The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 8 matchup between the Dolphins and Patriots.
Find a breakdown of every Week 8 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| New England | Rank | @ | Miami | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.5 | Spread | -9.5 | ||
| 18.5 | Implied Total | 28.0 | ||
| 14.4 | 31 | Points/Gm | 34.3 | 1 |
| 25.3 | 24 | Points All./Gm | 26.7 | 27 |
| 62.1 | 19 | Plays/Gm | 60.3 | 26 |
| 64.7 | 19 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 66.6 | 26 |
| 4.7 | 26 | Off. Yards/Play | 7.7 | 1 |
| 4.8 | 6 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.2 | 16 |
| 39.31% | 27 | Rush% | 42.65% | 13 |
| 60.69% | 6 | Pass% | 57.35% | 20 |
| 45.47% | 25 | Opp. Rush % | 43.35% | 15 |
| 54.53% | 8 | Opp. Pass % | 56.65% | 18 |
- The Dolphins lead the NFL in red zone touchdowns (21) and touchdowns scored from outside of the red zone (10).
- Miami leads the NFL in red zone touchdown rate at 77.8% (21-of-27 possessions).
- New England has converted 66.7% (10-of-15) of their red zone possessions for touchdowns.
- Miami leads the NFL in the rate of drives to reach the red zone or score before (47.4%) while New England is 31st (20.0%).
- 42.6% of the Miami passing plays have resulted in a first down or touchdown, the highest rate in the league.
- 26.1% of the New England passing plays have resulted in a first down or touchdown, 28th in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Tua Tagovailoa: Tagovailoa threw for a season-low 216 yards on Sunday night against the Eagles.
He ended the week as the QB22 (10.3 points), continuing to run hot and cold for fantasy despite his lofty totals over the full season.
The highs have been extremely high, but Tua has now been QB1, QB26, QB2, QB18, QB13, QB2, and QB22 to open the season.
The highs have been too high to not ride with Tagovailoa on a weekly basis, and Miami still has a 28-point implied team total here at home, where they have scored 70, 31, and 42 points this season.
But this is a spot where Tua has never finished higher than QB15 against New England, which includes his Week 2 start from this year.
The Patriots have played Tua and the Dolphins more passively than other opponents. In Week 2, New England played zone coverage on 62.9% of their snaps, their second-highest rate in a game this season.
A year ago, they played zone 76.8% of the time against Miami and 59.7% of the time versus everyone else.
When the Patriots have been in zone coverage the past two years, Tua is averaging 6.7 yards per pass attempt with a 78.3 rating compared to averaging 12.9 yards per pass attempt with a 157.1 rating when New England has played man coverage.
New England has lost a number of contributors on the back end defensively since that meeting to open up more upside in the rematch.
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