NFL Notes: Why can’t the Patriots win in Miami? They can’t explain it
Mike Onwenu couldn’t remember. Maybe that was for the best. Three years ago, the Patriots spent a week in South Florida ahead of their season opener against the Dolphins. Bill Belichick camped the team at Palm Beach Atlantic University, a private Christian school that competes at the Division II level. Because Palm Beach Atlantic doesn’t have a football program, the Pats practiced on soccer fields with makeshift field goal posts. Everything that week was built around the idea of eliminating the Dolphins’ homefield advantage: their players natural acclimation to the overwhleming heat and humidity. The Patriots’ travel plans that week could be argued as the greatest lengths the franchise ever went to beat a division rival under Bill Belichick. But only that’s if you remember that week. “I think that was at a high school or something?” Onwenu said in front of his locker this week. “It was a while ago. I think the time there was probably helpful, just in terms conditioning. But I can’t say what I remember leading up to that game or anything like that.” Well, it didn’t help. The Pats got manhandled by Mother Nature and the Dolphins over a 20-7 loss played out under 90-degree temperatures. Mac Jones was strip-sacked in the second quarter for a defensive touchdown, the beginning of the end for the Bill Belichick era. And yet, losing in Miami felt all too familiar. Hard Rock Stadium is a house of horrors for the Patriots dating back to their dynasty days. Tom Brady went 8-10 as a starter in Miami. The Pats are 2-10 at Hard Rock over the last dozen years. None of their current players have won there while wearing red, white and blue. And none of them can explain it. Not Onwenu, the team’s longest-tenured player from the time he signed his first contract in May 2020. Not even ex-Dolphins receiver Mack Hollins (2019-21), now in his first season with the Patriots. “I’m not really sure,” Hollins said. Some Patriots losses in stand alone, as inexplicable as they were stunning. Patriots-Dolphins injury report: Christian Gonzalez out, Morgan Moses questionable for Sunday /*! This file is auto-generated */!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i
