Let’s feel good about the miraculous hook-and-lateral(s) play that won the game.  Okay, it feels good.  So even on a day when Kenny Stills decided to kneel down in the middle of a play instead of only kneeling down during our National Anthem, we won the game.

Now let’s see why we really won.  With 16 seconds left in the game and the Patriots facing a 4th and goal from our TWO YARD LINE, Bill Belichik decided to kick a field goal.  He didn’t need it.   All he had to do was have Sony Michelle Obama dive forward.  The way our D was playing, he probably would have walked in.   Or…he coulda had Brady just run around the pocket to kill time.  No matter what NE ran, we would have begun our next drive at our own 2 yard line at best.    But Belichik called for a FG.

He gave us the game with that play call.   The best offense of all time, and he didn’t ask them to go gain 6 feet.   Even if they failed, they would won the game.

The 3 points didn’t matter.   But, the ensuing kickoff gave us the ball at the 30.   A far more manageable miracle than a 98-yarder.

When Stephen Gostowski missed an extra point, New England kept scoring TDs, and Belichick kept going for 1 point after each TD.  It was strategically not a bad call the first few times.   But making the safe call over and over again?  With THAT offense?   With Miami’s D unable to stop the Pats’ offense, why not drive a two-pointer or two down our throat?   Instead, he took it easy.  Thank you.   Those little points you left out there won us the game.

And let’s not forget perhaps the biggest gaffe, when the Pats blocked a punt at our 10 yard line before halftime when they already led by 6.  They were about to go up 13.   At the very least, they go up 9.  But they blew it.

They blocked a punt at our 10 and got 0 points.   That was due to a gigantic Patriot mistake more than due to our stellar D.  In an extremely rare gaffe by Brady/Belichick, Brady forgot the situation and didn’t throw the ball away on third down.   The Dolphins dodged a bullet there on that “sack.”    I put “sack” in quotes because I still don’t think a Dolphin touched Brady.   I think he slipped while he was ducking under Robert Quinn’s arm.

 

 

 

 

18 Comments

  1. I can’t fault Belichick for going for the field goal. They were only up 2 points and in theory were trying to prevent us only needing a field goal to win it. Sure it would’ve be nearly impossible to get into field goal range with only seconds on the clock. I do totally agree about them screwing up big time before halftime. An amazing win indeed. I’ll take it!

  2. Just an incredible game. Miami looked good offensively both passing and running for the first time in a long time. Bring a few more linemen in next year and this offense could be dangerous. But only if Gase gives up playcalling, as amazing as the last play was it really bailed him out. That stupid play action pass on 3rd and 1, and not going for it on 4th down after running 3rd and 4 out of a 5 wideout set were classic Gase. Outsmarting himself and being stubborn, but Miami beat a good team so that will all be forgotten. Also Minkah is clearly not a corner we all saw that today, they need to move him back to free safety the position he played his whole college career and get a real second corner in the offseason.

  3. Imagine,2 blocked punts and we still won the game. I can’t stop laughing. A huge gift on the last play last week and now this at the end-just effing amazing!

  4. Don’t forget Bill B used Gronk on defense with the game on the line.

    1. Author

      Yes, good point. Another rare Belichick gaffe. I can see Gronk out there to defend a Hail Mary. He is tall and fast and has the best hands on the team. He never misses a catch in traffic. HOWEVER, Miami was not in a Hail Mairy situation. Clearly, BB shoulda known we were going to run a crazy lateral play. He shoulda had his fastest tacklers on the field, not his best receiver.
      Pats called their basic Hail-Mary-Prevention defense without assessing how far away we were.

  5. We love us a Patsies loss!!!
    Guess Tommy can’t play in warmer weather!

    Merry Christmas Tom!

    1. Author

      I agree, but the patsie loss ended up not even hurting them. Houston and Pittsburgh both had a chance to overtake NE and knock them down from #2 seed down to 3rd or even 4th.
      But both teams choked and lost to horrible opponents. Miami did a gigantic favor for Pitt and Houston, and they don’t take advantage. that’s just patriot luck.
      I see NE as the #2 seed now, so they will get a bye week. Then they will host San Diego and easily beat them because SD is very overrated. From there, NE travels to KC, where they will take advantage of the refs and take advantage of some KC youth/mistakes and advance to the Super Bowl. This team simply doesn’t go away.

      1. Yep we will end up winning out and still missing the Playoffs and end up with the 23rd pick in the draft. The front office will stick with Wake and Whenever that other speed rusher they brought in is that was supposed to be great and they will go find some 57 year old Guards and tell us were headed to the playoffs while they extend Tannehill and Oswilers contracts and draft a QB in the 11th round.

        Great!!!

      2. All good things come to an end my friend and the stinkn Pats are going down and out this year. The end of days are near and they know it.

        1. Author

          I hope you’re right. The defense isn’t as strong as in years past, but the offense easily gets 30+ per game. No way you can count them out this year. I know KC Chief fans who think they have it made, but a lot of other teams have thought so too the past 17 years, but the NEPs do not go away

  6. Did anybody else read the CBS Sports story about how Adam Gage is one of the best coaches in the league? I just can’t stop laughing about it!

    1. The national media doesn’t pay any attention to Miami so people just say that Gase is great because the dolphins have no talent and they are 7-6. What those people fail to realize is that the team is a lot more talented than I think any of us gave it credit for and would most likely be 8-5 if Gase didn’t screw up the Colts game. Gase needs to start finally learning from his mistakes, the 4th quarter playcalling seems to be getting worse on a week to week basis and Miami won’t make the playoffs with that continuing.

  7. We are a 9-4, first place team If Gase simply called a handoff in the bengals and colts game. Big leads in both, and Gase called passes

  8. At least Tannehill has looked good in the past 3 games. And being able to play through that injury on Sunday showed how tough he is, we all know if that was Parker he would of missed 3 weeks.

    1. I was really impressed with Tannehills game against the Patriots and he got hit plenty but stood in there and made the plays. The play calling early was pretty good in spots which really made me believe that Loggins was calling the game or at lest portions of it and then at some spots Gase would over rule him and we would see a typical bone headed Gase play.

      But honestly we should have lost, it took a miracle play to pull out this win after Gase called a horrible 4th quarter again and unless this team can string together a few more of these this game might end up being more disasters for our team than not.

      We will see if we can go on the road and beat Minnesota or if we lay an egg and get blown out.

      With all the positive press going to Gases head all week he is sure to take back 100% of the play calling and tank the game for us this week.

      1. Author

        Yes, he had a strong game. But that pocket awareness give us heart attacks. He doesn’t run away trouble. Doesn’t sidestep a rush to buy more time. He’s trained to rely on his blockers to do their job (this only works IN THEORY, but not in real life), and when someone misses an assignment, he doesn’t adjust well. But the accuracy is there lately and the toughness always has been. I doubt a sore ankle keeps him our of the game. He’s not DeVante Parker after all.
        On the miracle finish, his pass was absolutely perfect. Stills was well defended and not WIDE open. Tanny placed that ball the only place he could. His accurate pass got no attention because of Drake’s heroics, but he started the miracle.

        1. “He’s not DeVante Parker after all.”

          Um yeah, sure.. Tannehill is so “tough and durable.” And that showed when a Cincinnati defender took a swipe at Tannehill and hit his arm which caused an injury to his shoulder. Also, everybody is talking about the “miracle touchdown” play. Well, in my opinion, we ought to be thanking the Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski for missing that extra point and field goal. That guy is usually on target and because he missed those kicks, those four points made the difference.

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