About 14 million viewers tuned into ESPN last Monday to watch the AFC East showdown between the Dolphins and Patriots. The first half was relatively boring and uneventful. The score going into halftime was 7-6 in favor of the Dolphins. Chad Henne threw a TD pass to Davonne Bess, an undrafted free agent, who played college ball at Hawaii. Tom Brady, Wes Welker and Randy Moss were left touchdown-less in the first 2 quarters, with Stephen Gostkowski kicking 2 field goals to give the Pats their 6 points.
Enter the third quarter. Brandon Tate runs for 103 yards to return the kickoff for a touchdown. Miami gets the ball back and goes 3 and out, they are forced to punt. Patrick Chung blocks the punt and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (say that name 5 times fast) ran 12 yards for another TD. The score is now 20-7. The Dolphins quickly answered with another touchdown. 20-14. Former Jet and Hard Knocks alum, Danny Woodhead caught a pass from number 12 to make the score 27-14. Miami's driving... Let's go to the fourth.
Chad Henne sloppily leads his team into field goal range. Dan Carpenter's kick is... BLOCKED! Patrick Chung with another block on special teams. The ball is recovered by Patriot, Kyle Arrington and he runs it in for a touchdown. 34-14. Nine minutes left in the game and the Dolphins are looking for the slightest glimmer of hope. They want to score. They want to win this game. They want to... Chad Henne is picked off for the third time and Patrick Chung gets a pick-6. Just to tally that up, that is 1 blocked punt, 1 blocked field goal, and a pick-6 for this second year player out of Oregon. 41-14. Tony Sparano puts Tyler Thigpen in for the Dolphins' last drive. He throws a pass intended for Hartline and he is picked off by safety, Jarrad Page. Tom Brady takes a knee for the last few drives and back-up Brian Hoyer finishes the game with a kneel. Tom Brady becomes the fastest starting QB in the Super Bowl era to reach 100 wins, and the Patriots tie the Jets for the lead in the AFC East.
Miami head coach, Tony Sparano later went on to say that the Dolphins' performance was "a mess and embarrassing." And less than 12 hours after their loss, the Dolphins let go of their special teams coordinator, John Bonamego. On another note, the notoriously apathetic, Bill Belichick was seen smiling on the sidelines after his special teams' stellar performance.
On Wednesday morning Randy Moss was traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a third round pick in next year's draft. It later came out that he and quarterback, Tom Brady, had a little "scuffle" in the locker room after the game. Brady told Moss to shave his face, and Moss told Brady that his hair made him look like a girl. Well, we saw how that turned out.
Both teams are coming off of their bye-week and the Dolphins will face the Packers in Green Bay, while the Patriots face the 4-1 Ravens at home on Sunday. Bill Belichick's record when coming off the bye is 14-4, and the Pats have won 12 of their last 13 "after-bye" games.
Sports Truly
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