MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. \u2013 The only thing missing from this game was some trombone player hanging out in the end zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Down to seven seconds left, trailing 33-28 with the ball at\ntheir own 31, and no timeouts left, the Miami Dolphins managed to pull off a\nwild play that fans of the University of California and Millsaps College would\nlove. Ryan Tannehill dropped back and\nhit Kenny Stills in the right seam. \nStills immediately lateraled the ball to DeVante Parker, who ran the\nball along the right sideline for a few yards, then lateraled the ball to\nKenyan Drake. Drake shook off a tackle,\ncut back left, then cut back right and outran Rob Gronkowski, who was in there\nto defend a Hail Mary, to the end zone. \nMiami emerged with a shocking 34-33 win on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium,\nleaving the Patriots dumbfounded over not just the play, but how they could\nhave surrendered that many points to the Dolphins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Combined with Kansas City defeating Baltimore in overtime,\nthe Chiefs now have a two-game lead in the race for the top playoff seed. The Patriots missed a chance to clinch the\nAFC East, but it\u2019s the possible loss of the top playoff seed that is more\ndamaging. Most every Patriot observer\nfigured the Patriots would win their last four games. Even despite the Patriots\u2019 poor record in\nMiami in December (4-16), this was a game the Patriots needed to win, should\nhave won, and still deserved to lose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you block two punts, you figure to win the game. Albert McLellan enjoyed his fifteen minutes\nwith two blocks of Ryan Haack punts, with the first of the two setting up a\nPatriot touchdown. But the Patriots\ncould never get any separation from the Dolphins, as the second blocked punt\nended poorly, the Patriots left seven points on the field, and despite sacking Tannehill\nthree times, the defense as gashed by the Miami rushing attack to the tune of\n189 yards and a nine-yard per carry average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This game featured nine lead changes, including the game\u2019s\ncrazy final play. This was a record for\nboth franchises against any opponent. \nThe biggest Patriot lead was five points, the 33-28 lead they should\nhave protected. The only leads Miami\nheld were one point, including the final margin. But the teams spent the entire game trading\neither touchdowns or defensive stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tannehill sustained a seemingly severe ankle injury in the second\nquarter, but still managed to put up good numbers despite the rushing game\nbeing so successful. He finished 14 of\n19 passing for 265 yards, three touchdowns, and a near-perfect 155.1 passer\nrating. Stills, Drake, Frank Gore and\nrookie Brice Butler all had long catches of 20 or more yards. It wasn\u2019t just about the rushing, it just seemed\nthat way, but Tannehill played valiantly despite being hurt and under siege all\ngame long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Miami rushing attack was telling. Gore, whose best days are behind him after\nseveral great seasons in San Francisco, had 92 yards rushing on 12 carries and\na 7.7 average. Then you have Brandon\nBolden, who burned his former team for 60 yards on two carries, both of them\nfor touchdowns. Bolden found a big hold\noff right tackle in the second quarter for a 54-yard touchdown run. On his second carry, he ran much the same\nplay and scored from six yards out on the ensuing offensive possession for\nMiami. Drake had 24 yards on six\ncarries, as Miami was never contained rushing the ball all game long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots lost this game more than Miami won it. Every time the Patriots fell behind, they\ncame back to take the lead. But a few\nbad moments along the way, long before the final play, jumped up and bit the\nPatriots on the ankle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the opening drive of the game, a long and time-consuming\ndrive which ended in a two-yard touchdown run by James Develin, Stephen\nGostkowski yanked the extra point off the right upright. Late in the first half, the Patriots had the\nball at the Miami two-yard line with seven seconds left and no timeouts, and it\nwas third and goal. Tom Brady dropped\nback, tried to find an open receiver, then inexplicably took a sack by Robert\nQuinn, and time expired in the half. After\nthe game, Brady admitted that he thought the team still had one timeout left\nand took the blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the opening drive of the second half for the Patriots,\nthey drove from their 22 to the Miami 24. \nThe drive died there, but Gostkowski yanked a 42-yard field goal attempt\nwide right, giving the Patriots nothing to show for a very nice time-consuming\ndrive. This is seven points that the\nPatriots wound up needing badly in the end, and in the end proved more costly\nthan some million-to-one shot lucky play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brady was 27 of 43 passing for 358 yards, three touchdowns,\nand a 112.4 rating. Gronkowski, who caught\npasses better than he tackled running backs, had eight catches for 107\nyards. Josh Gordon had five catches for\n96 yards, and Julian Edelman had nine catches for 86 yards. Cordarelle Patterson had perhaps the most\nimpactive catch of the day, a 37-yard touchdown catch up the right seam which\nat the time gave the Patriots a 20-14 lead in the second quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The one area which really helped Miami defensively was the\nshutting down of the Patriot rushing attack. \nThe Patriots as a team averaged 2.6 yards per carry. But the passing attack seemed to negate that\nedge Miami had, and in the end really wasn\u2019t a key factor in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defensively, the Patriots did well in putting pressure on\nTannehill, but he was still able to put up big numbers and was helped out greatly\nby his running backs. But it was a very\nuneven performance by the Patriot defense, as the Patriots gave up touchdowns\non three of the first four Miami possessions, then forced Miami punts in five\nof the next six possessions. But the two\nsecond half possessions that weren\u2019t punts were touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Patriots have to regroup quickly and head to Pittsburgh\nnext week to meet a strong Steelers team which is sick and tired of losing at\nhome to the Patriots. The defense will\nbe tested again by a great Steeler offense which is still clicking despite no\nLeVeon Bell. This game may go a long way\nto shape how the AFC playoffs will be formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This game was a regular season game, not a playoff game, so you\nwon\u2019t keep seeing replays of the end of this game beyond this week much. And that\u2019s good, because this ending is a\nnightmare that Stanford fans who were alive in 1982 still go through. It was a fluke play, but it worked and Miami\nwon. New England simply has to move on\nto Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Easier said than done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The only thing missing from this game was some trombone player hanging out in the end zone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":20791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1826,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2018-patriots-regular-season","category-patriots-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n