Week 14 Game Recap: New England Patriots 0, Miami Dolphins 21

What you need to know

New England Patriots

New England went on the road with an opportunity to win their tenth game of the season, but struggled to get anything done, and had their best play of the game wiped out by an illegal forward pass penalty. After starting nine of 11 in the first quarter, quarterback Tom Brady found it tough to get anything going against an aggressive Dolphins’ pass rush, finishing just 12 of 25 on the afternoon for 78 yards. Matt Cassel replaced Brady on the final series with the team down 21-0, and completed two of three passes for 12 yards.

Brady spent much of the afternoon dumping the ball off on short passes to elude the pass rush, whereby Troy Brown led all receivers in yards with 25 on three catches. Coming off a couple of big performances, Reche Caldwell only caught one ball for twelve yards. Tight end Daniel Graham led the team in receptions with four, totaling 23 yards on the afternoon, taking the place of Ben Watson, who departed with a leg injury after a one catch, five yard afternoon. Out of the backfield, Kevin Faulk caught two balls for twelve yards and Corey Dillon added a one yard reception.

The absence of Laurence Maroney from the Patriots’ offense due to a back injury limited the team in multiple facets of the game, and forced Corey Dillon to carry the load. Dillon did well with those opportunities given to him, but trailing most of the game, was somewhat limited in this respect and finished with 79 yards on sixteen carries. Kevin Faulk added 29 yards on five rushing attempts, while both Patrick Pass and Heath Evans were also involved in the rushing attack. Pass gained eleven yards on three carries, while Evans added four yards on his only attempt.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins won for the fifth time in six games to move to 6-7 behind a strong defensive effort and an offense which did not turn the ball over against the division leading Patriots. Joey Harrington completed 18 of 30 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown, and improved to 5-4 as a starter in Miami, looking much better in this game against the Patriots then he had in Week 5 in his first start for the team.

The bulk of the passing game was intended for Marty Booker, who pulled in eight balls for 103 yards for a touchdown. Chris Chambers had a quiet game, catching three balls for eleven yards, while slot receiver Wesley Welker lost a yard on his only catch. Tight end Randy McMichael pulled in three balls for 31 yards, while running back Sammy Morris added two catches for 39 yards out of the backfield. Second tight end Justin Peelle picked up seven yards on one reception.

With a nice 44 yard run in the closing minutes, Sammy Morris eclipsed the century mark, gaining 123 yards on twenty five carries while filling in for the injured Ronnie Brown. It is not yet clear whether Ronnie Brown will be able to return in Week 15, and as such Sammy Morris may have additional opportunities to build upon this game. Quarterback Joey Harrington and backup running back Travis Minor each picked up four yards as well with four and two carries respectively.

What you ought to know

QB Tom Brady, Pass: 12 - 25 - 78 - 0 TD / 0 INT

Brady completed just 48% of his passes for an average of 3.1 yards per passing attempt to finish with a passer rating of 55.1, largely in part because he didn’t throw any interceptions. Brady got off to a good start, but an aggressive Dolphins pass rush kept him from getting anything going all afternoon, as he finished just three of 14 in the final three quarters of the game. Brady’s best play of the game was on a trick play which would have went for a thirty eight yard touchdown to Daniel Graham, though the lateral which he received from Kevin Faulk was ruled to be an illegal forward pass.

RB Corey Dillon, Rush: 16 - 79 - 0, Rec: 1 - 1 - 0 (1 targets)

Dillon got off to a slow start with runs of one, one and two yards to open the game at the only point of the day which the Patriots were moving the ball through the air, and didn’t get going until after the passing game had essentially been shut down for the afternoon. With a long of 17 yards, Dillon fell just short of the five yard per carry mark.

RB Kevin Faulk, Rush: 5 - 29 - 0, Rec: 2 - 12 - 0 (5 targets)

Faulk was used more extensively in this game with the absence of Laurence Maroney, and combined for 142 all-purpose yards in this game including 101 return yards on punt and kickoff returns.

WR Troy Brown, Rec: 3 - 25 - 0 (6 targets)

Adept at running quick slants and short outs, Brown was the most active of Patriots’ receivers in this game on a day where the New England passing game was virtually shut down.

WR Reche Caldwell, Rec: 1 - 12 - 0 (4 targets)

Like the rest of the Patriots, Caldwell was unable to get going in this game, and did not catch a ball after the opening drive.

TE Daniel Graham, Rec: 4 - 23 - 0 (6 targets)

Graham saw extensive action after the departure of Watson, and had a 38 yard touchdown pass called back due to a penalty.

TE Ben Watson, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (4 targets)

Watson departed with a knee injury, occurring on a play where he was hit both high and low, causing him to drop the pass, and did not return.

PK Stephen Gostkowski 0 - 0 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 0 points

The Patriots did not get the ball past the Miami 38 yard line all afternoon, and both times inside the Dolphins fumbled the ball, limiting Gostkowski from attempting any field goals or extra points in this game.

NE Rush Defense

The rush defense had slowed down the Dolphins’ rushing attack most of the afternoon, until Sammy Morris broke off a 44 yard carry in the final two minutes to raise the Dolphins average carry just over 4 yards per attempt.

NE Pass Defense

While they did shut down Chris Chambers and Wesley Welker, the Patriots couldn’t keep Marty Booker from touching the ball, and did not apply enough pressure to force Joey Harrington into making mistakes.

QB Joey Harrington, Pass: 18 - 30 - 190 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 4 - 4 - 0

By completing 60% of his passes for an average of 6.3 yards per attempt, Harrington finished with a passer rating of 89.6 in guiding the Dolphins to victory. Harrington continued to make it clear that Marty Booker is his favorite target, and worked in combination with his defense by not making any mistakes, and taking advantage of those provided to him.

RB Sammy Morris, Rush: 25 - 123 - 1, Rec: 2 - 39 - 0 (3 targets)

Morris only had seven carries for 26 yards in the first half and after three quarters, had 15 carries for 40 yards, but exploded in the fourth quarter against a worn down Patriots’ defense to take ten carries for 83 yards. Morris looked good out of the backfield, and made the most of his touches, including at the goal line, where he scored from three yards out.

WR Marty Booker, Rec: 8 - 103 - 1 (13 targets)

Booker played a physical game, and showed good strength and good hands in taking the ball out of the air, and definitely has the confidence of his quarterback. In the last four games, Booker has made 26 catches for 363 yards and scored four times.

WR Chris Chambers, Rec: 3 - 11 - 0 (8 targets)

Chambers was open at the end of the second quarter, but overthrown by Joey Harrington on what would have likely been a touchdown. Harrington would go series without looking the way of Chambers, and then target him multiple times in a row.

WR Wes Welker, Rec: 1 - -1 - 0 (4 targets)

The Dolphins had a lot of double tight end sets in this game, and appeared to be more focused on providing pass protection than getting Welker involved in this game. With the lead all afternoon, this was a luxury they could afford, and Welker did not see as much time on the football field finding holes in the zone left by defenses protecting against the long pass.

TE Randy McMichael, Rec: 3 - 31 - 0 (5 targets)

McMichael was targeted primarily on second and third downs with Harrington in the shotgun as Randy would release quickly off the line.

PK Olindo Mare 2 - 2 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 7 points

Mare connected from 33 and 35 yards in addition to connecting on his only extra point. On the Dolphins other touchdown, the team elected to go for, and successfully convert a two point conversion.

MIA Rush Defense

Combining the yardage of Dillon, Faulk, Pass and Evans, the Dolphins gave up 123 yards on the ground, but did not give up any runs longer than 17 yards on the afternoon. The Dolphins benefited from the absence of Laurence Maroney in this game.

MIA Pass Defense

In addition to limiting Tom Brady to 78 yards passing, the pass rush picked up five sacks, and helped to force three lost fumbles. The Dolphins kept just about everything underneath, and kept the Patriots off the scoreboard, and even more so, out of the red zone or even anywhere close to scoring.