good start was paramount for the young Patriots, and leaving South Florida 0-2 with Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to Foxborough in Week Three would be borderline disastrous for Mike Vrabel and company.
What makes this game even more essential is that the Dolphins are in a similar situation. Miami was picked apart by Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts in Week One, drawing the ire of Dolphins’ legends such as Larry Csonka, who called the performance “uninspiring” and “unacceptable.