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FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Patriots have been rolling through their opponents, but that might not be the case against the Miami Dolphins.

The Patriots play their second straight division matchup Thursday on a short week, and they'll be taking on a Dolphins team that's outscored its opponents 82-36 in its last two games. And Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is well aware of what they'll be up against.

"They're playing great," Brady said Tuesday. "They've got a lot of great players. Every time we've played these guys, they've been a challenge. We started off last year and lost to them (33-20) the first game of the year. We battled back against them in the second half of last year. They're riding high right now, and I think they're really getting after the quarterback."

The Dolphins got off to a bad start this season, going 1-3 in the first four games. But like the Patriots did last season, they've since bounced back under interim head coach Dan Campbell with blowout wins over the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans to put them at .500.

They've been able to do it behind an offense that gets to work early and a defense that does all it can to take down the quarterback.

"They've got some real good guys in coverage," Brady said. "(Cameron) Wake and (Olivier) Vernon and (Ndamukong) Suh and (Earl) Mitchell and (Derrick) Shelby. They've got a whole group of pass rushers that really the last couple games have been performing really well, and offensively they've just been scoring a lot of points.

"So they get ahead and they kind of release the pass rushers on you and then Cameron Wake strip sacks the quarterback and next thing you know the game's blown open. It was blown open in the second quarter against Houston, in the third quarter against Tennessee. We got to make sure we try to stay on track and execute well so that we keep things under control. But you can't be one-dimensional against these guys. These guys are really a talented group."

Miami's defense underperformed those first four weeks, but ousting head coach Joe Philbin and defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle has made them look like an entirely new group. Brady will have to do all he can to make sure he doesn't lose the reins against them.

"Whatever they've changed is really working," Brady said. "I think they're playing at an extremely high level. They've gotten out to some big leads, and that spells trouble against this defense. We did the same thing last year in the first game, we got behind, and that's one of the things that they do great. They can really tee off of the quarterback, and they were certainly teeing off the other day. We've got to be balanced. We've got to try to take control of the game."

With the Dolphins wanting to stay hot and Brady and the Pats wanting to stay undefeated, Thursday night at Gillette Stadium has the potential to be a real battle.

Thumbnail photo via Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports Images