The Miami Dolphins’ ability to play the AFC East’s proverbial thorn in the side of the New England Patriots’ dynasty has been well established. Between the 2018 Miami Miracle and 2019’s Foxborough upset, the Dolphins have claimed some exceptional wins against the long-time “evil empire” of the modern NFL. And the dynamics between the two teams only got more juicy this past year when Miami plucked rising star coach Brian Flores from the staff to become the Dolphins’ new man in charge.
Year one did not disappoint. And, with the Patriots looking as vulnerable as ever, the Dolphins will have a chance to help rally with the rest of the AFC East to finally push the Patriots off the top spot in the rankings — and hopefully keep them down and out for quite a while.
But Miami is the team who has experienced some semblance of success against the Patriots in recent years. And because of that track record, along with Miami’s intriguing approach to overhauling their roster, NFL.com’s Adam Rank has listed the Dolphins and the Patriots as the league’s 3rd best rivalry entering the 2020 season.
“I’m kind of loving what the Dolphins have done this offseason. In addition to getting Van Noy, they added Byron Jones and Shaq Lawson to their defense,” wrote Rank.
“The pairing of Jones and Xavien Howard gives Brian Flores’ defense a Patriots-like look. And when you consider it was Ryan Fitzpatrick who was as responsible as anybody for the Patriots’ stumble late last season, this is going to be the rivalry to watch in the AFC East.”
Indeed it is. And while the Patriots still have coach Bill Belichick prowling their sideline, this feels like the year in which the Patriots will be reminded of what it feels like to be everybody else after two decades of pristine dominance in the NFL. Here’s to the Dolphins doing their part.
