Another week, another win for the New England Patriots. This one had some historical significance too as the the Pats are now the first NFL team to start a regular season 15-0. This one was never much of a game as the visiting Dolphins (1-14)-the league's worst team-found themselves down 28-0 at the half.
For the first half at least, Tom Brady (18 of 33, 215 yards, 3 TD's, 2 INT's) and Randy Moss (5 catches, 50 yards, 2 TD's) both looked poised to break some lofty records (touchdown passes for a season and touchdown catches for a season respectively). New England forced a Dolphins three-and-out on its first drive before Brady found Moss for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Then early in the second quarter, after a Laurence Maroney 51-yard rush, Brady hit Moss with a one-yard slant to put the Patriots up 14-0.
Things went from bad to worse for Miami as they couldn't get any first downs and on the next Pats possession, Maroney went untouched for a 59-yard rushing score. It was third-and-1 and Miami gambled that the Pats would run. They guessed right but the Pats jumbo set blew up any Dolphins trying to tackle Maroney, who had nobody within 20 yards of him (besides the ref) as he eased into the end zone.
Maroney had his second straight 100-yard game, third of the season and fourth of his career. He carried the ball 14 times for a career-high 156 yards. He's gaining plenty of momentum as the Pats go into January, when they'll undoubtedly rely on him more than they have so far this season.
Patriots icon Troy Brown saw his first action of the season as he returned six punts for 55 yards including a 28-yard return in the fourth quarter. Brown received a memorable standing ovation before his first punt return but also had a lowlight of having a punt hit him right off the facemask for a fumble which Miami recovered. No worries though as the hapless Dolphins couldn't do anything with the short field.
The final score for the Pats in the game was the craziest. Brady found Jabar Gaffney (5 catches, 82 yards) for a 48-yard touchdown pass after Miami safety Lance Schulters somehow had the sure-pick go right through his hands and into Gaffney's. It's been that type of season for the Dolphins.
Typifying that even more was when Miami quarterback Cleo Lemon went out of bounds right before the goalline on fourth and goal at the end of the first half. All he had to do was dive into the end zone but instead he tip-toed out just before the line.
The second half was basically extended garbage time as the Patriots tried to get Brady and Moss their records before the home crowd but it was not to be. Brady was intercepted twice as he forced the ball downfield a couple times (something that you never see from him). The Dolphins finally scored a touchdown but Lemon was sacked seven times for the game by the relentless Patriots defensive line.
New England had another goalline stand as Tedy Bruschi broke up the fourth down pass.
The Patriots set the record for touchdowns in a season (71) with the win. They also tied their own record from '03-'04, having now won 18 regular-season games in a row. They finished undefeated (6-0) in the AFC East for the first time and set the franchise mark for total net yards in a season (6190). They also set the team record for first downs in a season-366-while Wes Welker (5 catches, 49 yards) tied Brown's single season record for catches (101) and Mike Vrabel's two sacks helped him reach 11.5 for the season, the most for a Patriot since Andre Tippett in 1987.
Their final regular season game is next Saturday night at the Meadowlands against the Giants (10-5). The G-Men clinched their playoff spot so they really won't have much to play for besides trying to keep New England out of the record books even more. The Patriots on the other hand, have three huge records to try and achieve: the first 16-0 season, Brady's touchdown record (he has 47, he needs two to break it) and Moss's touchdown record (he has 21, he needs two to break it).
Getting a perfect 16-0 season would be amazing and that is the focus for the next week but as soon as that game's over, the Patriots will start thinking about the bigger task: going 19-0 and taking home another Super Bowl. Let's face it, 16-0 would be awesome but anything less than a Super Bowl this season will be seen as a disappointment, that's how ridiculous the Patriots have made their own standards.
No comments:
Post a Comment