If you were riding high on the Miami Dolphins’ 3-game win streak and undefeated record, Sunday was likely a sobering experience for you. I know it was for me. I’ve been a fan of this team long enough to know better, and yet I let myself believe. I knew in my heart of hearts that Miami wouldn’t come out of New England with a win, but I didn’t expect the dumpster fire we saw.

Normally I write a “3 Best Performances” piece after a Dolphins game, but that was noticeably absent this week. It wasn’t because I couldn’t bring myself to write after a loss. Losing is part of the NFL, and this won’t be the only loss the Dolphins have this season. It was because, quite frankly, there were no good performances. Not on offense. Not on defense. Even the normally reliable special teams unit was a major letdown. It was simply an all-around dud.

The New England Patriots, as they are accustomed to doing over the years, exposed some major flaws with this year’s incarnation of the Miami Dolphins. Flaws that a fun offense and opportunistic defense had largely masked. Flaws I think a lot of fans — perhaps myself included — wanted to pretend weren’t there. I’ve gone on record saying the way Miami was winning games wasn’t sustainable, and Sunday showed why. In painstaking detail.

As a team, the Dolphins would be best served to put this game behind them as quickly as possible. Like Bill Belichick once famously said “It’s on to Cincinnati”. As for the fans; what can we take away from Sunday’s debacle? Here are my three biggest takeaways from the defeat.

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