Let's look at how the Patriots changed their tactics from Week 1 to 2, starting on offense (all stats via NFL Next Gen):

⋅ They used more presnap motion and less shotgun. The Patriots went in motion just 12 times against the Raiders, the fewest of any team in Week 1. But against the Dolphins, the Patriots went in motion 36 times, which ranked 17th-most in Week 2 and produced two touchdowns.

The Patriots also put Drake Maye under center more often. In Week 1, just 15 of 68 snaps (22 percent) were from under center. In Week 2, it was 29 of 55 (53 percent). This represented more of a commitment to the run game, which the Patriots could do because they jumped out to a 12-0 lead.

⋅ Josh McDaniels called safer passes for Drake Maye. Maye had the best passing day of his young career, completing 19 of 23 for 230 yards, 2 touchdowns, and a 137.3 rating. This came a week after Maye's shaky performance against the Raiders with several inaccurate throws.

The key this past week was shortening Maye's throws. Maye averaged 8 air yards per pass in Week 1 (13th-highest among QBs), and just 6 yards against the Dolphins (third-lowest).

Maye had one bad pass behind Stefon Diggs in the third quarter, and a high throw to Austin Hooper that resulted in a 22-yard catch but could've been a walk-in touchdown. Otherwise, Maye completed a steady diet of quick throws to his tight ends, running backs, and slot receivers.

The game plan helped Maye handle the blitz well, going 7 for 8 for 89 yards, a touchdown, and a 152.6 rating. It's a promising sign for Maye, who posted the second-lowest passer rating against the blitz last year (70.0).

And Maye connected deep when he needed to, throwing a perfect ball to Rhamondre Stevenson 28 yards down the field, and lobbing a 16-yard touchdown pass to Kayshon Boutte that was mostly just a tremendous one-on-one effort by Boutte.

⋅ They called a bit more play-action and screens, but not enough. The Patriots only called play-action on 17 percent of Maye's passing plays against the Raiders, the sixth-lowest rate in Week 1. And the Patriots' screen game was a mess that day, as they had trouble setting up their blocking on several plays.

The Patriots performed better on screens against the Dolphins, with TreVeyon Henderson gaining 15 yards in the second quarter and Stevenson gaining 9 in the fourth quarter on a well-timed play against the blitz. But they only called three, with Antonio Gibson also getting stuffed for 1 yard.

McDaniels did call play-action at a higher rate in Week 2 (26.7 percent of pass plays), but he should call it more given the Patriots' struggles at receiver. Maye was 3 for 5 for 39 yards, a touchdown, and two sacks with play-action against the Dolphins.

Now for the Patriots' defense:

⋅ They didn't blitz. In Week 1, the Patriots went after Geno Smith, blitzing him on 43.6 percent of passing plays, fourth-highest rate in the league. Smith tore them up with nine completions for 189 yards and a touchdown. The Patriots called two Cover-0 blitzes (all-out with no safety help), and the result was a 26-yard touchdown for Tre Tucker, and a 36-yard catch for Tucker on third and 20.

The Patriots pulled a U-turn in Week 2 against Tua Tagovailoa. They blitzed him one time on 37 dropbacks for a 2.7 percent blitz rate that was by far the lowest in Week 2 (next: Carolina's Bryce Young at 10.2 percent). Tagovailoa completed the one pass for 13 yards. They didn't attempt any Cover-0 blitzes this time.

The Patriots were still able to get pressure on Tagovailoa, generating five sacks and a 43 percent pressure rate that ranked sixth-highest in Week 2.

⋅ They hung back in zone coverage and didn't stack the box. The Patriots put an extra defender in the box to stop the run 25 percent of the time against the Raiders, but not once against the Dolphins.

The Patriots played balanced coverage against the Raiders -- 49 percent man and 44 percent zone (one play did not register for Next Gen). The Patriots also played the highest rate of single-high safety (77 percent) in the league in Week 1.

But the Patriots were almost exclusively a zone defense against the Dolphins -- 87 percent compared with 11 percent man (one play did not register). They played multiple deep safeties -- Cover 2, Cover 4 or Cover 6 (a hybrid of the two) -- on 70 percent of plays.

Add it all up, and the Patriots clearly wanted to take away the Dolphins' deep ball, while not worrying too much about their run game or Tagovailoa beating them with short passes. The lack of blitzing also was a way for the Patriots to simplify their play calls with inside linebackers coach Zak Kuhr subbing for defensive coordinator Terrell Williams.

While the communication seemed to go well, the tactics didn't produce.

Tagovailoa completed 82 percent of his passes for 315 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He ranked 10th in Week 2 in expected points added per play. And he was able to connect on three deep passes, including a 47-yarder to Tyreek Hill.

Tagovailoa was good against zone coverage: 21 of 27 for 249 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 102.0 rating.

He was good against man: 4 for 4, 48 yards, 1 TD, 156.3 rating.

And he put up solid numbers with no blitz in his face: 25 of 31, 302 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 115.3 rating.

The Patriots just took advantage of the Dolphins' sideline dysfunction in the closing minutes, and made a few big plays in crunch time to seal the win. But the pass defense, which has allowed an NFL-high 677 yards and 10.3 yards per attempt in two games, has a lot of work to do.

Upon further review: The Patriots changed plenty of tactics in their win over the Dolphins, though not all of them worked - The Boston Globe