Patriots Set Smarts Aside in Frustrating Loss to Miami

FOXBOROUGH — It’s not often you see a team run back two interceptions for touchdowns and register nine quarterback sacks, yet lose a football game at home on a last-second rally.

Especially when the rally is pulled off by someone filling in for Dan Marino.

It happened, folks. Damon Huard might just have been Marino for all the Patriots care. He shook off the early 14-0 lead his team spotted the Patriots, rode the impeccable right leg of Olindo Mare who simply couldn’t miss, and patiently led the Miami Dolphins to a comeback 31-30 win at the Fox today.

This was a game that had a 31-0 Patriot win written all over it. And the Patriots knew it.

But the offense softened up after that big lead, then eventually succumbed to some less-than-brainy coaching decisions that helped Huard on the comeback trail. On a day where the defense was carrying the day, in the end it just couldn’t carry the team all the way home.

Where do we begin?

The Patriots were killed today by special teams, particularly on punt coverage. The Dolphins returned four punts for 86 yards today, and had a total of 246 yards on combined kickoff and punt returns. The Patriots had 161 such yards.

What was hurting the Patriots here was the absence of Troy Brown, Tebucky Jones, Harold Shaw and Chris Floyd, all out with injuries. Things would have been a lot worse if two long punts of 40-plus yards weren’t called back due to holding penalties.

Solution? Have Lee Johnson angle his punts to the sidelines. Anything to prevent a return of any kind. Didn’t happen. Have Adam Vinatieri kick short on kickoffs to give his coverage team more time to get downfield and at least slow the receivers down (as opposed to “tackling” them). Didn’t happen.

Early in the second quarter, Miami had the ball at the Patriot 31. It was 4th-and-1. The Patriots put only five men inside the tackles. Huard practically crawls between Tim Ruddy and Kevin Donnalley for a gimme first down. Respecting the pass is one thing, but giving up an easy quarterback sneak like this on 4th-and-1 is inexcusable.

The Patriots are still enamored with the end run. Early in the second quarter, the Pats had the ball at their own 29, facing a 3rd-and-1. Terry Allen gets the ball and sweeps left. Allen is dropped for a one-yard loss. It was the only end run of the day, but it resulted in a three-and-out stalled drive. The Patriots possess nobody with any kind of speed who can make that play work (see two weeks ago, Cleveland), but nobody wearing headsets seems to realize that yet.

Another thing the Patriots are enamored with is the zone defense. The Patriots had the Dolphins 3rd-and-23 in the second quarter. On second down, Greg Spires had just nailed Huard for a 13-yard sack. Miami could do nothing with the Patriot blitz. What do you do on 3rd-and-23? Blitz again, right?

Wrong. Rush four. Soft zone. Huard tossed a lollypop to Tony Martin right in between Kato Serwanga and a sound-asleep Chris Carter. The pass went for 69 yards and a touchdown. Pats’ defense gets zoned-out again. You know you have Law and Steve Israel, which makes plays like that so painful to watch. Especially on 3rd-and-23.

All day long, Bledsoe was as much hurried by the defense as Huard was. But there were often times where Bledsoe had five to six seconds to throw. Again, one wonders what has become of Ben Coates. He did catch a whopping two passes for eight yards. With double coverage on Terry Glenn, and with frequent one-on-one coverage on Coates, it is unconscionable that Coates did not get the ball more. By the way, Glenn was shut out today, for the record.

The Patriots broke out in the third quarter with a hurry-up offense, featuring Lamont Warren. Warren caught two passes for 34 yards and chipped in with a shocking 17-yard run. The drive stalled at the Miami 21, but the Patriots had something working. Warren got injured, but the hurry-up never was a factor again. It was something that Miami had problems with, but the Patriots wouldn’t stick with it.

And all the while, the Dolphins kept coming back on one Mare field goal after another. It was 30-25 Patriots with 2:40 left. Patriots have the ball on their own 20. Miami has two timeouts.

Allen runs for one-yard on first down. Miami burns their second timeout. Things are going normal so far.

So far. On second and third downs, Bledsoe tosses two horrid passes towards the sidelines. Both incomplete. Both stop the clock anyway if caught. The Dolphins could not believe their good fortune. They get the ball back. That 2:40 is down to only 2:30. And they still have one more timeout, plus the two-minute warning.

Ugh. No wonder the football Gods let the comeback happen. It used to be Marino to Duper. Marino to Clayton. Marino to Moore. Marino to McDuffie. Marino to Gadsden.

Huard to Pritchett?

The two imcomplete passes gave Miami way too much time to complete their winning drive, all the while allowing a backup fullback to be the featured receiver. On the winning touchdown, Larry Whigham was two seconds too late in getting over to cover Pritchett, who took a toss in the left flat and walked in from six yards out. Blown coverage perhaps, but usually a linebacker is responsible for a fullback coming out of the backfield.

And thus you have a skull-imploding loss instead of a big easy win.

The Patriots could not have asked for a better start. They return two picks for touchdowns in the first quarter. Both Katzenmoyer and Law had more catches than Glenn. That pretty much sums up the Patriot offense.

It is clear today that the Patriots cannot win on the strength of Bledsoe alone. Bledsoe had literally no pickings on receivers today. It is days like this that a running game is so dearly needed to loosen up a defense, never mind getting key first downs and eating up clock at the end of a game.

But the Patriots helped themselves lose today with just plain stupidity. From adjustments that weren’t made to shoddy play calling, it just was a bad day for the Patriots.

At least the league has parity, and the Pats can once again look to Thanksgiving as their time to kick things back in gear again. Hey, it’s still October. The Pats are now 0-2 in their key mid-season stretch. Things are still going according to the big plan.

But three points away from 6-0 has to hurt. Lack of a running game will hurt much worse later on.

As long as this dearth of running exists, the Patriots have to play smart all the time. As Mr. Miyagi said in Karate Kid, “Is not who’s stronger. Is who’s smarter.”

Today, the Patriots were stronger. Miami was smarter. They win.

About Bob George

Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139

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