Five things to remember: Pats 41, Dolphins 14
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Oct 4, 2010
PATRIOTS 41, DOLPHINS 14
THE NEWS
Patriots make a statement with 41-14 rout of Dolphins
Five things to remember from the victory
Patrick Chung has a breakout night
The best and the worst from the Pats' win
THE ANALYSIS
Curran: Patriots earn the right to revel
Felger: Everything old is new again
WATCH IT
Tom Brady touts the Pats' ability to spread the ball
Green-Ellis, Woodhead form a legitimate running tandem
By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com
MIAMI GARDENS, Florida - As predicted here . . . well, not really. This was a win that was not only unexpected but jaw-dropping in its decisiveness.
1. SPECIAL TEAMS
Whatever Patriots special-teams coach Scott O'Brien saw in the Dolphins' field-goal and punt protection got exploited by scheme, and more credit goes to the guy who did the dirty work, Patrick Chung. The Brandon Tate 103-yard return to open the second half wasn't wholly unexpected. He does that. But special-teams blocks have been rare. Chung's first set up the BenJarvus Green-Ellis touchdown that made it 20-7. Then the field-goal block turned a would-be 10-point lead (if Dan Carpenter had hit the field goal) into a 20-point lead after Kyle Arrington's scoop-and-score sealed this one.
"It says a lot about our hard work and how dedicated and devoted we are," said Arrington.
Throw in the five touchbacks and two field goals by Stephen Gostkowski and the 60-yard punt by Zoltan Mesko and you have two games worth of stellar plays. The only downside: Wes Welker's muff inside the 10 of a first-quarter punt that he recovered.
2. THE LILLIPUTIAN OFFENSE
On their first drive of the second half, the Patriots got small. On 10 of the 12 plays on their touchdown drive, Danny Woodhead and Wes Welker either caught, carried or were targeted with passes. Throw in the not-so-big BenJarvus Green-Ellis' 16 carries for 76 yards and Woodhead's 8 for 36, you have the lead backs getting 112 yards on 24 carries. A running game may have been discovered.
3. MOSS' STAT SHEET DISAPPEARANCE
For the first time since November of 2006 when he was with the Raiders, and for just the third time in his career, Randy Moss was held without a catch. He only had one ball thrown his way -- a fake spike bullet near the end of the half that he almost made a remarkable catch on. Despite that, he wasn't downtrodden in the locker room after.
I mentioned to him that he must have run about two miles in total. "I'm 33, man, haven't lost a step," he said.
Moss lamented the would-be touchdown catch. "I should have caught it. Hit my hands. It would have been a good catch but I should have caught it."
Watching the play from above, the throw was a back-shoulder timing throw that Moss barely had a chance to locate yet still almost hauled in. "I didn't have much time to locate it but Tom [Brady] is always so on-point with his throws that you know it's going to be there."
If there's speculation that Moss either A) dogged it or B) was pissed because of a lack of attempts . . . we weren't watching the same game.
