Game Notes from the New England Patriots win over Miami.
TOM BRADY WINS HIS 100 GAME
Tom Brady won his 100th game as a starter. He is the 11th NFL quarterback to register 100 wins as a starting quarterback. Brett Favre has the most wins with 182. Brady reached the milestone in the fewest number of starts (131) among quarterbacks who began their careers in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
AN NFL FIRST
The Patriots became the first team in NFL history to score a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown, a kickoff return for a touchdown, a blocked field goal for a touchdown and return an interception for a touchdown in the same game.
WEEI offers a recap of Bill Belichick's post-game comments after the win.
"No, I wasn’t that surprised, but I guess everybody else is," said Belichick when asked if he was surprised his team was able to put up 35 second-half points. "You make plays, you score points. You don’t make it, you don’t score them." After pointing out that the Patriots have now won three of their last four games in Miami, Belichick continued, "I think our team is confident we can win. I know we don’t do it every time, but we think we can."
"It’s a good day for fantasy football," Belichick joked.
The Patriots’ coach cracked a smile earlier in his post-game press conference when asked about the performance of his special teams, which was led by Patrick Chung (blocked punt and field goal) and Brandon Tate (kickoff return for a touchdown).
"Thought they were alright," joked Belichick. "No, it was a great effort. Those guys really work hard. They work hard every week in practice. Scott O’Brien goes through a lot of little things and they do a great job of preparing. I was really happy with the success they had tonight. The plays they made tonight helped our team. Those kids worked hard. They deserved it."
TEAM TALK
- Game Notes: Patriots at Dolphins. Team and player milestones.
- Game highlights: Patriots at Dolphins. (3.58 min. video)
- Erik Scalavino reports the Patriots put together their most complete effort in quite a while, thanks to several unexpected contributors.
- Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (4.43 min.), Tom Brady (2.43 min.), Brandon Tate (2.02 min.), Rob Ninkovich (4.20 min.) and Pat Chung (4.25 min.).
LOCAL LINKS
- Shalise Manza Young reports that in a surprising turn of events, it wasn't the offense that was largely responsible for the Pats 41-14 win over the Fins.
- Albert Breer calls this an altogether exciting win with the team truly clicking in every facet of the game.
- Tom E. Curran says the Patriots earned the right to revel after a game that was "changed and won by spare parts and developing players."
- Mike Reiss offers his rapid reaction to the Pats victory. (Plus 1.03 min. video)
- Art Martone sees New England respond to its biggest challenge of the season with its most impressive performance in two years.
- Bob Ryan asserts that this game may stand the test of time as the gold standard of special teams play.
- Mark Farinella writes the most impressive part of the Patriots win in enemy territory was the contribution of the special teams.
- Ron Borges sees a special teams unit that played as if it was led by William Wallace in "Braveheart."
- Christopher Price reports it was special teams that delivered the knockout blow for the Patriots.
- Karen Guregian focuses on Rob Ninkovich's monster two-pick night.
- Chris Gasper and Monique Walker focus on the one-man block party that was Pat Chung.
- Mark Farinella saw the Patriots defense dialing up the pressure last night.
- Ian Rapoport focuses on the way Belichick was able to motivate the team to explode like they did in Miami.
- Michael Felger calls this an old-school win that gave the Pats something to build off while silencing their critics for at least the next 12 days.
- Mike Reiss says there are victories and there are victories. This was a huge win with Bill Bellichick's excitable postgame reaction proving it.
- Steve Silva blogged his observations as the game progressed last night.
- Christopher Price offers Ten Things we learned Monday night. Players put team first, winning by any means necessary.
- Tom E. Curran offers five things to remember from the Pats win.
- Kirk Minihane looks at who's up and who's down after the win.
- Mike Reiss gives us his 3 up and 3 down from last night's performance.
- Karen Guregian lists the Best and Worst from last night's game.
- Mike Petraglia looks at what went right and what went wrong in the Patriots win over the Fins.
- Tom E. Curran presents his best and worst from Pats-Dolphins.
- Mark Farinella offers his Hots and Nots from Monday night in Miami.
- Albert Breer looks at the movers and shakers after last night's win.
- Gary Marbry breaks down the Patriots romp with a few stats that you might not find elsewhere.
- Mike Reiss looks at the positional groupings utilized by the Patriots.
- Mike Reiss looks at the snaps played by skill-position players last night.
- Mike Reiss and Mike Rodak show which players show up on three or four of the team's big units on special teams.
- Mike Reiss looks at the Patriots punt coverage and punt return units.
- Ian Rapoport reports Randy Moss was smiling after the win, happy with the game plan and the team effort last night.
- Matt Pepin highlights Tom Brady's appearance on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan show this morning.
- Steve Silva posts up some terrific postgame quotes from the Patriots after a big win in Miami.
- Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Brandon Tate deflates the Dolphins with his kickoff return to start the second half; Moss chalks up his zero receptions to a total team effort and the game plan; DE Brandon Dederick and LB Dane Fletcher both dressed for the first time; Dolphins picked up Davone Bess to be their Wes Welker; Brandon Meriweather earned his starting job back.
- Karen Guregian hears from former Pats defenders Willie McGinest and Ty Law prior to the game, who both foresaw potential trouble if the Pats D didn't get its act together.
NATIONAL NEWS
- NFL Game Center: New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins. Recap, analysis, drive charts and that nifty highlight reel.
- SportsCenter (ESPN) Patriots win big over Dolphins in Miami. (5.37 min. video)
- Jim Trotter (SI) Inside the NFL: Patriots, Fins headed in different directions after Miami drubbing.
- Steve Greenberg (Sporting News) The unexpectedly likeable Patriots.
- Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Game notes: Patriots-Dolphins.
- Alex Marvez (Fox Sports) Brady becomes fastest QB to 100 wins.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Halftime observations and rapid reaction to the final score: Patriots 41, Dolphins 14.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Miami enters bye with not-so-special feeling.
- Doug Farrar (Yahoo! Sports) Chung leads Pats to victory with do-it-all performance.
- Monday Night Football Crew Post-game analysis. (2 min. video)
VIEW FROM MIAMI
- Jeff Darlington (Miami Herald) Dolphins suffer humiliating 41-14 loss to Patriots.
- Mike Beradino (Sun Sentinel) Nothing goes right in 41-14 loss to Patriots.
- Ben Volin (Palm Beach Post) Dolphins fall 41-14 after three critical breakdowns by special teams.
- Greg Cote (Miami Herald) Dolphins' flaws exposed for national audience to see.
- Dave George (Palm Beach Post) Dolphins will have to live with sour aftertaste for while.
- Omar Kelly (Sun Sentinel) Who is accountable for embarrassing loss?
- Edgar Thompson (Palm Beach Post) Former Dolphins scrub Rob Ninkovich turns into a hero for New England.
- David J. Neal (Miami Herald) Little-known Patriots players hurt Miami Dolphins.
- Omar Kelly (Sun Sentinel) Brandon Marshall and Randy Moss share decoy role.
- Armando Salguero (Miami Herald) The reaction following Miami's 41-14 loss to Pats.