Dolphins vs. Patriots Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 2

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 2 matchup between the Dolphins and Patriots.

Find a breakdown of every Week 2 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Drake Maye: We entered the season with high expectations for Maye, but he did not reach those heights out of the blocks.

Maye kicked off the season as QB18 (15.8 points) as a home favorite against a defense that entered the year with questionable personnel.

Maye completed 30 of 46 passes for 287 yards, but he only added 1 touchdown pass with an interception.

He also only ran for 11 yards.

Josh McDaniels did not do him any favors in Week 1, either.

The Patriots used pre-snap motion on only 28.3% of Maye’s dropbacks, which was 30th in the league in Week 1.

When they did use motion, Maye had a 119.4 rating (QB8), completing 9 of 13 passes for 106 yards (8.2 Y/A) with his touchdown.

They used play action on 21.7%, which was 17th.

On static dropbacks without motion or play action, Maye had a 59.3 rating (QB25), completing 17 of 29 passes (58.6%) for 158 yards (5.4 Y/A) with an interception.

If this offense is going to be vanilla and uncreative, that is a problem.

This offensive line will still take some work as well.

Maye was pressured on 39.6% of his dropbacks, 22nd in Week 1.

Maye also struggled when pressured.

The only quarterbacks who were worse under pressure in Week 1 than Maye were Tua Tagovailoa, Bryce Young, and Bo Nix.

Under pressure, Maye completed 8 of 16 passes for 6.2 yards per attempt with an interception.

We are looking for self-scouting and immediate changes from this offense.

Maye has shown that he does offer a solid floor for 2QB gamers, but we need him to showcase upside for 1QB leagues.

He is still a tough start in those 1QB formats, but if you did take him as your quarterback in those formats, this is an early-season prove-it spot to have one more lifeline before moving on.

Overall, this game feels like a classic Week 2 game to target for DFS stacks.

We have two teams that let us down incredibly but had some positive expectations entering the year.

We should not completely discard them over the course of just one week.

This Miami defense was a travesty in Week 1.

They allowed a Daniel Jones-led team to score on every possession.

Things were so bad that Bradley Chubb already called out players for not playing team defense and freelancing assignments.

Jones was the QB3 (29.5 points) against Miami last week.

The Dolphins only created pressure on 24.2% of dropbacks (30th) despite blitzing at the highest rate in the league (54.5%).

The Miami secondary was as lackluster as advertised, allowing 9.4 yards per pass attempt (29th) and 12.4 yards per completion (28th).

Tua Tagovailoa: If you thought the vibes were bad for Miami coming into the year, Week 1 dumped a ton of gasoline on the fire.

Both sides of the ball were lifeless in Week 1, but there was at least some optimism that his offense could rebound and be productive.

Miami ended up running a total of 46 offensive plays for 4.6 yards per play.

Tagovailoa was dreadful in the opener, throwing for 114 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 turnovers.

His 2 interceptions were rough while losing a fumble.

He overthrew Tyreek Hill on the first interception and then threw his second interception to defensive end Laiatu Latu, who dropped into coverage.

Former teammate Xavien Howard stated that the game plan was to get Tua off his first read to get him into “panic mode.”

Lou Anarumo surely had a part in that approach as well.

Miami was a team we entered the year with mixed thoughts about. They were either going to be good or a dumpster fire in many people's eyes.

Things, of course, are never that simple, but almost any good faith has been scorched in Week 1.

If you did not things could get worse, Miami lost two offensive lineman to injuries, a unit that entered the year with question marks.

James Daniels was placed on injured reserve with a pectoral injury, while right tackle Austin Jackson is expected to miss Sunday with a toe injury.

When this offense cannot marry the pass with their run game being effective, it struggles to generate big plays.

That happened last season and it happened again in Week 1.

That leaves Tagovailoa as a matchup-based QB2.

The positive spin, similar to what we covered with Maye, is that we have an early “okay, now earn our trust back” spot as a home favorite.

It is not uncommon for us to see a team get blown out in Week 1 and then bounce back.

Last year, Cleveland, Washington, and the Jets all lost by double-digits in Week 1 and then won in Week 2.

Maybe Miami is just too far gone for that to apply.

The vibes are certainly down as bad as possible right now.

Miami really may just be “one day closer to death,” but there are some reasons to keep chasing our tails here.

In this matchup with Tagovailoa active last year, Miami scored 34 points with Tagovailoa throwing 4 touchdowns.

New England allowed the most passing yards in Week 1.

They surrendered a league-high 9 completions of 20 or more yards in Week 1.

They allowed the most yards per completion (15.1) in Week 1.

New England gave up the most passing yards in Week 1, but they did get home with pressure.

They had a 10.5% sack rate (6th) and posted a 39.5% pressure rate (12th).

They could also get Christian Gonzalez back this week to help out the secondary that was so giving to open the year.

Running Back

More Week 2 Fantasy Breakdowns From The Worksheet: