PatsDeb

with my husband and 4 kids. Had seats in the lower part of the upper deck, about 20 yd. line, Pats side near endzone where both teams enter the field. Had a great time (especially considering the outcome!).

A few things:

GREAT showing by Pats fans!! I'd say at least 30% of the stadium was Pats fans and they were loud & proud! - they were crowing in FL about how the Dolphins are relevant again; that yesterday was the first time in a long time that it was a sell-out crowd with full parking lots. They forgot to mention it was because of all the Pats fans at the game!! We were surrounded by Pats fans in the section we were in. One Dolphins guy behind us remarked to his kid as they sat down, "what are we sitting in? The Patriots cheering section?"

Stadium is pretty good - holds noise much better than Gillette as both ends are enclosed. Nice concessions and bathrooms with shorter lines than Gillette; also no wait to get into (or out of ) parking or into (or out of) stadium. Hubby and I agreed that Gillette seems to be the worst on these issues of all the stadiums we've been to. Hot in the sun in the upper deck though, even though it wasn't that hot a day here (mid-70's).

Matt Cassel was AWESOME yesterday!! Able to scramble or get the ball off virtually every time they came at him. Offense looked so good - clicking on all cylinders no matter where the play went.

Defense - yikes. Or more accurately, pass defense, YIKES. Almost no effective pressure on Pennington for the first three quarters. They finally tightened up and were able to collapse the pocket around him late in the 4th quarter and he started making mistakes and errant throws. Before that, he had his way on 3rd and long all day long. Run defense was good (as it has been all year), but it gets erased when you get a first down on 3rd & 8 or 3rd & 10. The secondary was playing way off the Miami receivers and it seemed to cost them over & over.

No way BB was running up the score at the end of the game. We were all begging them to run out the clock to avoid putting the defense out there again. Also, although at the end of the day he didn't seem to do any real damage, Ted Ginn, Jr. always looked like he was thisclose to breaking one. Almost every time the last guy possible took him down.

Didn't see the fight between Light and Crowder as it happened at the other end of the field. All we saw was a bunch of Dolphins pushing the Pats way back after the FG. I can tell you that Matt Light got as big a cheer as Crowder as he headed to the lockerroom!!

Miami fans were fine until the end of the game when things got a little chippy between some and Pats fans, but all in all a good experience and no problems for us. Lots of Pats fans high fives on the way out!!

Thanks for letting me share!

thechris

Thanks for posting! That's pretty cool that there was a strong showing of Patriot fans down there in Miami.

Were you able to get any pictures?

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Hardboiled

Thanks for the report.

Gwedd

Yes indeed, THANK YOU! Eyewitness accounts are always nice to have, especially objective ones that talk about the related issues like parking, restrooms, food services, etc. All nice to have and to file away for future references.

Tunescribe

Thanks for the report. On TV it looked like a lot of empty seats in that stadium. A 30-percent Pats fans turnout is amazing!

billdog3484

im not surprised there were so many pats fans. it was loud there. maybe with our success, the next generation of fans will be full of pats fans, so when we play away games, we will not be so disadvantaged. much like the steelers when the roll into other teams' stadiums

Michael

Warm weather, a Pats game live in front of you. What more could you ask for. It was actually noticeable even on TV that there was a lot of cheering for the Pats. I remember thinking it was louder for the Pats than it is a Gillette. When Moss ran one in for a TD and went over to the crowd. There was a guy there with a Red Sox cap but, even a guy completely painted in orange was cheering and slapping Moss on the back. It was fun to watch.

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captain stone

Thanks for the report, PD. It's good to read that what I saw on TV has been confirmed by an eyewitness: this "defense" is a disgrace.

Re: the stadium experience, I'm glad that you & yours enjoyed the amenities, incl. the surround-sound, louder noise effects. I've never been to Gillette, but some friends, and all my brothers-in-law, have been to Gillette & other stadia, both new & old. I hear almost the same thing from all of them: Gillette is the worst of the new stadia, on multiple levels. How could the Krafts have eff'd-up so badly? Can all of its problems be traced to the fact that the stadium was almost completely privately financed, and therefore efforts had to be made to recoup as much of the investment as possible, at the expense of creating a more fearsome home-field advantage?

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PatsWickedPissah

Yes. The empty but money making Red seats take up space formerly full of cheering fans - me. The blue collar lower cost 300s are too far away and too high up. What ever architect sold the Krafts on the open concourses in the ends and the stupid lighthouse should lose his or her licence.

Great report, PatsDeb. Enjoyed reading your post.

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KontradictioN

Nice report. The mention of 30% of the crowd being Pats fans alone made my nipples rock hard.

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