Today In Patriots History: January 1
January 1, 2006:
The Doug Flutie Drop Kick Game
Miami Dolphins 28, New England Patriots 26 at Gillette Stadium
The Patriots dropped to 10-6 in a meaningless season finale.
Tom Brady played for just three first quarter drives and
Corey Dillon was a healthy scratch as the AFC East champs simply wanted to be healthy for their next game versus Jacksonville.
Rookie
Matt Cassel got his most playing time since high school, going 11-20 for 168 yards and two touchdown passes. Fellow rookie
Bam Childress made his first NFL catch, and the wide receiver also gave up a TD while playing corner.
The season highlight came with 6:10 left to play. Cassel had just thrown a 9-yard TD pass to
Tim Dwight on a drive that began with Dwight's 29-yard kickoff return, and included a 30-yard pass to
Ben Watson. The score cut the lead to 25-19, but Miami called a timeout when
Doug Flutie came on the field for the extra point.
Flutie stepped back several yards behind the line of scrimmage and booted a drop kick through the uprights for an extra point. While a bewildered Miami defense watched in confusion, Flutie was mobbed by his teammates and congratulated by a smiling
Bill Belichick. It was the
last successful drop kick in NFL history, and the first since 1941.
Andre' Davis led the Pats with two receptions for 46 yards, and
Ben Watson and
Deion Branch joined Dwight with touchdown receptions.
Adam Vinatieri's two field goals gave him an even 100 points on the season. It was the lowest point total of his ten seasons with the Patriots; he would sign with the Colts in the following off-season.
The victory was the sixth straight for Miami, who finished 9-7 under
Nick Saban. That six-game winning streak is the longest the Dolphins have had since 1992. (It was matched again in 2016, under then-rookie head coach Adam Gase. Miami came close to that mark this season, winning five in a row after a 1-3 start, before falling to Denver in week 11.) The last time the Fins had more consecutive wins was
a seven-game streak in 1985.
According to today's column by Christopher Price, Chris Berman may have been the person who planted the seed of the drop kick in a conversation with Bill Belichick.
As a new year dawned in 2006, the Patriots went back in time and had their backup quarterback make a drop kick.
www.bostonglobe.com
“I don’t know if Doug was doing them in practice, but the subject of the drop kick and how it was used in the CFL came up,” Berman recalled. “I remember him saying that there was no real application for it in the NFL, and that it was too bad.
“Then I asked him if he could still do that. He said, ‘I fool around with it from time to time.’ ”
In late October 2005, Berman was in Foxborough to do a piece on the Patriots. He was talking with Belichick and relayed his old conversation with Flutie.
“His antenna went up,” Berman said.
According to Berman, Belichick asked, “You think he can still do it?”
Belichick, Berman, and Flutie talked it out.
“I said I could still do it, and so Bill said we’d practice it tomorrow,” Flutie said.
January 1, 2012:
New England Patriots 49, Buffalo Bills 21 at Gillette Stadium
The Patriots picked off
Ryan Fitzpatrick four times as they scored 49 unanswered points to defeat the Bills. The victory clinched the number one seed in the AFC playoffs for New England.
The Patriots finished the season 13-3, winning their final eight games in a row. It was the third straight game that the Pats fell behind early before coming back to win.
Rob Gronkowski had eight receptions on ten targets for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Gronk set an NFL record for receiving yards by a tight end in a single season, with 1,327. He also had 18 touchdowns, second most in Patriot franchise history. The final yardage came on a 22-yard completion from
Brian Hoyer with 1:30 left, a play that Belichick called to give him a shot at the record.
Buffalo scored on their first three possessions while the Pats went 3-and-out twice to take a 21-0 lead. The Patriot defense held the Bills scoreless the rest of the way, forcing four interceptions, three punts, a turnover on downs and a missed field goal. Buffalo was able to convert just one of seven third down opportunities, though they did go 2-3 on fourth down. The Pats responded by scoring on seven of their next eight drives before an end of game kneel down.
Sterling Moore had two interceptions, including a 21-yard pick-six.
Devin McCourty had another pick, and
Antwaun Molden had an interception and six tackles. On the other side of the ball
Aaron Hernandez had seven catches for 138 yards, including a 39-yard TD that closed the deficit to 21-14.
Stevan Ridley led Patriot running backs with 81 yards rushing.
Miami went 10-6 in 2016, making the playoffs and finishing with their first winning record since 2008. Unfortunately for first year head coach Adam Gase that was a high point. The Fins went 13-19 with a negative point differential of 226 points over the next two seasons, leading to Gase's dismissal and opening the door for Brian Flores.
January 1, 2017:
New England Patriots 35, Miami Dolphins 14 at Hard Rock Stadium
The Patriots jumped out to a 20-0 lead and trounced the Dolphins, to finish 14-2.
Tom Brady threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, good for a 130.4 passer rating. That gave TB12 61,582 career passing yards, surpassing
Dan Marino for fourth place on the NFL all-time list.
Brady finished the season with 28 touchdowns and two interceptions, the best TD:INT differential in NFL history. It was his 51st game with at least three touchdown passes and no picks, tying him with
Peyton Manning for the most in that category.
The Patriots dominated early, jumping out to a 20-0 lead. At that point the Pats had 17 first downs to just one for Miami, and a 238-30 advantage in total yards.
Miami finished the season 10-6 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2008, and just second time since 2001. The loss was just the second in eleven games for the Dolphins. It was the first time in four years that the Patriots won in Miami.
Michael Floyd scored his only touchdown with the Patriots in the first quarter, catching a pass and bulling his way into the end zone for a 14 yard score. That was preceded by a TD pass to
Martellus Bennett, for a 14-0 lead.
Stephen Gostkowski added two field goals before Miami finally scored with 28 seconds to play in the half.
The Dolphins closed to 20-14 in the third quarter. Brady found
Julian Edelman (8 receptions for 151 yards) for a short completion, and JE11 took it 77 yards for a touchdown. After both teams punted twice, Miami drove deep into New England territory.
Devin McCourty forced a fumble and
Shea McClellin returned it 69 yards to flip momentum and field position. A few plays later
LeGarrette Blount ran it in for the final score of 35-14.
Happy Birthday
Happy 72nd Birthday to John Tarver
Born Jan 1, 1949 in Bakersfield CA
Pats 7th round (166th overall) selection of the 1972 draft, from Colorado
Patriot RB from 1972-74; uniform #36
31 games w/Pats, with 754 yards from scrimmage and 8 touchdowns.
New England Patriots
(From the 1974 Patriots Media Guide)
Launched collegiate career at Bakersfield Jr. College before switching to Univ. of Colorado ... rushed for nearly 2000 yards in Jr. College, added 1327 more in two varsity seasons at Colorado ... known as the "Battering Buffalo at Colorado where he was voted the "most unheralded senior" ... played tailback in '70, fullback in '71 and managed 14 touchdowns ... Patriots second choice in the seventh round of the 1972 draft ... added to College All-Star roster and played well at Chicago ... road the cab squad for a portion of his rookie year, did a good job in the eight games he played in '72 ... broken scapula sidelined him for five games during 1973, seven as a starter ... still came through as club's second best rusher last season.
