The Patriots arrive this weekend for their annual trip to South Florida looking to end a handful of streaks compiled by the home team.
A Miami win would equal a Dolphins sweep for the second straight year. The last time Miami pulled off back-to-back Patriots sweeps was the 1999 and 2000 seasons. A Miami victory would give the Dolphins four straight and eight of the last nine over their rival. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is looking to extend his perfect record against New England to 7-0 with another win.
To kick off this week's top quotes, here's what the Miami signal-caller said about the Dolphins offensive evolution that has produced the league's most efficient attack since his Week 8 return.
Offensive Evolution
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa – "(The wide receivers) room has done a tremendous job not just with Malik (Washington), we obviously know what 'Reek' (Tyreek Hill) and (Jaylen) Waddle can do, but what Odell (Beckham) brings, what River (Cracraft) being back brings as well to the team; just the amount of studying they do and the attention to details within the playbook, I think have given them opportunities to get the ball in their hands and you can see what they do with the ball in their hands and it's very, very special."
Head Coach Mike McDaniel – "I'm proud of our offensive unit when they're able to sustain those drives. I think we had as many 14-plus play scoring drives last game as we did the entire year previous and that's something that we've been talking about since the start of the offseason in conjunction with forecasting how do we win elimination games? How do you win down the stretch of the season? You have to adjust to what is being presented to you and people have different plans of actions and once people put two-high conservative and/or two-man coverages against your offense, until you're able to take advantage of that through the quarterback extending plays or throwing shorter to space and staying efficient and maximizing those gains with YAC."
Prepping for the Patriots
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver on Patriots tight end Hunter Henry – "We're certainly accounting for Hunter Henry. We know the athlete he is. We've played against them. We feel comfortable with our matchups and we know that there's a comfort level there with the Drake Maye kid and we have to account for that."
Mike McDaniel on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye - "I saw a true quarterback who has the ability to gain the confidence of his teammates and lead and orchestrate an offense. I saw a guy that can make plays in a multitude of ways. I think the Patriots are kind of feeling that right now where he's a guy that can see down the field, can play fearlessly in the pocket and make every throw with the arm strength to do it, but also is a very good athlete that has some juice and can make plays off schedule."
For more on the Dolphins, download the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield, available wherever you get your podcasts.
