Bobby Maxwell
Monday's winner...
500-Unit NFL Monday Night Mismatch - MIAMI DOLPHINS
After a lackluster start to the season offensively, the Dolphins showed they can put points on the board and have suddenly discovered the talents of their off-season acquisition – Brandon Marshall. Tonight, they will continue to throw the ball to him at every opportunity and he’ll take advantage of a struggling Patriots’ defense and lead Miami to a primetime win here tonight.
Miami used its defense to open the season 2-0 with wins over the Bills and Vikings, then last Sunday night they got into a shootout with the Jets and fell 31-23, wasting a first-and-goal in the final minute then they didn’t throw to Marshall for the final three chances. QB Chad Henne threw for a career-high 363 yards and Marshall had 10 catches for 166 yards and a TD.
A connection is starting to be formed between those two and you can expect more of the same tonight. The Dolphins’ running game was stymied against the jets last week, but now Miami faces a team ranked 27th in total defense in the Patriots, who have also allowed 82 points in three games.
New England has an offense that can overcome its shaky defense and they are coming in off a 38-30 win over the Bills that saw QB Tom Brady throw for 252 yards and three TDs and a running game that racked up 200-plus yards.
The Patriots blew an 11-point lead in Miami last season, falling 22-21 in South Beach as 4 ½-point favorites. They are just 3-5 with Tom Brady at QB in Miami and the Dolphins have cashed in four of the last five meetings overall.
New England is on ATS skids of 1-3-2 on the road, 2-6 against AFC East rivals, 0-3-2 against winning teams and 1-3-1 overall. On the other side, Miami is on ATS surges of 8-2 against AFC East teams, 6-2 in October, 7-1 as an underdog and 4-1 against winning teams.
Look for this one to be entertaining. The Dolphins will try to exploit the Patriots poor play in the defensive secondary and New England will do the same to Miami. I expect this one to be close down to the final gun with the Dolphins pulling it out late with a field goal in the final minute. Play Miami.