The 2026 Patriots are a superior team to the Jets, but nevertheless endured some struggles on their way to beating New York in Week 6.

Two weeks later, the Patriots struggled even more against an even-worse Dolphins team, this time falling behind by double digits before halftime.

But on Sunday in Miami, with the rain coming down at times throughout the game, the Patriots managed to pull away in the second half and escape with a 5-point victory over the Dolphins.

"I think there's just value in this game," Phil Perry said on Patriots Postgame Live. "I think there's value in saying, 'This is a division game, the weather sucks, we're banged up.' ... If you're Mike Vrabel, you can look at this and say he could have been all kinds of miffed at them at halftime, and the way they responded, whether he spoke to them in that way or not, at the break in the middle of the game, you have to look at it and say, 'OK, we were down, it's a difficult environment historically for this team, it's a difficult place to play -- period.' And they came back and they won. And so I do think there is some value in that."

While Drake Maye was excellent in the second half after an unproductive first half, Tom E. Curran said it was the group of leaders that made the difference over the final 30 minutes of the game.

"I think Mike Vrabel is going to look at it and say, 'My leaders did a good job today,'" Curran said. "Rhamondre Stevenson, Drake Maye, Kevin Byard, Carlton Davis was kind of a beast on the edge. Robert Spillane was good. Christian Elliss is always freaking good. So to me, I think you look at it and say, 'That's what I want from you guys.'"

Ted Johnson focused on the somewhat-mysterious difficulty the Patriots have historically had in Miami, no matter the disparity in talent and accomplishments. He recalled the 2004 Patriots -- arguably the best team in franchise history -- losing in Miami late in the season to a 2-11 Dolphins team.

"I feel like Tom [Brady] had bad games down there more times than not. So I'm looking at Drake's performances the last two years in Miami, and they're pretty good, right?" Johnson said. "He did not want to throw an interception today. He was holding the ball maybe longer than he needed to, and he didn't have any turnovers. So he's he's 2-0. That's a good sign that Drake Maye doesn't seem to have those issues like maybe the rest of the Patriots teams have had in the past."

While a win can never be taken for granted in the NFL, the PGL crew still harped on some less-than-acceptable play in the first half, when the Dolphins built a 13-3 lead.

"I think [Vrabel] should look at the first half and say to himself, 'If we're going to be down our top three receivers, they lost their top tight end [Hunter Henry] today to a foot injury, multiple starting offensive linemen, we gotta play more cleanly than that.' The penalties, a fumbled snap that ruined a drive in the first half, the fumble from Efton Chism," Perry said. "They can have reserve players out there and still beat NFL teams. I'm not saying the Dolphins are a quality NFL team, but they can beat other NFL teams that are better than Miami because they have Drake Maye and they have what I think is a solid defense right now. But if you shoot yourself in the foot with those reserves on the field, now you're playing from such a deficit that that you might be losing games that you should win."

Curran zeroed in on the offensive line's inability to protect Maye early as a major flaw in Sunday's game.

"They had, it seemed, time to throw, and then there'd be a rogue rusher just running in on [Maye] that came from nowhere," Curran said. "He seemed as if they had a pocket, but it was continual one rogue rusher agitating, and it was, 'Just, can can you cover up all five at one point and get things done?'

"I think [the biggest issue] was pressure rate," Curran continued. "I think it's free rushers for no good reason. That was, to me, bothersome in the first half because it was impacting Maye's ability to even make simple plays, which seemed there to be made. If they have three backup wide receivers ... you're going to need some extra time to make sure that things are taken care of. And again, there were lone wolf rushers just coming in on Maye and bothering him."

Johnson agreed.

"50 percent of the the dropbacks in the first half, he was under pressure. I mean, Drake Maye -- people like to think that the offensive line is doing a pretty good job. No, it's just Drake Maye covers up for the deficiencies in this offensive line," Johnson said. "In the last four games, Drake Maye's kind of accounted for 78 percent of the scoring or production on this team on this offense. That's a lot to be putting on this kid. They've got to do a better job later in the season of protecting him, so he's not running around there for his life."

Johnson added that even though the team's mistake-laden play produced the "perfect tape" for coaches to pick apart, everyone involved in the football operation will be happy that it came in a win.

"It really shouldn't have been as close as as it was, but you know what? That's a division opponent. I know that they're not a very good team, but still, the Patriots have issues going down to Miami. We know that historically," Johnson said. "To come away with a win, it's still going to be very satisfying. And there's still a lot that they can learn. They're still eight games in the season, and so my guess is they're going to watch this tape and learn a lot from it. So it's the perfect kind of thing for a coach. You win the game, but there's still a ton that you can learn from from this game."