FOXBOROUGH — It wasn’t the easiest of afternoons for the Patriots offensive line on Sunday.
Already missing two starters — center David Andrews and right tackle Marcus Cannon — and going against a fearsome Miami pass rush, the group struggled for a sizable part of the day in pass protection. Ted Karras and LaAdrian Waddle (and later Cam Fleming) had their share of lowlights.
Karras, who was starting his second consecutive game at center in place of Andrews, botched the timing of a shotgun snap in the first half, leading to a Miami fumble and score. To his credit, he stood at his locker after the game and answered every question that came his way.
“It was 100 percent my fault," Karras said of the screwup. “I just snapped it early. We got a call and I pulled the trigger too fast. It ended up being a fluke, nightmare play. It kind of taints things for me a little bit, but I’ll go back to work and come back like always do. Just come to work.”
Later, the Patriots offensive linemen had a pair of false starts (Rob Gronkowski also had a false start of his own), not a good total for a team playing a home. And after Waddle later went down with an injury, his replacement Fleming immediately yielded a sack.
The good news? They were able to clear a nice path for running back Dion Lewis, who finished with a career-high 115 rushing yards. And as a team, the Patriots ran for a season-high 196 yards on the ground. But the quarterback got knocked around pretty good by the Miami defensive front.
“That’s a good team and a good front,” Karras said. “(But) we did enough to win and overcome some stuff. It ended up being a good game.”
Pats now in rare company with ninth win
The win over the Dolphins improved the Patriots record to 9-2, marking the 17th consecutive season the franchise will have won more than half of their games. They’re the first team to win more than half of their games in 17 straight seasons since free agency began in 1993, and they can boast the most consecutive winning seasons since the 1970 merger. Additionally, the Patriots are the only team in the NFL to have recorded nine or more wins in each of the last 17 seasons.
“It’s just all about dedication,” explained Gronkowski when he was asked about the streak after the game. “When you come in, you inherit that type of work. You see the people around you doing it. It was already installed when I got here, and I just came in and just looked at the older guys, saw what they were doing, saw what Tom, Coach (Bill) Belichick, the other guys like (Matthew) Slater that were here at the time when I got here, and you just see their work ethic, everyone’s work ethic around here. It just makes you pick it up.
Gronkowski, Cooks get in trouble after celebration
After Brandin Cooks’ fourth-quarter touchdown, the wide receiver hopped on Gronkowski’s back and rode him to the sideline.
Cooks and Gronk ????? pic.twitter.com/7kWqrn9htE
— '03 Kliff Kingsbury (@fearthe_beard11) November 26, 2017