1st & 10: Patriots vs. Dolphins

First Down

1. On Sunday, the Miami Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots 31-17 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Miami improves to 6-2, while New England drops to 2-6.Next up, New England will return home to face the Washington Commanders in Week 9 at 1:00pm on Sunday. Washington is coming off of a tough 38-31 divisional loss to Philadelphia after taking a 17-10 halftime lead into the locker room. The Commanders will come to Gillette at 3-5.

Sunday marked the 117th meeting between the two franchises. The Dolphins lead the all-time series 62-55.

2 Hundreds

2. Prior to Sunday, New England had not allowed a single opposing wide receiver to record over 100 yards. Yesterday, they allowed two. Both Jaylen Waddle (7 rec/121 yds/1 TD) and Tyreek Hill (8/112 yds/1 TD) eclipsed the century mark.

AFC Least

3. All three AFC East divisional foes won their Week 8 matchups. In addition to the Dolphins’ (6-2) win, the Bills (5-3) won Thursday night over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18, and the New York Jets (4-3) squeaked out a 13-10 overtime win over the New York Giants. The Patriots sit at rock bottom in the AFC East.

Rough Draft

4. With their loss yesterday, the Patriots currently hold the 5th overall draft pick. The Chicago Bears and New York Giants both sit at 2-6 as well, but tiebreakers place them ahead of New England at the 3rd and 4th overall picks, respectively. As mentioned in last week’s 1st & 10, the Patriots play the Giants in East Rutherford on November 26th. The Patriots have not selected in the top-5 since 1994, when they took Patriots Hall of Famer Willie McGinest with the 4th overall pick.

Cellar Dwellers

5. With Sunday’s loss, New England sits alone in the basement of the AFC. New England has not finished last in the AFC since 1992 (2-14), and has not had sole possession of last place in the AFC since 1990 (1-15). The Patriots selected Drew Bledsoe with the first overall pick following that season.

Tua’s Top Dog

6. Tua Tagovailoa is 6-0 against Bill Belichick in his career. Prior to Sunday, no quarterback had beaten Bill Belichick more than 5 times - Josh Allen (5-5) and Peyton Manning (5-10).

Points Not Taken

7. The Patriots are 2nd-to-last in the NFL in points per game at 14.8 points per game (the New York Giants rank last at 11.9 PTS/G). The last instance of the Patriots finishing that low was ranking 27th in a 28-team league in 1992. New England finished 2-14 that season. The Patriots finished last in the category in 1990, when they wound up with a 1-15 record.

JuJu Jump Start

8. JuJu Smith-Schuster secured his first touchdown with New England with a 3-yard touchdown pass in the 4th quarter. Smith-Schuster’s touchdown reception on 4th & goal cut Miami’s lead to 24-17 with 8:30 left. The touchdown reception is the 30th of his career.

Early Pickings

9. For the 3rd-straight week, the Patriots recorded a first quarter interception. This week, it was Kyle Dugger picking off Tua Tagovailoa, setting up the Patriots with prime field position at the Dolphins 30 yard line. The Patriots were able to capitalize on the takeaway, with Mac Jones connecting with Kendrick Bourne on a 24-yard touchdown pass to grab a 7-0 lead.

The Patriots were again gifted great field position when Tagovailoa fumbled the first play from scrimmage in the second half. However, this time New England was unable to move the ball despite setting up shop at the Miami 19. They were forced to settle for a Chad Ryland 38-yard field goal after Mac Jones was sacked for a 6-yard loss on 3rd & 5.

Hurt Locker Room

10. The Patriots wide receiver room suffered some substantial blows on Sunday. Wideout DeVante Parker was ruled out in the 3rd quarter after suffering an unpenalized helmet-to-helmet hit from Miami safety DeShon Elliott. Standout receiver Kendrick Bourne also went down in the 4th quarter with a right knee injury. Per Henry McKenna, Bourne entered Sunday ranking as the 11th-best WR in the NFL, according to ESPN analytics. He has been a bright spot on an otherwise abysmal offensive unit. Today, it was determined that Bourne had torn his ACL and is likely out for the year, as first reported by Mike Garafolo.