Patriots' locker room 'mutiny' could help Dolphins get back on track on Sunday
The Miami Dolphins have been a mess this season. After a last-second walk-off 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars to start the season, the team has dropped its next three straight in convincing fashion, all by 19+ points. Between the uninspiring play and laundry list of injuries, including a concussion to Tua Tagovailoa that required […]
The Miami Dolphins have been a mess this season. After a last-second walk-off 20-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars to start the season, the team has dropped its next three straight in convincing fashion, all by 19+ points.
Between the uninspiring play and laundry list of injuries, including a concussion to Tua Tagovailoa that required a trip to the injured reserve list, there aren't many teams in worse shape than the Dolphins through 4 weeks.
However, one team currently going through its own struggles is the New England Patriots. The Patriots lost 30-13 to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, dropping them to a matching 1-3 record as Miami.
Things went from bad to worse – or at least to far more interesting – this week when a team employee, per multiple outlets, said on a team podcast that the Patriots were "teetering on mutiny" inside the team's locker room.
“Right now, they’re teetering on a mutiny in that locker room. I was in that locker room on Sunday, the defense is mad at the defense, the offense is mad at the offense.
“You have young receivers who are throwing tantrums … at what point in time do some of these guys say to themselves ‘why am I out there getting my butt kicked and Drake can’t? Why am I going out there with a quarterback that can’t get me the football when we have a Ferrari back in the garage?” – Via Joey Chandler, NJ.com
That's an interesting situation, given the newness of their head coaching situation. Former Patriots player Jerod Mayo is in his first season as head coach. Having some kind of disconnect that early is a little bit eyebrow raising.
What's more surprising is a team employee for the Patriots putting out something disparaging or negative about the team he or she covers. Internal team coverage is almost always strongly slanted towards the positive or at least neutral. That could be an indicator that what was claimed is true.
For the record, the Patriots' Jabrill Peppers did tell A to Z Sports' Sophie Weller on Friday afternoon that the rumblings about a locker room mutiny are "absolute bullshit".
We'll see on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm ET inside Gillette Stadium if the Dolphins will be facing a focused and fired up Patriots team, or one that indeed is dealing with internal rumblings and potential distractions early in this 2024 season.
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