5 players the Dolphins need to play well to beat the Patriots in Week 1

If the Miami Dolphins are going to beat the New England Patriots on Sunday, these five players must play well.

After going 5-11 in 2019, the Miami Dolphins took a big step with a 10-6 mark last year. The next step is earning a playoff berth, while finding out if Tua Tagovailoa is the quarterback they want going forward. Those two events could be independent, as in the first one won’t necessarily promise the other.

The 2021 season will start with a test, as the Dolphins will make a trip to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots. Head coach Brian Flores is trying to build a Patriots-like culture in Miami, right down to his attempts to offer non-answers to the media like Bill Belichick.

If the Dolphins are going to come home with a 1-0 record on Sunday, these five players will have to have played well.

5 players who must play well for the Dolphins to beat the Patriots

5. DE/OLB Emmanuel Ogbah

Ogbah led the Dolphins in sacks (nine) and quarterback hits (21) last year. But eight of those sacks came before Week 10, and even with deeper pressure numbers late in the season showing some bad luck he was easy to include on any list of possible offseason cuts.

When it came down to it, the Dolphins chose Ogbah over Kyle Van Noy when they chose a veteran edge guy to keep. Van Noy went back to the Patriots, so he’ll be on the same field Sunday and surely plenty motivated to show the Dolphins they messed up.

More specifically, Miami’s pass rush has to make rookie quarterback Mac Jones uncomfortable in his first NFL start. That effort starts with Ogbah.