The New England Patriots really wet the bed tonight; oddly enough a frequent occurrence when playing the division rival Miami Dolphins on the road. Tom Brady and the Patriots simply couldn’t generate offense, and looked stunningly bad on third downs. While the loss doesn’t put them out of playoff contention, losses like these force critics to question whether or not the defending Super Bowl champions can go the distance.
Week 14 New England Patriots Takeaways
Defense Showed Weakness
Coming into the game, it was noted that a lot of defensive cogs were absent for the Patriots. This included the injury to Trey Flowers, who was out due to a rib injury. The Patriots failed to stop Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake, who had a field day on the night with 25 carries for 114 rushing yards, and 79 yards through the air.
Midway through the season, it seemed like the boys in red, white, and blue had it figured out defensively after making adjustments following a lackluster 2-2 start. But after tonight, it seems that Matt Patricia and the rest of the defensive coaching staff must go back to the drawing board and re-assess what they have. It was expected that Jarvis Landry and the crew would come out with pride and energy, and that’s exactly what they did. It was simply too much for the defense to overcome.
Offense was poor
Sometimes, it’s almost too easy to make excuses. Rob Gronkowski’s suspension was all too evident tonight, with Brady accounting for only 233 passing yards, and the Patriots generating 258 in total offense. With the stalwart tight end back in the lineup next week, the AFC East champions will look to assert their dominance against an intimidating Pittsburgh Steelers football team.
Nevertheless, Josh McDaniels failed to make the necessary adjustments needed in order to keep the Patriots in the game down the stretch regardless of the dearth of players that they had offensively. The Patriots surrendered seven punts, and ultimately it cost them as Brady was down two possessions with not enough time on the clock.
Dolphins Defensive Line Got to Brady
There is something amiss about Dolphins home games; the entire Dolphins team seems to play with significantly more energy. The defensive line led by Ndamukong Suh was stout, and got to Brady consistently. Up until the third quarter, Brady hadn’t converted a third down, nor had he completed a pass to a wide receiver (completed passes to running back Rex Burkhead and Dwayne Allen). Whether the wide receivers were just well covered, Brady feeling insistent pressure, or both, but it just seemed like things simply weren’t going well for the AFC East favorites.
Many suspected that the justification behind the Patriots poor performance tonight was the fact that they were looking ahead towards the week 15 battle for the conference with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nevertheless, the Dolphins played hard for pride tonight, and made it known that they wouldn’t lay down despite their extremely grim playoff chances. As usual, the Patriots will brush this one off, and execute another winning season.
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