The Patriots just gave up 167 rushing yards in a quarter to the Broncos a week after Redskins running back Roy Helu rang up 126 yards on the ground, and now they’re getting ready to face the Dolphins and Reggie Bush, who’s coming off three straight 100- yard games, including 203 last week against the Bills.

They know what they’re in for with Bush’s explosiveness, and also know that to bottle him up, they’ll need to shore up a run defense that’s been more generous than usual.

“He’s a special guy,” said Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich. “A guy like Reggie can do a lot of different things. He can catch the ball out of the backfield, he can run the ball, he can play on punt return, he can return the ball, so there’s many things he can do on the field that can hurt you, so you’ve just got to make sure you don’t let him do those things.”

The Patriots are giving up 117.6 rushing yards per game (ranked 19th in the league). But last week, they gave up 252 to Denver — 93 to Tim Tebow — and needed to make adjustments after the Broncos ripped off 167 in the first quarter. The Redskins totaled 170 yards on the ground.

It’s an obvious red flag for the defense going into Saturday’s matchup with the Dolphins, who have the league’s No. 7 rushing attack.

The Patriots’ defense had done a solid job of limiting some of the league’s best runners. Bush ran for just 38 yards in the season opener, won by the Patriots, 38-24.

They’ve also held the Chargers, Bills, Jets, Cowboys, Steelers, Eagles, and Colts to fewer than 100 rushing yards.

“As a defense, we’re trying to improve each week,” said cornerback Devin McCourty. “I think we do pretty good against the run. Last week, they got some big plays in the first few series, but then we were able to get on the sidelines and talk about it.”

It starts up front, according to McCourty.

“(Vince Wilfork) will always turn to us in the secondary and say, ‘We’re going to handle this run, we’ll take care of it up front,’ and those guys, that’s what they love to do, they love to go out there, beat guys up trying to block them, and get to the ball and tackle the running back,” said McCourty. “It’s a team defense, it’s those guys working up front, then it’s the secondary coming in and being able to make tackles.”

FBush is having the best season of his career (973 yards and six touchdowns), but McCourty said in the first meeting the Patriots made a conscious effort to keep an eye on him.