Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry said this offseason that he believes the Dolphins will beat the Patriots in both of this season’s meetings, which is the sort of think you’d expect most players to feel months ahead of a game but it still drew a fair amount of attention because of how dominant the Patriots have been in the AFC East.
Dolphins coach Adam Gase didn’t make any predictions about the results of those games when he sat down with Mike Florio for a PFT Live podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, audioBoom, and other outlets, but the prospect of playing the Patriots twice a year did come up. Florio asked Gase if he sometimes felt he’d like to be in a division without the Patriots and the coach explained why he’s comfortable with the current arrangement.
“I think this is good for us because we get to go against the best twice a year and you know exactly where you stand in the NFL,” Gase said. “Last year they beat us twice and they beat us pretty handily both times. We really put ourselves in a hole and they let us know that we have a long way to go.”
The Dolphins still made it to the playoffs despite those two losses and Gase said that helps make the case to players that they can’t put an undue amount of focus on their two matchups with New England ahead of time. When it does come time to turn their attention to the Pats, they will be able to keep it there for a while as the two teams meet twice in 15 days late in the 2017 season.