It's been 266 days since the Dolphins last played a regular-season game at Hard Rock Stadium. That changes Sunday when Miami welcomes division rival New England to South Florida for the first of this year's twice-annual showdown, which have recently favored the Dolphins.
Miami has won its last four games against the Patriots by a combined score of 104-59. Dating back to the 2020 season, Miami has taken eight of the last nine meetings with New England. Those victories came against the Bill Belichick- and Jerrod Mayo-led Patriots. In 2025, New England is under new management.
Mike Vrabel made the Patriots Hall of Fame as a linebacker and is now the man in charge as the 16th head coach in franchise history. This marks his second head coaching job as he previously led the Tennessee Titans to three straight playoff appearances, including a trip to the AFC Championship Game in 2019.
Sunday's game will be Vrable's fourth against Miami as a head coach. In 2018, his first year with the Titans, the Dolphins beat Tennessee 27-20 in Nashville. Vrable's Titans then won the next two matchups – 34-3 in 2021 and a 28-27 comeback victory in 2023.
"I think with the way that they've played against us they have their tricky two deals that they've played against us, and they found success, and they kept it and we just didn't make them pay for those," said quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who started both games against Tennessee in 2021 and 2023. "They've done a great job with that and we've got to find ways."
The Patriots ran man coverage in Week 1 against the Raiders despite being down their top cover corner, former first-round selection Christian Gonzales, who will miss his second straight game with a hamstring injury on Sunday.
On the other side of the ball, Miami will face New England's second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who had a promising rookie season in 2024.
In the first game of his sophomore season, however, Maye produced just 6.2 yards per pass, four sacks and an interception. The Dolphins need to find a way to disrupt Maye the same way the Raiders did in their 20-13 opening-day win in Foxborough.
"(Maye) has all the ability in the world, all the arm strength," said Dolphins Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver. "He has skill players and he's just going to gain confidence through reps which I think really for our defense we're trying to do the same thing. A bunch of new guys that just haven't played a lot of live football together so we're all learning each other."
Sunday will mark the fourth time in six years the Dolphins will square off against the Patriots in one of the two sides' home opener. The Dolphins were in New England for the 2020 and 2021 openers while the Patriots helped get the season started in Miami in 2022.
Make sure to check out the Injury Report and the team's official social media accounts 90 minutes before kickoff to see who is active for the game.
Watch the game live on Sunday, September 14 at 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS, and listen on the Dolphins Radio Network and view the Game Center for the latest coverage.
