MIAMI, FL — New England had to listen to people talk all week about how no team has ever started out 0-3 and won the Superbowl. Now make it 0-4.
Down 10-3 with 3:52 remaining the Patriots began their final drive at the 50yd line and after two runs by Kevin Faulk left them with a 4th-and-1 at the Dolphin 41-yard line, New England found themselves in a tough situation with their only option being to go for it on fourth down. Bledsoe took the snap, faked the hand-off up the middle and found Terry Glenn on a 28-yard pass play that gave them a first down at the Miami 13 yard line with two-minutes left in the game. Three plays later and after a nuetral zone infraction New England found themselves with a 4th-and-2 play at the Miami 5-yard line. Bledsoe took the snap, dropped back, and attempted to hit Eric Bjornson on a fade pattern in the corner of the endzone, but Bjornson got tangled up with Dolphins defensive back Patrick Surtain on what many felt was pass interference, but no call was made and Miami knelt down and ran out the clock to end the game.
Following the game Belichick had to face the media for the fourth straight week at the wrong end of a frustrating defeat.
“There’s no big secret in what happened today,” said Belichick. “It was a tough Division game and Miami did a little bit better job of taking advantage of their opportunities then we did and that’s pretty much the story.”
“We had a couple of costly plays in the first half that hurt us and led to some points, and we had our opportunities down around the goal line but we weren’t able to capitalize on them. It’s frustrating.”
Drew Bledsoe was sacked only twice in the game, but took quite a beating from a relentless Miami defense that held New England to their lowest point total since 1995 when they lost 37-3 at home against the Denver Broncos. Bledsoe finished the day 16-of-33 for 161-yards passing with no touchdowns and one meaningless interception that came on a hail-mary pass at the end of the first half. Bledsoe has done a great job thus far in making good decisions with the football, but still appears out of sync with his receivers as several passes went just out of reach during Sunday’s game.
Runningback Kevin Faulk also struggled in Sunday’s game. He carried the ball 21 times for a mere 46-yards rushing, but fumbled the ball at the goal line in what had appeared to be a touchdown run that would have given the Patriots the lead midway through the second quarter. Miami Dolphin Brian Walker put a big hit on Faulk and knocked the ball loose, and Zach Thomas recovered it.
Life doesn’t get much easier for New England. They head to Denver next Sunday to take on the Broncos, and New England hasn’t won in Denver since 1968. That’s yet another streak that Belichick will try to end next Sunday.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
