Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ loss to the Dolphins in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:
HEADLINES
Patriots blow it on final play: New England had a 10-3 record and a 10th straight AFC East title in their hands with 7 seconds remaining as the Dolphins snapped the ball from their own 31-yard line. The Dolphins made two laterals, and then Kenyan Drake ran the final 40 yards untouched to sneak into the front right corner of the end zone ahead of a stumbling Rob Gronkowski, who was on the field for some reason. That was the final mistake on a play that was filled with them. Among the dubious decisions/actions on the final play: rushing four instead of three (and Kyle Van Noy was acting like a spy, not even really rushing), Jonathan Jones going for the ball instead of the tackle, J.C. Jackson getting beat to outside on the first lateral, Van Noy missing the tackle on Drake on the second lateral, Gronkowski simply being on the field (for Devin McCourty?!) and then not forcing Drake back into the field. Just a complete debacle. It was the longest play from scrimmage to win a game with no time remaining in the fourth quarter since the 1970 merger.
"Yeah, well they could throw it deeper," Belichick said in regards to Gronkowski being on the field. "They could have run the Desperado-type play, which is kind of an in-between 20-yard pass, then it turned into a Desperado. ... Unfortunately, we didn't do a good job on that today. We need to obviously coach it better, play it better."
Stephen Gostkowski/end of first half cost Patriots seven points: The Patriots' kicker missed the first extra point of the game, and later was wide right from 42 yards. That's four points the Patriots should have had. Toss in another three when New England had first and goal at the Miami 2-yard with 21 seconds left in the first half. After two incompletions, Tom Brady took a sack and time expired. He later admitted he thought the Patriots had one timeout remaining. Huge mistake. "That was a terrible play by me. That should never happen. I thought we had one timeout," Brady said. That's seven total points the Patriots could have had, but it's still not the reason they lost that game.
Gronkowski, Edelman get their grooves back: After arguably their worst games of the season, Julian Edelman and Gronkowski combined for 17 catches on 20 targets for 193 yards and two touchdowns. The Patriots were able to completely exploit the Dolphins' porous zone coverages. Of course, I don't understand how the Patriots can have that kind of production for those two players, received two punt blocks and only put up 30 points.
TURNING POINT
The final play. It was over until it wasn't. This isn't hard.
SECOND GUESSES
We've covered the second guesses on the final play.
You can toss in the decision to allow the Dolphins to return the kickoff. Some people might say run it on fourth down instead of kicking the final field goal, but you need to take the lead over two points so they can't get a pass interference and kick the winning field goal.
Also, the Patriots allowed Kenny Stills to catch eight passes on nine targets for 135 yards and a touchdown. No other Dolphins receiver had more than one catch. Why not shut down Stills more?
THREE UP
Josh Gordon: Building on his performance last week, I thought Gordon was money in this game and his catches/routes had more degree of difficulty than Gronkowski and Edelman. Patriots would have been screwed without Gordon.
Trey Flowers: The man on defense continued his torrid contract season with two more sacks, two additional quarterback hits and forced a fumble.
Rob Gronkowski: The Dolphins might be terrible on defense (they're 27th in weighted DVOA at FootballOutsiders.com) and only played zone, but give it up for the big fella with his 8-for-8, 107-yard, one touchdown performance. Looked more like his old self.
FOUR DOWN
Bill Belichick: Whether it was Brady not knowing how many timeouts he had left at the end of the first half, or the personnel/strategy decisions on the final play (the Patriots had two timeouts left to make sure they were on the same page) this was just a failure in game management and that falls on the head coach. It doesn't happen very often — 2012 at Seattle is the only comparable I have — but Belichick isn't perfect. Happens. Hurts, but it happens.
Stephen Gostkowski: Why does it always seem like when the Patriots have a big loss, Gostkowski has a costly miss? Two of them today that would have given the Patriots an easy victory.
Run defense: This is the second-straight week where the opponent averaged over seven yards per carry. That's just embarrassing and there's no excuse for it. Guessing Danny Shelton will be active next week against the Steelers after being inactive for these games.
Patriots rush offense: The Dolphins entered the game having allowed 6.4, 4.5, 7.8 yards per rush in their previous three games. The Patriots averaged 2.6 per carry with Sony Michel going for 2.9 and a long of nine. That's not all on him. The Patriots offensive line did not do a good job imposing its will against a much smaller front.
INJURIES
Julian Edelman: Seemed to be dealing with a right arm/stinger injury all game but, of course, he never came out.
Josh Gordon: Looked like his left arm got stepped on at some point but he stayed in the game.
TWO TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
According to Patriots history, this team will not go to the Super Bowl: With this loss, the Patriots need a victory in Pittsburgh to finish 4-4 on the road this season. In the Belichick era, the Patriots have never reached the ultimate game in a season where they finished worse than 5-3 on the road. Of course, coaches feel that a team's toughness is revealed on the road and that transfers to postseason victories if you exhibit it during the season. Does it mean the Patriots can't make the Super Bowl? No, of course not. But it would be unprecedented for a Belichick team.
The Patriots will rebound and win in Pittsburgh: Yeah, it stinks right now and this is the type of loss that can reverberate and sink a team. But I have a hard time seeing that happening to this team. Brady won't let that happen and the Steelers are the Steelers. So if the Patriots beat Pittsburgh, everything except a home AFC Championship is in their own control.