Cam Newton rushed for a pair of touchdowns, and New England intercepted Ryan Fitzpatrick three times Sunday afternoon as the Patriots opened up their 2020 season with a 21-11 win over the Miami Dolphins before an empty Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Not alot of offense in the first half between the two teams, as they played to a scoreless first quarter. Newton had his first rushing touchdown of the day of four yards in the second quarter, finishing off an 11 play 80 yard drive. Miami got their only points on a Jason Sanders 46 yard field goal. Dolphins starting quarterback Fitzpatrick threw a pair of first half interceptions, but New England couldn’t take advantage as they took a 7-3 lead to the half.
The Patriots immediately marched down the field to start the third quarter. Newton took it himself 11 yards to the right corner of the endzone capping an eight play drive that took just 4:46 to extend the lead to 14-3. New England was looking like they may add to the lead late in the third, but N’Keal Harry fumbled on the goal line and the ball went out of bounds in the endzone for a touchback. Miami took advantage and completed a 80 yard drive when Jordan Howard scored from one yard out with 10:31 left to play in the game. Fitzpatrick also ran in a two point conversion to cut it to 14-11. The Pats would extend the lead back to 10 when Newton converted a fourth down with a run inside the Miami five yard line with six minutes to go, and Sony Michel found pay dirt one play later from one yard out. JC Jackson clinched the win when he intercepted Fitzpatrick deep in New England territory with 1:28 left, as the Dolphins were attempting to cut into the lead once again.
Newton went 15-19 for 155 yards passing, and added 75 yards on 15 rushing attempts and the two scores. Julian Edelman led the receiving core with 57 yards on five catches. Edelman becomes only the second Patriot in team history to reach 600 receptions with the team (604), behind all-time leader Wes Welker (672). Stephon Gilmore and Adrian Phillips had the other two interceptions for New England. Phillips also added eight total tackles to lead the defense. Fitzpatrick went 20-30 for 191 yards passing in the Miami loss. Myles Gaskin had 40 yards rushing and Devante Parker had 47 receiving yards to lead the Dolphins offense. Jerome Baker led all tacklers on the day with 14. New England will visit Seattle to battle the Seahawks next Sunday night at 8:20 p.m. in an early season interconference matchup of 1-0 teams.
