Gase on facing 1-2 Patriots: Records are irrelevant

The New England Patriots are 1-2. The Miami Dolphins are 3-0.

Entering Sunday's divisional tilt, Dolphins coach Adam Gase couldn't give a hoot in a rainstorm about the above fact.

"Nothing. Zero," Gase said when asked how much stock he put in the Dolphins' current AFC East lead, via the Boston Sports Journal. "I don't look at records right now. It's too early. Nobody cares. I mean, at the end of the day, nobody will give a [expletive] unless you win the last one. You've got to focus on one week, and that's what we need to do. When we get to that, when we get to Wednesday, we'll worry about them. Right now, our guys are going to get their things corrected from this game, and then, we'll move on to New England when it's time to move on."

Behind a strong defense and fantastic play from Ryan Tannehill (121.8 passer rating through three games), the Dolphins are off to a hot start, while the Patriots are in their seemingly annual September gloom.

Tannehill's return from injury has flown too far under the radar. In 16 total starts under Gase, the quarterback has completed 68 percent of his passes, for 3,682 yards -- 7.9 yards per attempt -- with 26 TDs to 14 INTs. The Dolphins are 11-5 in those games. This season Tannehill has displayed calm demand of the offense and a willingness to take shots down the field when open -- his 8.2 air yards per attempt sits third in the NFL behind only Ryan Fitzpatrick and Patrick Mahomes, per Next Gen Stats

Is the Dolphins' good start to the season a mirage propelled by facing poor competition or a prognosticator of a turnaround in Gase's third season?

Starting Sunday in Foxboro we'll begin to have our answer. A road win against the Patriots would give the Dolphins a 3.5-game lead over New England in the division.

Gase, however, knows he's walking into a hornet's nest on Sunday.

"They're going to do the same thing they always do -- get better every week," Gase said. "They have a really good coaching staff and they have a Hall of Fame quarterback. The records are irrelevant right now.

"They're going to do a lot of things that are tough for us. Going up there, it's a great environment to play in. It's rowdy, it's loud. So we're going to have to make sure we're on our A-game."