Are the New England Patriots that good, or are the Miami Dolphins quite literally one of the worst teams in NFL history?
A mixture of both likely produced Sunday’s outcome at Hard Rock Stadium, but Stephen A. Smith put far more emphasis on the latter Monday while recapping the Week 2 showdown between AFC East rivals. The “First Take” co-host went scorched Earth on the Dolphins, believing the beatdown can’t be at all viewed as any sort of barometer for the Patriots’ strength.
“I mean, a legitimate argument can be made that there’s some college teams that could beat these Dolphins,” Smith said on ESPN. “This might be the worst football team in the NFL I’ve ever seen. They are atrocious. …We recognize they’re rebuilding. We got that, because they made some good moves in terms of first-round picks they’ve acquired. But this is one of the most atrocious teams that I’ve ever seen. Combine that with the fact that half of them don’t even want to be there. It’s one thing, you know, later on in the season and you put your body through a lot. But to open the damn season — they opened the season this way. This is key. This is not December. This is not November when you’re already 0-9 or something. They’ve opened the season like this. Oh, by the way, they’re just a few miles from South Beach and don’t want to be there. They’re a few miles from South Beach, in a state with no state income tax and don’t want to be there. This is the most atrocious football team that I’ve ever seen and you got an all-world receiver that’s coming to play for the reigning Super Bowl champions against you? Please, we ain’t learn nothing yesterday.”
This isn’t a heat-of-the-moment take by Smith either. The facts back it up. The Dolphins tied the second-worst point differential (-92) and second-most points allowed (102) through two weeks in NFL history. It’s going to a long, long season in South Beach, and it feels safe to say an 0-16 campaign in Miami is much likelier than an undefeated season in Foxboro.
Perhaps we’ll actually learn something about the Patriots in Week 3 when New England hosts another division foe: the New York Jets.
