Miami Dolphins were hosting the New England Patriots. It was the Dolphins fifth game on the national spotlight under the lights this season.
Dolphins entered the matchup 0-4 in primetime.
Dolphins were 11 point underdogs at home.
Miami ended a five-game losing streak the week before to the Denver Broncos. Miami needed to play their best game of the season, and they had to play a lot better on offense. Moreover game of the year on defense.
Also, it helped star tight end Rob Gronkowski was serving a one-game suspension.
Enough of the writing suspense.
Excellent third down defense continually led Tom Brady and the Patriots offense off the field. Along with looking their best all season, they dressed the part as they wore their 1972 uniforms defeating the Patriots 27-20.
Brady was intercepted twice by Xavien Howard and held the Patriots to 0-11 on a third-down conversion, no third down conversions for the first time since 1991 for the Patriots and Miami snapped the New England’s eight-game winning streak.
“I’m just feeding off the last game. Watching the film and stuff like that, Howard stated. “They tried to come at me in the weakness that I showed on film so just executing the game plan.”
Dolphins bullied the Patriots all night. Moreover, kept the Patriots from clinching their ninth consecutive AFC East title.
“We are just not playing well,” Brady stated. “I don’t think there is a magic potion to take to come out with a win. We didn’t play good and got behind. Tried to battle back and could not do it.”
Brady did not help fantasy owners or his team. The five-time super bowl champion went 24 for 43 for 233 yards and one touchdown. Miami sacked him twice and held the Patriots to 25 yards rushing.
All the credit to the Dolphins, if they played like they did Monday night ten times like that, they would be super bowl contenders.
Jay Cutler was great at the quarterback position. However, the running game of Kenyan Drake is what I enjoyed. Drake had 114 yards rushing and 79 receiving. The game was played with his success out of the backfield and gave the Dolphins’ defense rest to sustain the victory they needed to stymie Brady.
“I try to go out there no matter the situation, no matter the stage and just try to do my best to help this team win games. I feel like I sound like a broken record, but that’s just my mentality.” Drake stated. “I enjoy going out there and performing on these stages obviously, but it was a great team win; offense, defense, special teams, all facets of the game. Shout-out to everybody that came out there and supported us. We definitely got the job done today.”
The Dolphins play the Buffalo Bills in two of their final three games, including Sunday at Buffalo. Drake needs to help open the passing game for Cutler. Bills have the last playoff spot entering the game.
Coach Adam Gase beat New England for the first time in four tries. His team snapped the Patriots’ 14-game road winning streak, second-best ever behind San Francisco’s 18 in a row from 1988-90.
