The Sunday night game in Foxboro was certainly a roller coaster for both teams and their fanbases but it was San Francisco fans who got to enjoy the last ride at the fair when they came away with a 41-34 win over New England at Gillette Stadium.

A few things stand out from loss to the 49ers.

► The weather.  It was miserable for both sides and it had a definite effect on the game but it was the Niners who were hurt less by what Mother Nature threw down.

► The weather did lead to several miscues, both teams had a tough time hanging onto the ball, but while San Francisco had 6 fumbles they only lost one.  A second fumble led to the Patriots taking over on downs when it resulted in a loss of yards on a 4th down conversion attempt.  New England only managed 3 points off the miscues.  Colin Kaepernick, the Niners QB, also threw an interception.

►The Patriots on the other hand had two fumbles and lost both and a pair of Tom Brady interceptions.  San Francisco turned the 4 turnovers into 14 points.

► Lack of a pass rush by the Patriots as they gave Kaepernick too much time to throw and allowed him to look for his second and third options on pass plays.  While people are mad at the play of the secondary and in some cases there was poor coverage or tackling, you can only cover someone for so long before they break free.

► San Francisco’s six biggest yardage plays led directly to four 49ers touchdowns, all on passes from Kaepernick.  24-yards to Randy Moss, 27-yards to Michael Crabtree, 34-yards to Delaney Walker and 38-yards to Crabtree for the game winning TD.

► The Patriots lack of quit.  They came off the canvas and with the heart of champion the rallied back.  In a game clock span of 18:38 they made a 28-point deficit disappear like a David Copperfield trick.  Danny Woodhead had two TD runs, Brady ran for one and threw to Aaron Hernandez for another and what just a short time before looked like game, blouses was turned into a dog fight.

► New England’s special teams which are usually so good let them down.  They got caught on a fake punt on 4th and 10 that went for a 31-yard gain.  Out of 7 kickoffs only one result in touchback despite four going into the endzone.  LaMichael James killed them on the other kickoff returns running out 4 for 133 yards including a long one of 63 yards that set up the game-winning touchdown.

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News and Notes

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had his weekly day after conference call with the media on Monday.  (patriots.com)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. San Francisco (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Niners (ESPN Boston)

Confused by Ed Hochuli’s long-winded call following the punt? Try this for an explanation (ESPN Boston)

Patriots family honors Newtown victims (Boston Herald)

Belichick says loss doesn’t look any better after film review (Boston Globe)

Five takeaways from the Patriots loss to the 49ers (Boston Globe)

Ridley: I have to do better holding onto the football (Boston Globe)

The Patriots are 18-16 all-time on Sunday Night Football, 11-6 as the home team and 6-4 at Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots have eclipsed 500 points for the season for the 4th time. (NFL RECORD)

The Niners lead the overall series 8-4.

New England is 3-4 as the home team in the series.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 157-65.

New England had its 7-game winning streak snapped.

Since 2001 New England is 43-6 in December games.

The Patriots are now a combined 21-1 in the second half of the season since 2010.  It was their first second half loss since Week 17 in 2010.

The Patriots lost their first December home game since December 22, 2002 when they were beaten by the New York Jets, 30-17.

The Patriots are 23-2 in December home games since 2002.

They are 18-4 vs. the NFC at Gillette Stadium.  The Packers (2002), Giants (2011) Cardinals (2012) and now the 49ers are the only NFC teams to have beaten the Patriots at home since 2002.

The New England defense has forced a turnover in 25 consecutive games dating back to Week 6 in 2011.

Bill Belichick is now 202-108 including playoffs in his career.

Bill Belichick is 3-1 vs. the San Francisco in his career (2-1 with the Patriots).

Tom Brady is 1-1 against San Francisco in his career.  Overall including playoffs he is 150-44.

He became the 5th QB in NFL history to throw for 4,000+ yards in a season five times joining Peyton Manning (12x), Drew Brees (7x), Dan Marino (6x) and Brett Favre (6 x).

Brady had his career high 4 rushing TD of the year.

Brady has 330 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

He has thrown 30+ TD passes for the 4th time in his career.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 114 consecutive games including playoffs, 97 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

He went over 100 receptions for the season for the 5th time in his career. (NFL RECORD)

He leads the team in receiving with 100 catches for 1172 yards and is tied for 2nd with Brandon Lloyd with 4 receiving TD’s.

Lloyd had 10 catches for 190 yards with a long of 53 yards.  It is the highest single game total for a Patriots receiver in 2012.

TE Aaron Hernandez also had 10 catches on Sunday night for 92 yards and 1 TD.

RB Stevan Ridley saw limited action but still leads the team in rushing with 252 attempts for 1105 yards and 10 TD’s.

RB Danny Woodhead ran for two TD’s. He had 61 yards on 12 carries.

S Devin McCourty had his team leading 5th INT when he picked Kaepernick on the opening drive of the second half.

CB Aqib Talib had his first fumble recovery as a Patriot after S Steve Gregory knocked the ball loose from Delaney Walker.

LB Jerod Mayo continues to lead the team with 170 tackles (105 solo).  The team usually adjusts the counts based on coaches film study so in the Friday game preview we will have Mayo’s official total.

DE Rob Ninkovich had a sack it was Ninko’s 7.5 sack of the season he leads the team and it’s a career high.

LB Dont’a Hightower and Ninkovich each had 2 tackles for loss.

Hightower, Gregory and McCourty all had a pass defensed.

WR Matthew Slater had 2 special teams tackles.

CB Alfonzo Dennard (knee) and LB Mike Rivera (ankle) suffered injuries.

New England scored 4 TD’s on 16 possessions. They also had 2 FG’s, 5 punts, 2 INT’s, 2 fumbles and loss of downs.

San Francisco had 17 possessions.  5 TD’s, 2 FG’s, 1 missed FG, 5 punts, 1 fumble, 1 INT, lost ball on downs and end of game clock expired.

The Patriots sacked San Francisco QB Colin Kaepernick 1 time, while Brady was sacked 3 times.

New England is PLUS 22 in turnover differential, 1st in the NFL. The offense has given up 7 INT and 7 fumbles, while the defense has 16 INTs and 20 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 4 for 5 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 4 TDs and 1 FG.

New England was 2 for 15 (13%) on third down conversions and 5 for 6 (83%) on 4th down attempts.

San Francisco is 4-3 all-time at New England and is 1-1 in Gillette Stadium.

The Niners snapped a three game series losing streak.

San Francisco is 13-9 on Sunday Night Football games, they are 4-4 as the road team.

San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh, is in his 2nd season, he is 23-6-1 in the regular season and 1-1 in the post season for an overall record of 24-7-1.

He is 1-0 vs. the Patriots.

49ers QB Colin Kaepernick is in his 2nd NFL season.  He is 4-1 in the regular season and 1-0 vs. New England.

Kaepernick had 4 TD passes and 4 fumbles (0 lost).

San Francisco was 5 for 14 (36%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

The Niners were 1 for 4 (%) in the red zone.  They had 1 TD, 2 FG’s and a fumble.

San Francisco is PLUS 8 in turnover differential, tied for 11th in the NFL. The offense has given up 7 INT and 7 fumbles, while the defense has 12 INTs and 10 fumble recoveries. 

Next Week

The Patriots visit the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at Ever Bank Field in Jacksonville FL.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

The San Francisco 49ers came into Foxboro to face the New England Patriots in a much anticipated Sunday Night Football game between two of the NFL’s dynasty teams.

What we witnessed looked like it came out of a Pop Warner league on a Sunday morning in more ways than one.

Playing in a driving New England rainstorm early on it was a sloppy game on both sides.  In just the first quarter alone New England had two fumbles, one was ruled down, and an interception of Tom Brady.  S Carlos Rogers returned the pick all the way to the 5-yard line before Brady threw the first hip check of the season to make the touchdown saving tackle.

San Francisco wasn’t much better as they had three fumbles (two by QB Colin Kaepernick), losing only one (by RB Delaney Walker), and a missed field goal but they still managed to take a 7-0 lead on a Kaepernick pass to former Patriots WR Randy Moss.

The 2nd quarter didn’t start any better for the Niners, on a 4th down conversion Kaepernick had his 3rd fumble of the half (he retained them all) and San Francisco turned the ball over on downs in Patriots territory.

New England was able to march down field and come away with a 32-yard field goal by K Stephen Gostkowski to cut the lead to 7-3.

San Francisco responded by moving the ball through the rain and drove down field with the help of a pass interference penalty on Patriots CB Aqib Talib.  They capped the 80-yard drive with a Kaepernick TD pass to Walker to increase their lead to 14-3.

After an extremely confusing explanation of a possible muffed punt that also included a penalty (eventually assessed on the Niners) Kaepernick once again led a drive down field using both his arm and his legs.  He had a big pass to WR Michael Crabtree, RB Frank Gore had a couple of good runs and then Kaepernick himself tore off a 19 yard run as the clock wound down on the half.

After Gore got stopped on 2nd and goal with just 3 ticks left on the clock San Francisco settled for a 20-yard field goal by David Akers the lead to 17-3 at the half.

The Niners ended up jumping out to a 31-3 lead midway through the third quarter when they tacked on TD’s by Gore on a recovery of Kaepernick’s 4th fumble of the night.  They added another after Brady was intercepted for the 2nd time in the ensuing drive.  On the very first play post turnover Kaepernick threw his third TD pass of the game to Crabtree and it was 31-3 San Francisco.

New England though didn’t stay down they climbed back into the game with a 6-yard Danny Woodhead TD run, a Brady one-yard sneak, a TD pass from Brady to Hernandez and then another short run by Woodhead and suddenly it was 31-31.

With it looking like a game of Madden 2013 had broken out at Gillette Stadium, 49ers KR LaMichael James got a big return for the Niners into Patriots territory.  Kaepernick then hit Crabtree along the sideline and he went all the way into the end zone as San Francisco regained a 7-point lead.

After getting the ball back on a punt the Patriots ended up going four and out deep in the their own territory. And after a wild comeback to tie the game the Patriots fell short in the end as they lost to San Francisco, 41-34.

Niners at Patriots Gamebook includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.

Niners at Patriots Game Recap.

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Turning Point of the Game

LaMichael James runs back a kickoff into Patriots territory after New England had tied the game.  San Francisco scored on the next play.

Offensive Player of the Game

Niners WR Michael Crabtree had 7 catches for 107 yards and 2 TD’s.

Defensive Player of the Game

San Francisco LB NaVorro Bowman had 12 tackles (8 solo, 1 special team); 1 tackle for loss and a forced fumble.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Solder

LG Mankins

C Wendell

RG Connolly

RT Vollmer

TE Hernandez

TE Hoomanawanui

WR Welker

WR Lloyd

QB Brady

RB Ridley

On Defense:

DE Ninkovich

DT Wilfork

DT Deaderick

DE C. Jones

LB Mayo

LB Rivera

LB Hightower

CB Talib

CB Dennard

S Gregory

S McCourty

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. TE Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip)

2. S Derrick Martin

3. LB Tracy White

4. DE Ron Brace (back)

5. OL Markus Zusevics

6. DE Jake Bequette

Niners

1. S Trenton Robinson

2. RB Jewell Hampton

3. LB Tavares Gooden

4. G Joe Looney

5. WR Mario Manningham

6. NT Ian Williams

The spread (Patriots MINUS 5) WAS NOT covered.  The over/under (46.5) WAS COVERED.  I GAVE the points (Patriots) and took the OVER.  I am now 3-11 vs. the spread and 10 of 14 calling the under/over.

The Patriots are 18-16 all-time on Sunday Night Football, 11-6 as the home team and 6-4 at Gillette Stadium.

This was the 12th meeting between the Patriots and the 49ers since the merger in 1970.

The Patriots had won the last three meetings between the teams before Sunday night’s loss.  

This was the second meeting between the teams at Gillette Stadium and 7th overall in Foxboro.

The Niners lead the overall series 8-4.

New England is 3-4 as the home team in the series.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 157-65.

New England had its 7-game winning streak snapped.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 72-17 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 43-6 in December games.

The Patriots are now a combined 21-1 in the second half of the season since 2010.  It was their first second half loss since Week 17 in 2010.

The Patriots lost their first December home game since December 22, 2002 when they were beaten by the New York Jets, 30-17.

The Patriots are 23-2 in December home games since 2002.

The Patriots had a 13 game December win streak snapped dating back to 2009. 

Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, the Patriots are 72-15 at home in the regular season.

They are 18-4 vs. the NFC at Gillette Stadium.  The Packers (2002), Giants (2011) Cardinals (2012) and now the 49ers are the only NFC teams to have beaten the Patriots at home since 2002.

The New England defense has forced a turnover in 25 consecutive games dating back to Week 6 in 2011.

Bill Belichick is now 202-108 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick’s 202 wins are good for 7th all-time.

Bill Belichick is 3-1 vs. the San Francisco in his career (2-1 with the Patriots).

Tom Brady is 1-1 against San Francisco in his career.  Overall including playoffs he is 150-44.

He became the 5th QB in NFL history to throw for 4,000+ yards in a season five times joining Peyton Manning (12x), Drew Brees (7x), Dan Marino (6x) and Brett Favre (6 x).

Brady had his career high 4 rushing TD of the year.

Brady has 330 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

He has thrown 30+ TD passes for the 4th time in his career.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 46 consecutive games.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 115 consecutive games including playoffs, 98 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker went over 100 catches for the season for the 5th time in his career.

RB Danny Woodhead had 12 carries for 61 yards and 2 TD’s.

TE Mike Hoomanawanui’s 41-yard grab in the 3rd quarter was the longest of his career.

WR Brandon Lloyd had 10 catches for 190 yards with a long of 53 yards.  It is the highest single game total for a Patriots receiver in 2012.

S Devin McCourty had his team leading 5th INT when he picked Kaepernick on the opening drive of the second half.

CB Aqib Talib had his first fumble recovery of the season.

S Steve Gregory forced a fumble.

LB Jerod Mayo had a team high 12 tackles (5 solo).

DE Rob Ninkovich had a sack he now has a career high 7.5.

LB Dont’a Hightower and Ninkovich each had 2 tackles for loss.

Hightower, Gregory and McCourty all had a pass defensed.

WR Matthew Slater had 2 special teams tackles.

Roster moves this week:

• WR Donte Stallworth was placed on IR.
• TE Visanthe Shiancoe was released.
• WR Deion Branch was re-signed by the team.
• Signed WR/PR Tony Logan to the practice squad.

The Patriots sacked San Francisco QB Colin Kaepernick 1 time, while Brady was sacked 3 times.

New England is PLUS 22 in turnover differential, 1st in the NFL. The offense has given up 7 INT and 7 fumbles, while the defense has 16 INTs and 20 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 4 for 5 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 4 TDs and 1 FG.

New England was 2 for 15 (13%) on third down conversions and 5 for 6 (83%) on 4th down attempts.

The Niners also had the NFL’s best record in the 1990’s going 122-54.

San Francisco is 4-3 all-time at New England and is 1-1 in Gillette Stadium.

The Niners snapped a three game series losing streak.

San Francisco is 13-9 on Sunday Night Football games, they are 4-4 as the road team.

San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh, is in his 2nd season, he is 23-6-1 in the regular season and 1-1 in the post season for an overall record of 24-7-1.

He is 1-0 vs. the Patriots.

49ers QB Colin Kaepernick is in his 2nd NFL season.  He is 4-1 in the regular season and 1-0 vs. New England.

Kaepernick had four fumbles and San Francisco lost none of them.

San Francisco was 5 for 14 (36%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

The Niners were 1 for 4 (%) in the red zone.  They had 1 TD, 2 FG’s and a fumble.

San Francisco is PLUS 8 in turnover differential, tied for 11th in the NFL. The offense has given up 7 INT and 7 fumbles, while the defense has 12 INTs and 10 fumble recoveries. 

Ed Hochuli was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 34, cold and raining.

Attendance – 68,756 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. 

Post Game Interviews

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conference via patriots.com

This Week in the AFC East

Seahawks ripped the Bills, 50-17

Dolphins beat the Jags, 24-3

Jets face the Titans on Monday night.

AFC East Standings

Patriots                 10-4/5-0

Jets                        6-7/2-3

Dolphins                  6-8/1-3

Bills                        5-9/1-3

Next Week

The Patriots visit the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at Ever Bank Field in Jacksonville FL.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credit: ap photo

This Week

The New England Patriots host the San Francisco 49ers at Gillette Stadium on Sunday at 8:20 p.m.

The Patriots will be honoring the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting by wearing the decal above on their helmets. They'll also be lighting 26 white flares during a moment of silence before the game.

The 49ers		—-	The Patriots
Overall	9-3-1		Overall	10-3
Road record	4-2		Home record	5-1
AFC East	3-0		NFC West	1-2
AFC	3-0		NFC	1-2

Ed Hochuli is the referee assigned to the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from 5dimes.eu via Yahoo Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 5.  The over under is 46.5.

My Prediction is Patriots 31, 49ers, 24.  Give the points (Patriots) and take the over.  I am 3-10 against the spread and 9 of 13 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 202nd consecutive sell out dating back to the 1994 season opener.  The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.

Tickets to the game, if available, can be purchased through Ticketmaster.  You can check the availability here.

After market tickets are available through the Official Patriots Ticket Exchange where season ticket holders can sell their unused seats to fans on the season ticket waiting list.

Getting to the Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Foxboro make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Foxboro MA.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking and information and map and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.

Tailgating

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com.  There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.  I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good. 

And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages.  With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks.  You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time.  Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver.  Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

NBC in televising the game nationally and Al Michaels will do play by play while Cris Collinsworth will provide the game analysis.  You can look here for your local affiliate.

Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules; flex scheduling and commercial breaks.

Radio

The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak will do game analysis. It all starts with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh with the pregame show at 5:30 p.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.

The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 92, XM Channel 226 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The 49ers Radio Network has Ted Robinson calling the game while former Niners All Pro DB Eric Davis provides the game analysis and Rod Brooks covers the sideline via their flagship stations KNBR and KSAN-FM.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 92, XM Channel 225 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 827.

Dial Global Sports is carrying the game nationally via their affiliate network.  Dave Sims, James Lofton and Steve Tasker will call the game starting at 8 p.m.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 94, XM Channel 227 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 968.

Patriots All Access

Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team.  It’s hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.

• Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Providence RI on WNAC Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
• Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
• Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.

You can also watch it anytime on the teams website in the media section.

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Last Week

The Patriots routed the AFC leading Texans, 42-14 at home.  The 49ers beat the Dolphins at home, 27-13.

History

• This is the 12th meeting between the Patriots and the 49ers since the merger in 1970.
• The two franchises have combined to win 8 Super Bowls between them in 12 appearances.
• After a six game losing streak in the series, the Patriots have won the last three meetings.
• This is the second meeting between the teams at Gillette Stadium and 7th overall in Foxboro
• The Niners lead the overall series 7-4.
• The Patriots won the last meeting in 2008, 30-21 in San Francisco.

Patriots Team Notes

Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 424-368-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in seven appearances.  Overall they are 23-16 in the post season.

They last appeared in the playoffs in 2011 when they beat Denver home in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 45-10 and defeated Baltimore 23-20 in Foxboro in the AFC Championship Game.  They lost Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants 21-17. 

The Patriots were 13-3 (2-1 in playoffs) in 2011 and are the defending four-time AFC East Champions as well as the defending AFC Conference Champions.  They have won the division 10 times and the conference 5 times since 2000.

This is the second year in a row the Patriots have back-to-back prime time games.  In 2011 they beat the Jets on SNF 37-16 on November 13 followed by a MNF win over the Chiefs, 34-3 on November 21.

Patriots have won 10 games for the 10th consecutive season only San Francisco has more consecutive 10 win seasons when they did it for 16 consecutive years from 1983-1998.

The Patriots are 18-15 all-time on Sunday Night Football, 11-5 as the home team and 6-3 at Gillette Stadium.

New England is 3-3 as the home team in the series.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 157-64.

New England now has a 7-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 72-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 43-5 in December games.

The Patriots have not lost a December home game since December 22, 2002 to the New York Jets, 30-17.

They are 21-1 at home in December since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002.

The Patriots have won 13 consecutive December games dating back to 2009.  They are the fourth team to have won at least 12 consecutive December games.  San Diego won 18 (2006-09); Dallas 13 (1968-72) and New England 12 (2006-08).

Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, the Patriots are 72-14 at home in the regular season.

They are 18-3 vs. the NFC at Gillette Stadium.  The Packers (2002), Giants (2011) and Cardinals (2012) from the only NFC teams to have beaten the Patriots at home since 2002.

The Patriots are now a combined 21-0 in the second half of the season since 2010.  Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 in the season finale at Houston.

The New England defense has forced a turnover in 24 consecutive games dating back to Week 6 in 2011.

The Patriots have seven non-offensive touchdowns in 2012. The 2010 Patriots and 1961 Patriots teams own the team record with nine non-offensive touchdowns. The NFL record for most non-offensive touchdowns is 13 by Seattle in 1998.

Date             Game                     Touchdown

9/9/12          at Tennessee           Dont’a Hightower 6-yd. Fumble Return

10/21/12       vs. N.Y. Jets            Devin McCourty 104-yd. Kickoff Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Julian Edelman 68-yd. Punt Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Aqib Talib 59-yd. Int. Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Alfonzo Dennard 87-yd. Int. return

11/22/12       at N.Y. Jets             Steve Gregory 32-yd. Fumble Return

11/22/12       at N.Y. Jets             Julian Edelman 22-yd. Fumble Return

The Patriots are 1st in the NFL in points per game with 36.3.  While they allow 21.0 points per game good for 11th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 28 times this season while their quarterbacks have been sacked 20 times.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential, 1st in the NFL. The offense has given up 3 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 14 INTs and 18 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots are 96 for 183 (52.5%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 68 for 163 (41.7%) in 3rd down efficiency and 7 for 18 (38.9%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 40 of 59 (67.8%) in the red zone while opponents are 22 for 35 (62.9%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 31 for 38 (81.7%) and opponents are 17 for 21 (81%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 203.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 222.
• Have the most conference titles, 6.
• Have the most division titles, 12.
• Have the most playoff wins, 19
• Have played the most playoff games, 29.
• Are tied for the most playoff seasons, 14.
• Have the best playoff win percentage, .671.
• Have drafted the most Pro Bowl players, 20.

New England set the following team records in 2011:

• Total yards, 6,848.
• First downs, 399.
• Net passing yards, 5,084.
• 100+ yard receiving games, 18.

• Games with 30+ points, 12 (tied for most in NFL history).

Patriots Staff Notes

This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the 49ers.

Bill Belichick is 3-0 vs. the San Francisco in his career (2-0 with the Patriots).

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 185-100 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 149-56 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 17-7 in the playoffs, 16-6 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 202-107.

Belichick’s 202 wins are good for 7th all-time. 

Belichick is one of five head coaches in NFL history whose father (Steve Belichick) played in the league.  The others are former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley (Dick Haley), former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan), former Cincinnati head coach David Shula (Don Shula) and former NY Jets head coach Joe Walton (Frank Walton).

Belichick is one of just four coaches to win three Super Bowls, joining Chuck Noll (4), Joe Gibbs (3) and Bill Walsh (3).  Those men are all in the Hall of Fame.

He is the only coach in NFL history to win three championship titles in four seasons.

He is the only coach in NFL history to have led his team to 10+ wins in 9 consecutive seasons.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Solder
• LG: Mankins
• C: Wendell
• RG: Connolly
• RT: Vollmer
• TE: Hernandez
• WR: Branch
• WR: Lloyd
• WR: Welker
• QB: Brady
• RB: Ridley

Defense:

• DE: Ninkovich
• DT: Wilfork
• DT: Love
• DE: Jones
• LB: Mayo
• LB: Spikes
• LB: Hightower
• LCB: Talib
• RCB: Dennard
• S: McCourty
• S: Gregory

Patriots Players Notes

This is Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 1-0 against San Francisco in his career.  He missed the last meeting while recovering from ACL surgery in 2008.

Overall Brady is 134-38 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 150-44.  Brady is a 6 time Pro Bowl QB; two time NFL MVP and has won 3 Super Bowls while twice being named the games MVP.  He is also listed as the 21^st Greatest Player in the History of the NFL according to the NFL Network.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL.

Brady has 329 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has 134 regular season career wins he is 5th all-time.

Brady finished the 2011 season with 5,235 passing yards and joined Drew Brees (5,476 in 2011 and 5,069 in 2008), Dan Marino (5,084 in 1984) and Matthew Stafford (5,038 in 2011) as the only players in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards in a single season.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 45 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 89-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

Brady has 52 games in his career with 300 or more passing yards he is tied for 5th all-time with Kurt Warner.

On the season Brady is 319 of 495 (64.4%) for 3833 yards with 29 TDs and 4 INTs his QB rating is 104.2.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 114 consecutive games including playoffs, 97 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker leads the team with 95 catches for 1116 yards.

Welker has the second most receptions (745) all-time among undrafted receivers. Rod Smith is the NFL’s all-time leader with 849.

TE Rob Gronkowski has 37 receiving touchdowns and 38 touchdowns overall (1 rushing) since 2010. The NFL record for most receiving touchdowns in a player’s first three NFL seasons is 43 by Randy Moss and the NFL record for most touchdowns overall by a player in his first three NFL seasons is 47 by Barry Sanders (4 receiving and 43 rushing).

He is tied for the team lead with RB Stevan Ridley with 10 TDs.

Ridley has scored in 6 consecutive games.

Ridley leads the team in rushing with 1082 yards on 243 carries.

K Stephen Gostkowski has two field goals of 50 or more yards in 2012.  With one more he will be the first Patriots kicker with three field goals of 50 or more yards in one season.

Gostkowski (7 for 10) needs one more field goal of 50 or more yards to tie Adam Vinatieri (8 for 17) for most in team history.

TE Aaron Hernandez had the 3rd two TD game of his career on Monday night.

DE Rob Ninkovich leads the team with 6.5 sacks, it is a new career high for sacks.

Rookie DE Chandler Jones leads the team with 11 QB hits.

Ninkovich and LB Brandon Spikes lead the team in forced fumbles with 5 each, which ties Mike Vrabel’s franchise record.   

Ninkovich and DT Vince Wilfork lead the team with 4 recovered fumbles each.

Mayo leads the team through 13 weeks with 158 tackles (100 solo).  Spikes is second with 116 tackles (76 solo).

Rookie S Tavon Wilson and S Devin McCourty lead the team in INTs with 4. Wilson now has more INTs in his rookie NFL season than he did in his college career at Illinois.

McCourty also has team high 12 passes defensed in 2012. CB Kyle Arrington is 2nd with 10 passes defensed.

WR Matthew Slater has a team high 18 tackles on special teams.  Rookie S Nate Ebner is 2nd with 14 tackles on special teams.

There are only three players on the team who played on at least one of the Super Bowl championship teams, Brady (3), Branch (2) and Wilfork (1).

Roster moves this week:

• WR Donte Stallworth was placed on IR.
• TE Visanthe Shiancoe was released.
• WR Deion Branch was re-signed by the team.
• Signed WR/PR Tony Logan to the practice squad.

Patriots players with San Francisco area ties are: Brady who is from San Mateo; TE Daniel Fells played for UC-Davis; G Logan Mankins is from Catheys Valley and went to Fresno State; RB Shane Vereen attended University of California and WR Donte Stallworth (IR) is from Sacramento.

WR Brandon Lloyd is the lone former 49ers player with the Patriots.

The Patriots captains for 2012 are QB Tom Brady, DT Vince Wilfork, G Logan Mankins, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty and WR Matthew Slater (special teams).

The Patriots have 5 New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA); LB Niko Koutouvides (Plainville CT) and OL Jamey Richard (Weston CT – IR). 

They have 11 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are CB Will Allen (Syracuse – IR); DE Ron Brace (Boston College); RB James Develin (Brown); RB Tony Fiametta (Syracuse – Exempt List); DE Justin Francis (Rutgers); S Stephen Gregory (Syracuse); DE Chandler Jones (Syracuse); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); OL Donald Thomas (UConn); OL Jeremiah Warren (South Florida – Practice Squad) and NT Vince Wilfork (Miami).

The Patriots have 6 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

49ers Team Notes

Here is the 49ers roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 49ers Schedule/Results

San Francisco’s all-time record is 531-426-16 they are 27-19 in the post season with their last post season appearance coming in 2011 when they beat the New Orleans Saints at home in the NFC Divisional game and lost at home to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game.

The 49ers have won 5 Super Bowls (XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV, XXIX) in 5 appearances.

They were the NFL’s Dynasty of the 1980’s with 4 titles in the decade.

The Niners also had the NFL’s best record in the 1990’s going 122-54.

San Francisco is 3-3 all-time at New England and is 0-1 in Gillette Stadium.

The Niners have lost the last three games in the series.

San Francisco is 12-9 on Sunday Night Football games, they are 3-4 as the road team.

In the last two seasons the Niners are PLUS 34 in turnover ration second in the NFL to only the Patriots who are PLUS 41 in the same time span.

The 49ers and Patriots are the only two NFL teams to ever win 18 games in one season (San Francisco was 18-1 in 1984; New England was 18-1 in 2007).

This is the first of two consecutive Sunday Night Football games for the Niners who play at Seattle next week.

The Niners are 13th in the NFL in points per game with 24.3.  While they allow 14.2 points per game good for 1st in the NFL.

The San Francisco defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 32 times this season while their quarterbacks have been sacked 38 times.

San Francisco is PLUS 6 in turnover differential, tied for 11th in the NFL. The offense has given up 6 INT and 6 fumbles, while the defense has 10 INTs and 8 fumble recoveries. 

The 49ers are 56 for 155 (36.1%) in 3rd down efficiency and 4 for 7 (57.1%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 55 for 175 (31.4%) in 3rd down efficiency and x for x (42.9%) on 4th down attempts.

San Francisco is 24 of 43 (55.8%) in the red zone while opponents are 14 for 25 (56%) in the red zone in 2012.

49ers Staff Notes

Read what San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh had to say to the New England media about the match up.

San Francisco head coach Jim Harbaugh, is in his 2nd season, he is 22-6-1 in the regular season and 1-1 in the post season for an overall record of 23-7-1.

He has never faced the Patriots.

Harbaugh led the team to the NFC West Division title and the NFC Championship Game in his first season.

He was the NFL Coach of the Year in 2011, succeeding Patriots Bill Belichick with that honor.

Harbaugh’s brother John is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

The brothers each ended up one win away from facing each other in the Super Bowl last year.

He is one of nine head coaches who had NFL playing experience.

Former Patriots coach Brad Seeley is the 49ers assistant head coach/Special Teams Coordinator.

49ers Possible Starters

Offense:

• LT: Staley
• LG: Iupatti
• C: Goodwin
• RG: Boone
• RT: A. Davis
• TE: V. Davis
• WR: Crabtree
• WR: Manningham
• QB: Kaepernick
• RB: Gore
• RB: Miller

Defense:

• DT: McDonald
• DT: J. Smith
• OLB: Brooks
• ILB: Bowman
• ILB: Willis
• OLB A. Smith
• CB: Rogers
• CB: Brown
• CB: Culliver
• S: Goldson
• S: Whitner

49ers Players Notes

49ers QB Colin Kaepernick took over the starting job in Week 11 after Alex Smith suffered a concussion in the Week 10 24-24 tie with St. Louis.

Kaepernick is in his 2nd NFL season.  He is 3-1 in the regular season and has never faced New England.

Kaepernick was San Francisco’s 2nd round draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft out of the University of Nevada.

He is the only QB in NCAA history to throw for 10,000 yards and rush for 4,000 yards.

He has the two longest runs by a QB in Niners history both were for 50 yards breaking Steve Yong’s record 49-yard run.

Kaepernick is 87 of 129 (67.4%) for 1073 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT for a quarterback rating of 97.4.

RB Frank Gore leads the team in rushing yards with 1035.

Gore is in a three-way tie with Roger Craig and Joe Perry for most rushing TD’s in franchise history with 50.

He is 3rd in franchise history in yards from scrimmage with 11, 236.  He trails Roger Craig (11,506) and Jerry Rice (19,872).

Gore is the Niners all-time rushing yards leader with 8,660.

WR Michael Crabtree leads San Francisco with 66 catches for 761 yards.

TE Vernon Davis ranks first in franchise history among tight ends in TDs (40) and second in receptions and receiving yards.

S Dashon Goldson leads the Niners in INTs with 3.

LB Aldon Smith has 19.5 sacks to lead the NFL he also set a new San Francisco franchise record.

He also has a team high 3 forced fumbles.

He has 5 games in his career with 2 or more sacks.

Smith’s 33.5 career sacks are the highest total in NFL history in a players first two seasons.

NaVorro Bowman leads San Francisco with 150 tackles (76 solo).

DT Justin Smith has a team high 52 QB hits for the season.

CB Carlos Rogers has 3 fumble recoveries to lead the team.

CB Chris Culliver leads the Niners with 13 passes defensed.

There is one former Patriot returning to Foxboro on Sunday and that is WR Randy Moss.

San Francisco captains for 2012 are QB Alex Smith, DT Justin Smith, RB Frank Gore and LB Patrick Willis.

There are 2 players on the 49ers roster from Big East universities.  They are P Andy Lee (Pittsburgh) and T Anthony Davis (Rutgers)

The Niners have 12 retired numbers.  They are 8 – Steve Young; 12 – John Brodie; 16 – Joe Montana; 34 – Joe Perry; 37 – Jimmy Johnson; 39 – Hugh McElhenney; 42 – Ronnie Lott; 70 – Charlie Krueger; 73 – Leo Nomellini; 79 – Bob St. Clair; 80 – Jerry Rice and 87 – Dwight Clark.  In addition former owner Ed DeBartolo Jr. and former coach Bill Walsh have their names up as honorees within the retired numbers.

Next Week

The Patriots visit the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at Ever Bank Field in Jacksonville FL.  Kick off is at 1 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Not the Epic Battle We Expected

Going into Monday night’s game I thought it’d be much closer than what the game and the final score indicated.  Houston has been playing very good football for a year and half now and I was expecting a battle.  I should have known better.

Houston seemingly tends to sputter when it meets up with a veteran team who has “been there, done that.”  It happened earlier this season when they were manhandled by the Green Bay Packers and on Monday night the Patriots made them their bitch and did it in front of a national television audience and many NFL pundits who expected the Texans to go into Foxboro and win.

Silly, silly boys.

The New England Patriots are the big bad bully of the NFL and have been for a decade.  When you play them you better be wearing your big pants and be prepared for anything.  Very few teams match up to New England and without rehashing some stuff we all know who they are.  Others can get lucky or catch some breaks on any given Sunday as well.  How would you like to see the three losses this team has replayed NOW.

If it weren’t for a bullshit holding call and missed field goal in Week 2, a field goal I am still not sure went over the upright in Week 3 and some awful late game pass defense in Week 6 this team is unbeaten.  That’s how close it is between 10-3 and 13-0.

Now that the calendar has flipped to December this team is even harder to knock off.  They have won 23 of the last 24 December home games at Gillette Stadium, including 20 in a row.  They last lost at home in December in the year 2002 to the Jets who were coached by Herm Edwards.  That’s ten seasons in which they have not lost a December home game.

Now lets look at the Patriots on the road in December they are 20-4 in the same span.  How many teams can go on the road late in the season with big games on the line and fly home happy?

Last night you saw a veteran been there, done that team absolutely dismantle a team that made the game too big for what it was.  Regardless of the outcome Houston still was going to be sitting as the #1 seed in the AFC.  For some reason the players decided the game was really big for the franchise.  Maybe because it was the Patriots with the history, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.  Sure they could use the game as a measuring stick but if they did it quietly in house and shut out the hype they may have been able to play their game.

They better hope they learn an awful lot from Monday night because now they have to hold off the Indianapolis Colts twice in the last three weeks and then regroup for the playoffs.

Now is the time of year when you see what teams are made of.  In New England we know about our team, in Houston they’re still hoping to find out.

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News and Notes

The Patriots have placed WR Donte Stallworth on the season ending IR with an ankle injury and have released TE Visanthe Shiancoe.  They also re-signed WR Deion Branch who despite being recently released had his locker remain intact for a possible return.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had his weekly day after conference call with the media on Monday.  (patriots.com)

QB Tom Brady had his weekly Patriots Monday call in. (WEEI)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. Houston  (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Texans (ESPN Boston)

Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia says you can’t quantify Wilfork’s value. (ESPN Boston)

Patriots defense is coming together at the right time (ESPN Boston)

Best and Worst Patriots vs. Texans (Boston Herald)

Brandon Lloyd finds place in end zone (Boston Herald)

Belichick doesn’t care about the statement, just the bottom line (Boston Herald)

Five takeaways from the Patriots win over the Texans (Boston Globe)

A game of Texas fold ‘em (Boston Globe)

Kubiak: “They make you look really bad” (Boston Globe)

New England is 22-22 all-time on Monday Night Football.

The Patriots are 11-8 at home on MNF.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 157-64.

New England now has a 7-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 72-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 43-5 in December games.

The Patriots have not lost a December home game since December 22, 2002 to the New York Jets, 30-17.

The Patriots are 23-1 in December home games since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002 and 72-14 overall at home in the regular season.

The Patriots are now a combined 21-0 in the second half of the season since 2010.  Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 in the season finale at Houston.

New England is 81-47-1 against the teams that make up the AFC South. 

Bill Belichick is now 202-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick’s 202 wins are good for 7th all-time.  He surpasses Dan Reeves on the list with the win.

Belichick coached teams are 3-1 vs. Houston.

Belichick is 16-8 on Monday Night Football, 15-5 as the Patriots head coach.

Tom Brady is 3-1 vs. the Texans. Overall including playoffs he is 150-44.

Brady is 13-4 all-time on Monday Night Football.  He has won his last 5 appearances and 10 out of the last 11. 

Brady has 329 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 45 consecutive games.  It is the 3rd longest streak in NFL history Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas is 2nd with 47 games.

The Patriots are 89-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

Brady has 14 games with 4 TDs and 0 INTs in his career it is the most in NFL history.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 114 consecutive games including playoffs, 97 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

His first quarter punt return for 31-yards was his longest since 2009.

RB Stevan Ridley leads the team in rushing with 1081 yards on 243 carries and his 10 TDs are tied with TE Rob Gronkowski for the team lead.

TE Aaron Hernandez had his first 2 TD game since his rookie year in 2010.  He now has 4 TD’s on the year.  He had a team high 8 grabs on Monday night for 58 receiving yards.

WR Brandon Lloyd had a team high 89 yards receiving on 7 catches.  He had 2 TDs, 1 on a 37-yard pass from Brady the other was a recovery of a Danny Woodhead fumble in the end zone.

Veteran WR Donte Stallworth who was just re-signed this week caught his first TD pass of the season a 63-yard bomb from Brady in the 3rd quarter that he one handed.

That was the teams 2nd longest pass play of the season only the 83-yard pass to Shane Vereen against the Jets in Week 11 is longer.

Back up QB Ryan Mallett played the last minutes of the blow out win he attempted one pass to Shiancoe who tipped it and it was intercepted.  The turnover lead to the Texans final score.

Since the acquisition of CB Aqib Talib the Patriots secondary is allowing only 4.5 points per game on pass plays down from 13.7 per game.

LB Jerod Mayo had 7 tackles (6 solo) on Monday night.  

Mayo continues to lead the team in tackles.  Unofficially he has 156 tackles (100 solo).  The team usually adjusts the counts based on coaches film study so in the Friday game preview we will have Mayo’s official total.

DT Vince Wilfork had his 2nd forced fumble of the season when he swatted the ball free from Texans QB Matt Schaub in the first quarter even though Houston recovered the ball.

Wilfork also was credited with his 2nd sack of the season on that play because of the QB fumble.

DE Rob Ninkovich shared a sack with DE Trevor Scott.  It was Ninko’s 6.5 sack of the season he leads the team and Scott has 2.5 sacks this year.

The team had 7 tackles for loss in the game LB Dont’a Hightower had a team high 2 while DE Chandler Jones, DE Brandon Deaderick, S Devin McCourty, Mayo and Wilfork each had 1.

The Patriots hit Schaub 8 times 2 times each by DE Justin Francis, Mayo and Hightower and once each for Scott and Ninkovich.

McCourty had his 4th INT on the season Monday night he is tied for the team lead with S Tavon Wilson.

The defense had 7 passes defensed on Monday night against Houston.  CB Alfonzo Dennard (7th), McCourty (12th), Wilfork (6th), Talib (2nd), Jones (3rd) and Kyle Arrington (9th, 10th) all knocked down passes.

Arrington (5th, 6th) had a team high 2 tackles on special teams, DB Marquis Cole (5th) and LB Mike Rivera (6th) each had 1.

New England scored 6 TD’s on 13 possessions. They also had 5 punts, an INT, and the end of game clock expired.

Houston had 13 possessions.  2 TD’s, 7 punts, an INT, lost ball twice on downs and end of half clock expired.

The Patriots sacked Houston QB Matt Schaub 2 times, while Brady was sacked 1 time.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 5 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 15 INTs and 19 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 3 for 3 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 3 TDs.

New England was 6 for 12 (50%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

The Texans are 12-11 all-time against the AFC East.

Houston is 2-5 on Monday Night Football.

Texans are 20-26 all-time in December.

They had a franchise record 6-game road win streak snapped and 6-game winning streak overall snapped as well.

Houston was the last undefeated road team in the NFL.

The Texans were shut out in the first half for the first time this season.

Houston head coach Gary Kubiak, is in his 7th season, he is 59-52 including playoffs.

Kubiak is 1-2 vs. New England.

He is 2-4 in Monday Night Football games.

Texans QB Matt Schaub is 43-36 in his career.

He is 1-2 vs. New England in his career, 1-1 with Houston and 0-1 with Atlanta.

Houston was 4 for 14 (29%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 2 (0%) on 4th down attempts.

The Texans were 2 for 2 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs.

Houston is PLUS 14 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 11 INT and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 15 INT and 12 fumble recoveries.

Next Week

The Patriots host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

In the history of Monday Night Football never had two teams this good matched up this late in the season.  The problem was one team clicked in a well rounded team effort between the offense and the defense while the other team struggled mightily.

We’ve seen this late season act in Foxboro many times but in the past it was the New York Jets or the Indianpolis Colts or the Denver Broncos on the other end of a beat down.  This time it was the Houston Texans, who came in at 11-1, who got a dose of Belichick football in a 42-14 loss to the New England Patriots.

The Texans were looking at this as the biggest game in the history of their franchise, despite having played a pair of playoff games last year.  Maybe the hype caught up to them.  For the Patriots, under Belichick, this is old hat this team lives for games like this.

Offensively New England struck early and often with Tom Brady throwing three TD passes in their first three possessions two to TE Aaron Hernandez and one to WR Brandon Lloyd.  Then Brady and the offense sputtered a bit but in the third quarter Brady found WR Donte Stallworth on a 63-yard bomb that he one handed and deked and juked Texans defenders into the end zone.

After an Arian Foster TD got Houston on the board, the Patriots came back to score again early in the fourth quarter when RB Danny Woodhead after hauling in a screen was caught from behind by Texans DE J.J. Watt who punched the ball loose.  But it was hardly the turnover that Houston was looking for as the ball bounded into the end zone into the awaiting hands of Lloyd who was ahead of the play blocking.

RB Stevan Ridley then made the blow out official as he scampered for a 14-yard TD as the Patriots increased their lead in the 4th quarter to 42-7.  Houston got a garbage time TD from back up QB T.J. Yates on a one yard sneak for the final score and to cover the spread.

The story thought for the Patriots was the strong play of the defense.  The front line was stout doing a good job on the run game, the linebackers helped with pass coverage and pass rush and the secondary was absolutely wonderful with several batted passes, an interception and some good tackling after the catch.

DT Vince Wilfork was a monster in the middle, LB Jerod Mayo kept blitzing Schaub and putting hits on him and busting up plays in the backfield while CB Aqib Talib, CB Kyle Arrington, CB Alfonzo Dennard, S Steve Gregory and McCourty all had big plays in the secondary to break up passes.

The defense held Foster to a mere 46 yards rushing on 15 carries he also had 39 yards receiving and WR Andre Johnson was held to under 100 yards as he had 8 grabs for 95 yards.

When the offense lulled the defense picked the team up.

Once again it’s December and the Patriots are playing football exactly as Bill Belichick has drawn it up.

At least the Texans will look good in those letterman jackets on the flight home.

Texans at Patriots Gamebook includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.

Texans at Patriots Game Recap.

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Turning Point of the Game

Patriots S Devin McCourty picked Matt Schaub at the goaline on the Texans second drive.  It lead to a Patriots TD and 14-0 lead.

Offensive Players of the Game

Patriost WR Brandon Lloyd (7 catches for 89 yards and 2 TDs – 1 on a fumble recovery) and TE Aaron Hernandez (8 catches for 58 yards and 2 TDs) combined for 4 TDs (3 receiving, 1 fumble recovery), 15 catches and 147 yards to lead the Patriots offense.

Defensive Player of the Game

Patriots DT Vince Wilfork had 4 tackles (3 solo), 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 tackle for loss and 1 pass defensed.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Solder

LG Mankins

C Wendell

RG Connolly

RT Vollmer

TE Hernandez

TE Hoomanawanui

WR Welker

WR Lloyd

QB Brady

RB Ridley

On Defense:

DE Scott

DT Wilfork

DT Deaderick

DE Ninkovich

LB Mayo

LB Spikes

LB Hightower

CB Talib

CB Dennard

S Gregory

S McCourty

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. TE Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip)

2. S Derrick Martin

3. RB James Develin

4. DE Ron Brace (back)

5. OL Markus Zusevics

6. DE Jake Bequette

7. G Nick McDonald (shoulder)

Texans

1. CB Alan Ball (foot)

2. LB Brooks Reed (groin)

3. G Antonio Caldwell (hamstring)

4. G Cody White

5. T Derek Newton (knee)

6. TE Garrett Graham (concussion)

7. NT Terrell McClain

The spread (Patriots MINUS 3) WAS covered.  The over/under (51.5) WAS/NOT COVERED.  I TOOK the points (Texans) and took the OVER.  I am now 3-10 vs. the spread and 9 of 13 calling the under/over.

New England is 22-22 all-time on Monday Night Football.

The Patriots are 11-8 at home on MNF.

This was the second meeting between the teams at Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots lead the overall series 3-1.  They are 2-0 vs. Houston at home.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 157-64.

New England now has a 7-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 72-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 43-5 in December games.

The Patriots are now a combined 21-0 in the second half of the season since 2010. 

Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 season finale at Houston.

The Patriots have not lost a December home game since December 22, 2002 to the New York Jets, 30-17.

The Patriots are 23-1 in December home games since 2002.

The Patriots have won 13 consecutive December games dating back to 2009.  They are the fourth team to have won at least 12 consecutive December games.  San Diego won 18 (2006-09); Dallas 13 (1968-72) and New England 12 (2006-08).

Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, the Patriots are 72-14 at home in the regular season.

New England is 81-47-1 against the teams that make up the AFC South. 

Bill Belichick is now 202-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick’s 202 wins are good for 7th all-time.

Belichick coached teams are 3-1 vs. Houston.

Belichick is 16-8 on Monday Night Football, 15-5 as the Patriots head coach.

Tom Brady is 3-1 vs. the Texans. Overall including playoffs he is 150-44.

Brady is 13-4 all-time on Monday Night Football.  He has won his last 5 appearances and 10 out of the last 11. 

Brady has 329 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 45 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 89-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

Brady has 14 games with 4 TDs and 0 INTs in his career it is the most in NFL history.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 114 consecutive games including playoffs, 97 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

His first quarter punt return for 31-yards was his longest since 2009.

TE Aaron Hernandez had his first 2 TD game since his rookie year in 2010.  He know has 4 TD’s on the year.

WR Brandon Lloyd caught a 39-yard pass for his 4th TD of the season.  He added a fumble recovery for his 5th TD later in the game.

Veteran WR Donte Stallworth who was just re-signed this week caught his first TD pass of the season a 63-yard bomb from Brady in the 3rd quarter that he one handed.

That was the 2nd longest pass play of the season only to the 83-yard pass to Shane Vereen against the Jets in Week 11.

RB Stevan Ridley had his 10th rushing TD of the season.

DE Rob Ninkovich had his team leading 7th sack in 1st quarter.

DT Vince Wilfork had a forced fumble (2nd) on a strip sack in the first quarter and a pass defensed (6th) in the second quarter.  He also had a sack (2nd).

DE Chandler Jones returned to action and had his 3rd pass defensed of the season in the second quarter.

CB Kyle Arrington had his 9th pass defensed on the season in the second quarter on a 4th down attempt by Houston.  He added his 10th pass defensed on a 3rd and 3 late in the 3rd quarter.  He is 2nd on the team in passes defensed.

Arrington also led the team in tackles on special teams with two.

CB Aqib Talib had a pass defensed, his second as a Patriot late in the 2nd quarter.  Talib was hurt on the play (hip) and missed the rest of the game.

S Devin McCourty had his 4th INT of the year at the goal line in the first quarter.  He is now tied for the team lead with rookie S Tavon Wilson.  He also had a pass defensed his team leading 12th.

Rookie CB Alfonzo Dennard had a big defensed pass (7th) on Andre Johnson in 3rd quarter.

LB Jerod Mayo (4, 5), LB Donta Hightower (6, 7) and DE Justin Francis (3, 4)each had 2 QB Hits while Ninkovich (10) and DE Trevor Scott (3) had 1 each.

Hightower had 2 tackles for loss while DY Brandon Deaderick, Wilfork and Jones, Mayo and McCourty had 1 each.

Roster moves this week:

• RB Brandon Bolden rejoined the 53-man roster after serving a four game NFL suspension for violating the drug policy.
• WR Julian Edelman broke his foot against Miami and has been placed on the season ending IR.
• Signed WR Donte Stallworth.
• Waived G Mitch Petrus.
• Signed OL Tommie Draheim and OL Colin Miller to the practice squad.

The Patriots sacked Houston QB Matt Schaub 2 times, while Brady was sacked 1 time.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 5 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 15 INTs and 19 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 3 for 3 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 3 TDs.

New England was 6 for 12 (50%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

The Texans are 12-11 all-time against the AFC East.

Houston is 2-5 on Monday Night Football.

Texans are 20-26 all-time in December.

They had a franchise record 6-game road win streak snapped and 6-game winning streak overall snapped as well.

This was the final game of three consecutive road games for the Texans, they had won the previous two.

The Texans have allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL this season, 16 (tied with New York Giants).

Houston was the last undefeated road team in the NFL.

The Texans were shut out in the first half for the first time this season.

Houston head coach Gary Kubiak, is in his 7th season, he is 58-51 and 1-1 in the post season for an overall record of 59-52.

Kubiak is 1-2 vs. New England.

He is 2-4 in Monday Night Football games.

Texans QB Matt Schaub is 43-36 in his career.

He is 1-2 vs. New England in his career, 1-1 with Houston and 0-1 with Atlanta.

RB Arian Foster scored his 16th TD of the season, 14th rushing in the 3rd quarter.  He leads the NFL in TD’s.

Houston was 4 for 14 (29%) on 3rd down conversions and 0 for 2 (0%) on 4th down attempts.

The Texans were 2 for 2 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs.

Houston is PLUS 14 in turnover differential, tied for 2nd in the NFL. The offense has given up 11 INT and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 15 INT and 12 fumble recoveries.

Terry McAulay was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 59, rainy and warm.

Attendance – 68,756 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. 

Post Game Interviews

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conference via patriots.com.

This Week in the AFC East

Jets beat the Jaguars, 17-10

Rams edged the Bills, 15-12

49ers downed the Dolphins, 27-13

AFC East Standings

Patriots                 10-3/5-0

Jets                        6-7/2-3

Dolphins                  5-8/1-3

Bills                        5-8/1-3

Next Week

The Patriots host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credit: getty images

This Week

The New England Patriots host the Houston Texans at Gillette Stadium on Monday at 8:30 p.m.

The Texans		—-	The Patriots
Overall	11-1		Overall	9-3
Road record	6-0		Home record	4-1
AFC East	3-0		AFC South	2-0
AFC	9-0		AFC	8-1

Terry McAulay is the game referee assigned to the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from 5dimes.eu via Yahoo Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 3.  The over under is 51.5.  

My prediction is Patriots 31, Texans, 30.  Take the points (Texans) and take the over.  I am 3-9 against the spread and 8 of 12 on calling the over/under in 2012.

Tickets

The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 201st consecutive sell out dating back to the 1994 season opener.  The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.

Tickets to the game, if available, can be purchased through Ticketmaster.  You can check the availability here.

After market tickets are available through the Official Patriots Ticket Exchange where season ticket holders can sell their unused seats to fans on the season ticket waiting list.

Getting to the Game

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Foxboro make sure you check out the links.

Former T Matt Light will be honored at halftime of the game.  Light, who attended Purdue, played his entire 11-year career with the Patriots.  He was a member of all 3 Super Bowl Championships.

Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Foxboro MA.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking and information and map and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.

Tailgating

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com.  There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.  I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good. 

And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages.  With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks.  You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time.  Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver.  Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

ESPN is televising the game nationally and Mike Tirico will do play by play while Jon Gruden will provide the game analysis.

You can also watch the game on the WatchESPN app.

Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules, flex scheduling and commercial breaks.

Radio

The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak will do game analysis. It all starts with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh with the pregame show at 5:30 p.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.

The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 93, XM Channel 226 and on SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Texans Radio Network has Mark Vandermeer calling the game while former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware provides the game analysis and Rich Lord covers the sideline via their flagship station KILT AM/FM.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 92, XM Channel 225 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 812.

Dial Global Sports is carrying the game nationally via their affiliate network.  Kevin Harlan, Boomer Esiason and Mark Malone will call the game starting at 8 p.m.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 88, XM Channel 88 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 88.

Patriots All Access

Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team.  It’s hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.

• Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Providence RI on WNAC Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
• Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
• Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.

You can also watch it anytime on the teams website in the media section.

To continue reading the Houston Texans @ New England Patriots Week 14 preview, please click on the continue reading button below if you're on the home page.

Last Week

The Patriots held off the Dolphins 23-16 in Miami.  The Texans beat the Titans on the road, 24-10.

History

• This is the 4th meeting between the Patriots and the Texans since Houston became a franchise in 2002.
• This is the second meeting between the teams at Gillette Stadium.
• The Patriots lead the overall series 2-1.
• This is the first prime time match up between the teams.
• The Texans won the last meeting Week 17 in 2009 at Houston, 34-27.  It is also known as the game that Wes Welker tore his ACL in.

Patriots Team Notes

Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 423-368-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in seven appearances.  Overall they are 23-16 in the post season.

They last appeared in the playoffs in 2011 when they beat Denver home in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 45-10 and defeated Baltimore 23-20 in Foxboro in the AFC Championship Game.  They lost Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants 21-17.

The Patriots were 13-3 (2-1 in playoffs) in 2011 and are the defending four-time AFC East Champions as well as the defending AFC Conference Champions.  They have won the division 10 times and the conference 5 times since 2000.

Last week the Patriots clinched their 15th AFC East title breaking a tie for most division crowns with Miami.

This will be the 20th season in franchise history that the team will have a playoff appearance.

This is their 12th consecutive winning season it is the longest current streak in the NFL.  Only Dallas and San Francisco with 16 consecutive winning seasons have ever won more.

New England is 21-22 all-time on Monday Night Football.  They were 2-0 in 2011.

The Patriots are 10-8 at home on MNF.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 156-64.

New England now has a 6-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 71-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 42-5 in December games.

The Patriots have not lost a December home game since December 22, 2002 to the New York Jets, 30-17.

The Patriots have won 12 consecutive December games dating back to 2009.  They are the fourth team to have won at least 12 consecutive December games.  San Diego won 18 (2006-09); Dallas 13 (1968-72) and New England 12 (2006-08).

Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, the Patriots are 71-14 at home in the regular season.

New England is 80-47-1 against the teams that make up the AFC South. 

The Patriots are now a combined 20-0 in the second half of the season since 2010.  Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 in the season finale at Houston.

The Patriots have seven non-offensive touchdowns in 2012. The 2010 Patriots and 1961 Patriots teams own the team record with nine non-offensive touchdowns. The NFL record for most non-offensive touchdowns is 13 by Seattle in 1998.

Date             Game                     Touchdown

9/9/12          at Tennessee           Dont’a Hightower 6-yd. Fumble Return

10/21/12       vs. N.Y. Jets            Devin McCourty 104-yd. Kickoff Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Julian Edelman 68-yd. Punt Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Aqib Talib 59-yd. Int. Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Alfonzo Dennard 87-yd. Int. return

11/22/12       at N.Y. Jets             Steve Gregory 32-yd. Fumble Return

11/22/12       at N.Y. Jets             Julian Edelman 22-yd. Fumble Return

The Patriots are 1st in the NFL in points per game with 35.8.  While they allow 21.7 points per game good for 14th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 26 times this season while their quarterbacks have been sacked 19 times.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 3 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 14 INTs and 18 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots are 83 for 156 (53.2%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 61 for 136 (44.9%) in 3rd down efficiency and 6 for 14 (42.9%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 35 of 52 (67.3%) in the red zone while opponents are 19 for 31 (61.3%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 27 for 32 (84.4%) and opponents are 14 for 18 (77.8%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 202.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 221.
• Have the most conference titles, 6.
• Have the most division titles, 12.
• Have the most playoff wins, 19
• Have played the most playoff games, 29.
• Are tied for the most playoff seasons, 14.
• Have the best playoff win percentage, .671.
• Have drafted the most Pro Bowl players, 20.

New England set the following team records in 2011:

• Total yards, 6,848.
• First downs, 399.
• Net passing yards, 5,084.
• 100+ yard receiving games, 18.
• Games with 30+ points, 12 (tied for most in NFL history).

Patriots Staff Notes

This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Texans.

Bill Belichick is 2-1 vs. the Texans in his career.

Belichick is 15-8 on Monday Night Football, 14-5 as the Patriots head coach.

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 184-100 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 148-56 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 17-7 in the playoffs, 16-6 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 201-107.

Belichick’s 201 wins are good for a tie for 7th all-time with former Broncos, Giants and Falcons head coach Dan Reeves.

Belichick is one of five head coaches in NFL history whose father (Steve Belichick) played in the league.  The others are former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley (Dick Haley), former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan), former Cincinnati head coach David Shula (Don Shula) and former NY Jets head coach Joe Walton (Frank Walton).

Belichick is one of just four coaches to win three Super Bowls, joining Chuck Noll (4), Joe Gibbs (3) and Bill Walsh (3).  Those men are all in the Hall of Fame.

He is the only coach in NFL history to win three championship titles in four seasons.

He is the only coach in NFL history to have led his team to 10+ wins in 9 consecutive seasons.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

LT: Solder

LG: Mankins

C: Wendell

RG: Connolly

RT: Vollmer

TE: Hernandez

TE: Fells

WR: Lloyd

WR: Welker

QB: Brady

RB: Ridley

Defense:

DE: Ninkovich

DT: Wilfork

DT: Love

DE: Jones

LB: Mayo

LB: Spikes

LB: Hightower

LCB: Talib

RCB: Arrington

S: McCourty

S: Gregory

Patriots Players Notes

This is Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 2-1 against Houston in his career. 

Brady is 12-4 all-time on Monday Night Football.  He has won his last 4 appearances and 9 out of the last 10. 

Overall Brady is 133-38 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 149-44.  Brady is a 7 time Pro Bowl QB; two time NFL MVP and has won 3 Super Bowls while twice being named the games MVP.  He is also listed as the 21^st Greatest Player in the History of the NFL according to the NFL Network.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL.

Brady has 133 career wins he is 5th all-time.

Brady finished the 2011 season with 5,235 passing yards and joined Drew Brees (5,476 in 2011 and 5,069 in 2008), Dan Marino (5,084 in 1984) and Matthew Stafford (5,038 in 2011) as the only players in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards in a single season.

Brady has 325 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 44 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 88-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

Brady has 52 games in his career with 300 or more passing yards he is tied for 5th all-time with Kurt Warner.

On the season Brady is 298 of 460 (64.8%) for 3537 yards with 25 TDs and 4 INTs his QB rating is 102.6

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 113 consecutive games including playoffs, 96 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker leads the team with 92 catches for 1064 yards.

Welker has the second most receptions (742) all-time among undrafted receivers. Rod Smith is the NFL’s all-time leader with 849.

TE Rob Gronkowski has 37 receiving touchdowns and 38 touchdowns overall (1 rushing) since 2010. The NFL record for most receiving touchdowns in a player’s first three NFL seasons is 43 by Randy Moss and the NFL record for most touchdowns overall by a player in his first three NFL seasons is 47 by Barry Sanders (4 receiving and 43 rushing).

He leads the team with 10 TDs, RB Stevan Ridley is 2nd with 9 TDs.

Ridley leads the team in rushing with 1010 yards on 225 carries.  He is the 12th Patriot to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and first since BenJarvis Green-Ellis in 2010.

K Stephen Gostkowski has two field goals of 50 or more yards in 2012.  With one more he will be the first Patriots kicker with three field goals of 50 or more yards in one season.

Gostkowski (7 for 10) needs one more field goal of 50 or more yards to tie Adam Vinatieri (8 for 17) for most in team history.

Rookie DE Chandler Jones and DE Rob Ninkovich lead the team with 6 sacks.

With one more sack Ninkovich will have a new career high for sacks.

Patriots rookie record for sacks is held by Garin Veris who had 10.5 in 1985.

Jones also leads the team with 11 QB hits.

Ninkovich and LB Brandon Spikes lead the team in forced fumbles with 5 each, which ties Mike Vrabel’s franchise record.   

Ninkovich and DT Vince Wilfork lead the team with 4 recovered fumbles each.

Mayo leads the team through 12 weeks with 151 tackles (94 solo).  Spikes is second with 115 tackles (75 solo).

Mayo is on pace to be the third Patriot to record a 200+ tackle season.  LB Clayton Weishuhn had a team high 229 (1983) and LB Steve Nelson had 207 (1984).

Rookie S Tavon Wilson leads the team in INTs with 4. He now has more INTs in his rookie NFL season than he did in his college career at Illinois.

S Devin McCourty also has team high 11 passes defensed in 2012. CB Kyle Arrington is 2nd with 8 passes defensed.

WR Matthew Slater has a team high 17 tackles on special teams.  Rookie S Nate Ebner is 2nd with 14 tackles on special teams.

There are only two players on the team who played on at least one of the Super Bowl championship teams, Brady (3) and Wilfork (1).

Roster moves this week:

• RB Brandon Bolden is eligible to rejoin the team after serving a four game NFL suspension for violating the drug policy.
• WR Julian Edelman broke his foot against Miami and has been placed on the season ending IR.
• Signed WR Donte Stallworth.
• Waived G Mitch Petrus.
• Signed OL Tommie Draheim and OL Colin Miller to the practice squad.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. TE Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip) and G Nick McDonald (shoulder) did not practice. DT Ron Brace (back); S Patrick Chung (shoulder); G Dan Connolly (back); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring); DE Chandler Jones (ankle); WR Brandon Lloyd (knee); DT Kyle Love (knee); G Logan Mankins (ankle/calf); LB Brandon Spikes (knee); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) had limited participation. LB Jerod Mayo (elbow) had full participation in practice.

The Patriots captains for 2012 are QB Tom Brady, DT Vince Wilfork, G Logan Mankins, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty and WR Matthew Slater (special teams).

The Patriots have 5 New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA); LB Niko Koutouvides (Plainville CT) and OL Jamey Richard (Weston CT – IR). 

They have 11 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are CB Will Allen (Syracuse – IR); DE Ron Brace (Boston College); RB James Develin (Brown); RB Tony Fiametta (Syracuse – Exempt List); DE Justin Francis (Rutgers); S Stephen Gregory (Syracuse); DE Chandler Jones (Syracuse); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); OL Donald Thomas (UConn); OL Jeremiah Warren (South Florida – Practice Squad) and NT Vince Wilfork (Miami).

The Patriots have 6 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

Texans Team Notes

Here is the Texans roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Texans Schedule/Results

Houston’s all-time record is 76-96-0 they are 1-1 in the post season with their last post season appearance coming in 2011 when they beat the Cincinnati Bengals at home in the AFC Wild Card game and lost to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Division game on the road.

They have never played in a Super Bowl.

Their first season was in 2002.  They began play on September 8, 2002 with a 19-10 win over Dallas.

Since 2008, the Texans have the 3rd best road offense behind New Orleans and New England.

Houston is 1-2 all-time vs. New England and is 0-1 in Gillette Stadium.

The Texans are 12-10 all-time against the AFC East.

Houston is 2-4 on Monday Night Football.

Texans are 20-25 all-time in December.

Last season was the first time the Texans made the playoffs winning the AFC South.

Houston clinched its second consecutive playoff berth last week when they beat Tennessee.

2011 was the team’s winningest season they finished 10-6.

They now have a franchise high 11 wins in 2012.

They own a franchise record 6-game road win streak.

With a win they will have a 7-game win streak (overall) which would tie a franchise record.

This is the final game of three consecutive road games for the Texans, they have won the previous two.

The Texans have allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL this season, 15 (tied with New York Giants).

Houston is the only NFL team that is undefeated on the road this season.

The Texans have a team song called “It’s Football Time in Houston” written and performed by country star, Clay Walker.  They tried to replace the song in 2003 with one written by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback but a near riot quickly ensued.

The Texans also use “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against The Machine.  The song has given the defense its nickname, Bulls on Parade.

The Texans mascot is Toro.

The Texans defense has allowed opponents to convert 28.4% (46 for 162) of the time on 3^rd down and they are 33.3% (5 for 15) on 4th down.  The offense has a 3^rd down conversion rate of 39.5% (68 for 172) and on 4th down has converted 80% (4 for 5) of the time.

The Houston defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 36 times in 12 games. While the Texans QB’s have been sacked 15 times.

The Texans are 2nd in the NFL in points per game with 29.3.  While they allow 18.4 points per game good for 4th in the NFL.

Houston is PLUS 14 in turnover differential, tied for 2nd in the NFL. The offense has given up 10 INT and 2 fumbles, while the defense has 14 INT and 12 fumble recoveries.

Houston is 28 of 46 (60.9%) in the red zone while opponents are 12 for 27 (44.5%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations Houston is 21 for 28 (75%) and opponents are 7 for 12 (58.3%).

Texans Staff Notes

Read what Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Houston head coach Gary Kubiak, is in his 7th season, he is 58-50 and 1-1 in the post season for an overall record of 59-51.

Kubiak is only the second head coach in Texans history he succeed Dom Capers who was 18-46 in the teams first four seasons.

Kubiak is 1-1 vs. New England.

He is 2-3 in Monday Night Football games.

Texans Offensive Coordinator Rick Dennison began his coaching career at Suffield Academy in Suffield CT.

Texans Special Teams Coordinator Joe Marciano coached the wide receivers at The University of Rhode Island from 1978-79.

Texans Possible Starters

Offense:

LT: Brown

LG: W. Smith

C: Myers

RG: B. Jones

RT: Ry. Harris

TE: Daniels

WR: Johnson

WR: Walter

QB: Schaub

RB: Foster

RB: Casey

Defense:

DE: Watt

NT: Cody

DE: A. Smith

LB: Barwin

LB: Ruud

LB: Sharpton

LB: Mercilus

LCB: Jackson

RCB: McCain

S: Manning

S: Quin

Texans Players Notes

Texans QB Matt Schaub is in his 9th NFL season.  He is 43-33 with Houston and 0-2 with Atlanta for an overall record of 43-35.

Schaub was the 3rd round pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by Atlanta out of the University of Virginia.

He got hurt in Week 10 last season and missed the rest of the season including the franchise’s first two playoff games.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 13th best quarterback in the NFL.

He has the best road winning percentage (.818) among NFL quarterbacks the last two seasons.

Since coming to Houston in 2007 Schaub has led the Texans on 10-game winning drives.

Schaub is 266 of 413 (64.4%) for 3062 yards, 21 TD’s and 9 INT’s and a 94.5 QB rating.

DE J.J. Watt leads the AFC with 15.5 sacks.

He holds the single season franchise sack record.

Watt leads the team with 15 passes defensed and 83 tackles (64 solo).

He is the first player in NFL history to have 15 sacks and 15 passes defensed in the same season.

Watt’s 15 passes defensed are an NFL record for a defensive lineman.

2011 team MVP LB Brian Cushing is on the IR with a torn ACL he suffered in Week 5 against the Jets.

DE Antonio Smith is called “The Ninja”.

CB Kareem Jackson leads the team with 4 INT’s.

S Danieal Manning leads the team with 3 forced fumbles.

LB Tim Dobbins has 3 fumble recoveries to lead Houston.

RB Arian Foster leads the NFL with 15 TD’s.

Foster leads the team in rushing with 1102 yards on 283 carries.

He is just the 3rd undrafted running back to have three consecutive seasons with 1,000 yards rushing.

Since 2010 Foster leads the NFL in rushing yards per game (96.1), scrimmage yards per game (129.3), most 100-yard rushing games (21) and TD's from scrimmage (45).

He has had at least 100 yards rushing in 5 of the 6 games Houston has played on the road.

He has at least 100 rushing yards in 8 of the 9 games he has played on national tv.

WR Andre Johnson has 74 catches for 1114 yards to lead the Texans.

He became the 6th fastest player in NFL history to 10,000 receiving yards.

Johnson has caught at least 1 pass in 94 consecutive games.

He has 15 games in his career with 10 catches and 100 yards that is the second highest total in NFL history behind Wes Welker who has done it 16 times.

Johnson was the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November.

Johnson called this game “the most important game in the (10-year) history of the franchise.”

TE Phillip Supernaw’s (practice squad – IR) father is former country musician Doug Supernaw, who sang the hit songs “I Don’t Call Him Daddy” (#1 in 1993) and “Reno” (#4 in 1993).

Players listed on the injury report on Thursday.  CB Alan Ball (foot) and LB Brooks Reed (groin) did not practice.  G Antonio Caldwell (hamstring); NT Shaun Cody (ribs/back); LB Tim Dobbins (shoulder); TE Garrett Graham (concussion); LBBradie James (hamstring); CB Jonathan Joseph (hamstring/groin); T Derek Newton (knee); DE Antonio Smith (ankle) and G Wade Smith (knee/ribs) had limited participation in practice.  DE Jared Crick (neck); TE Owen Daniels (back); WR Lestar Jean (knee); LB Whitey Mercilus (hip); LB Jesse Nading (foot); WR DeVier Posey (hamstring/knee); RB Ben Tate (hamstring) and QB T.J. Yates (elbow) all had full particpation.

Houston’s captains for 2012 are (offense) C Chris Myers, WR Andre Johnson, QB Matt Schaub, (defense) LB Brian Cushing, DE Antonio Smith, DE J.J. Watt and (special teams) S Shiloh Keo, LB Tim Dobbins.

NT Terrell McClain and K Shayne Graham are former Patriots returning to Foxboro for the game.

There are 2 players on the Texans roster from Big East universities.  They are LB Connor Barwin (Cincinnati) and DT Terrell McClain (South Florida).

The Texans have no retired numbers.

Next Week

The Patriots host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Stallworth Back

With Julian Edelman hurt, the New England Patriots are a little short at the wide receiver position. So they called on an old friend in Donte' Stallworth. He was cut by the team before the 2012 season started. Apparently they also considered Deion Branch but according to Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston, he's battling a hamstring injury.

Once Again Patriots Depth Helps Team Win

Year after year Patriots head coach Bill Belichick does a solid job in creating a very deep roster by using the cap to his advantage and by refusing to overpay for most of the players on the roster.

Players who come to Foxboro know they will not break the bank but they do know they’ll have a shot at a ring.  Over the years it has brought in many veteran players who weren’t looking for big dollars but a chance at a championship.  It has also given New England a talented roster that goes three and four deep at some spots.

This season is no different.

In the off season the Patriots brought in former Raiders defensive lineman Trevor Scott.  Scott was at one time a solid performer for Oakland but never of the super star variety.  In fact he probably could have gotten more money and more years in other places but the lure of the chance at a Super Bowl championship has brought him much like other veteran’s over the Belichick era.

On Sunday with rookie defensive end Chandler Jones out with an injury and his top backup Jermaine Cunningham suspended by the NFL for violating the drug policy the team turned to DE Brandon Deaderick and Scott.

Deaderick was solid with 3 tackles and a forced fumble but it was Scott who made the most noise.  Scott added 3 tackles of his own, 2 sacks, a QB hit, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble in his first extended action of the year.

It really makes you wonder why other teams can’t do this.  Face it the NFL is a copycat league and Belichick has been doing it 13 years now in Foxboro and has built quite the track record but for some reason other clubs fail to manage the cap the way New England does.

Belichick’s vision and his financial philosophy work, all you need to do is look at the trophy case and the stat sheets.  It’s better for us as fans and the Patriots as a team that other teams have failed to mimic it and guys like Trevor Scott are hanging around waiting to play when you need them.

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News and Notes

For the second time in three days the Patriots have lost a practice squad member to another team when the Philadelphia Eagles signed T Matt Kopa to their 53-man roster.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick had his weekly day after conference call with the media on Monday.  (patriots.com)

QB Tom Brady had his weekly Patriots Monday call in. (WEEI)

Patriots and the playoff picture (ESPN Boston)

Offensive snaps by skill players vs. Miami  (ESPN Boston)

Defensive snaps played vs. Dolphins (ESPN Boston)

Trevor Scott brings next man up attitude (ESPN Boston)

Best and Worst Patriots vs. Dolphins (Boston Herald)

The Patriots can’t hold the Mayo (Boston Herald)

Patriots step back in time with running game (Boston Herald)

Patriots defense right on time (Boston Herald)

Patriots not satisfied with winning division (Boston Globe)

Patriots, Broncos and Falcons all clinch their division (Boston Globe)

With the win at Miami the Patriots clinched their 12th consecutive winning season and their 10th AFC East Championship since 2000 and 4th in a row.

This is the franchise’s 15th AFC East title breaking the tie for most division crowns with Miami.

The Dolphins lead the all-time series 50-44. This includes 3 meetings in the playoffs (1982, 1985, 1997) with the Patriots holding a 2-1 post season edge.

The Patriots all-time in Miami are 15-33.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 156-64.

New England now has a 6-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 71-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 42-5 in December games.

New England is 58-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001 in the regular season. 

The Patriots are now a combined 20-0 in the second half of the season since 2010.  Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 in the season finale at Houston.  Their next opponent is that very same Texans squad.

Belichick’s 201 wins are good for 7th all-time.  He is tied with former Broncos, Giants and Falcons head coach Dan Reeves.

Bill Belichick coached teams are 16-11 vs. Miami. Belichick is 16-9 as Patriots head coach and he was 0-2 as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Tom Brady is 15-6 vs. the Dolphins. Overall including playoffs he is 149-44.

Brady has 325 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 44 consecutive games.

He is the first starting QB in NFL history to have won 10 division titles breaking his tied with Joe Montana.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 113 consecutive games including playoffs, 96 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker went over 1,000 receiving yards for the season and now has 1,064.

WR Julian Edelman was seen post game with a walking boot on and crutches.

RB Stevan Ridley leads the team in rushing with 1009 yards on 225 carries.  He is the 12th Patriot to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and first since BenJarvis Green-Ellis in 2010.

LB Jerod Mayo (5 solo) and CB Kyle Arrington (6 solo) each had 6 tackles on Sunday in Miami.  

Mayo continues to lead the team in tackles.  Unofficially he has 149 tackles (94 solo).  The team usually adjusts the counts based on coaches film study so in the Friday game preview we will have Mayo’s official total.  He is on pace for another 200 tackle season.

Mayo (4th), DE Trevor Scott (1st) and DL Brandon Deaderick (2nd) all forced fumbles.

Mayo (3rd) and Scott (1st, 2nd) each had sacks Sunday.

Mayo (3rd), Scott (2nd) and Arrington (1st) all had QB hits.

DT Vince Wilfork had a fumble recovery it was his 4th of the season.

LB Brandon Spikes defensed two passes vs. Miami they were his 6th and 7th passes defensed this season.

WR Matthew Slater made 2 special teams tackles He leads the team with 16 special teams tackles this year.

New England scored 2 TD’s on 12 possessions. They also had 3 punts, a missed FGA, 3 FGs, an INT, end of half clock expired and the end of game clock expired.

Miami had 11 possessions.  1 TD’s, 3 field goals, turn over on downs, fumble and 5 punts.

The Patriots sacked Miami QB Ryan Tannehill 3 times, while Brady was sacked 4 times tying a season high.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 4 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 14 INTs and 19 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 2 for 4 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs and 2 FGs.

New England was 7 for 15 (47%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

Miami head coach Joe Philbin in his 1st season as an NFL head coach; he is 5-7 since taking over.

He is 0-1 against New England in his career.

Ryan Tannehill is 0-1 vs. the Patriots.

Miami has lost the last 5 meetings between the teams.

The Dolphins are 30-42 vs. the AFC East in the regular season since 2001.

Miami was 3 for 13 (23%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

The Dolphins were 1 for 2 (50%) in the red zone.  They had 1 TD and 1 FG.

Miami fumbled the ball four times but only lost one (Tannehill).

Miami is MINUS 10 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 12 INT and 10 fumbles, while the defense has 9 INTs and 3 fumble recoveries. 

Next Week

The Patriots host the Houston Texans next Monday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

That headline speaks volumes about the domination the New England Patriots have within their division.  While they have run wild in the AFC East in the Belichick era and have an unbelievable division record of 60-19 in that span sometimes the individual games don’t always come that easy.

And that was the case once again in Miami in December.  They should move Halloween to this month because it certainly is the Patriots personal house of horror when it comes to late season football.

In Brady’s 13 year career he is just 1-3 in December games in Miami.  The lone win was today’s. 

The Miami Dolphins are a different team and look like they are on track for the first time in a long time.  Sure they had that one good year under Tony Sporano but they eventually reverted back.

This time they look for real, at least they did today when it came to facing the division rival New England Patriots in sunny, warm Miami.

It didn’t looks so good for the Fish out of the gate when their first possession ended in a fumbled and botched punt that resulted in the Patriots starting 1st and 10 from Miami’s 12 yard line.  That led to a TD by RB Stevan Ridley and a quick 7-0 lead and it looked like the potential for a high scoring blow out.

But alas that was not to happen.  In fact I can honestly say with a straight face that the Patriots bend but don’t break defense saved the day.  Missing some key defensive lineman with injuries or suspensions the rest of the crew and the no-names stood up especially DE Trevor Scott.

The Oakland Raiders reject had his best game in a Patriots uniform, making his presence felt at every turn.

While it was far from a dominant defensive effort on the part of the Patriots it was good enough to lead them to a win on a day when the offense looked sluggish in the Miami warmth.

QB Tom Brady was the one who struggled greatly but he has always been hit or miss in Sun Life Stadium or what ever it was called at it’s different points.  Brady clearly had a tough day he was just 24 of 40 for 238 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT and got sacked four times tying a season’s high.

That pick by Miami’s Reshad Jones was just first for Brady in his last 202 opportunities, it was the current longest streak in the NFL until that point.  It was his first pick since he threw two in Seattle in Week 6.

Ridley did most of his work on the final drive when he notched 46 yards on 10 carries.  He was nearly the entire 16 play, 77 yard drive that ate up a huge 7:18 in clock time and culminated with a Stephen Gostkowski field goal and a ten point, two possession lead.

Patriots at Dolphins Gamebook includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.

Patriots at Dolphins Game Recap.

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Turning Point of the Game

The Patriots final drive in which RB Stevan Ridley took over and ran the clock down.  Ridley had 46 rushing yards in the final drive leading to a Stephen Gostkowski field goal that made it a two possession game with 1:15 to play.

Offensive Player(s) of the Game

RB Stevan Ridley had 19 carries and gained 71 yards to go over 1,000 yards rushing on the season.  He also scored his 9th rushing TD of the season.

Defensive Player of the Game

DE Trevor Scott had 3 tackles (3 solo), 2 sacks, 1 tackle for loss, 1 QB hit and 1 forced fumble.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Solder

LG Thomas

C Wendell

RG Connolly

RT Vollmer

TE Hernandez

WR Edelman

WR Welker

WR Lloyd

QB Brady

RB Ridley

On Defense:

DE Ninkovich

DT Wilfork

DT Love

DE Deaderick

LB Mayo

LB Spikes

LB Hightower

CB Talib

CB Wilson

S Gregory

S McCourty

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. TE Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip)

2. S Derrick Martin

3. RB James Develin

4. G Mitch Petrus

5. DE Chandler Jones (foot)

6. TE Visanthe Shiancoe

7. G Logan Mankins (ankle/calf)

Dolphins

1. QB Pat Devlin (hip)

2. S Jonathon Amaya

3. LB Josh Kaddu

4. T Will Yeatman

5. TE Michael Egnew

6. TE Kyle Miller

7. DT Kheeston Randall

The spread (Patriots MINUS 9) WAS NOT covered.  The over/under (51.5) WAS NOT COVERED.  I GAVE the points (Patriots) and took the OVER.  I am now 3-9 vs. the spread and 8 of 12 calling the under/over.

The Dolphins lead the all-time series 50-44. This includes 3 meetings in the playoffs (1982, 1985, 1997) with the Patriots holding a 2-1 post season edge.

With the win at Miami the Patriots clinched their 12th consecutive winning season and their 10th AFC East Championship since 2000 and 4th in a row.

This is the franchise’s 15th AFC East title breaking the tie for most division crowns with Miami.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 156-64.

New England now has a 6-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 71-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 42-5 in December games.

New England is 58-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001 in the regular season. 

The Patriots are now a combined 20-0 in the second half of the season since 2010. 

Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 in the season finale at Houston.

An AFC East rival has not swept the Patriots in a season series since 2000 when Miami and New York swept them.

The Patriots all-time in Miami are 15-33.

The Patriots have swept the Dolphins 8 times in the series history including 5 times in the Belichick era (2003-04, 07, 10-11).

Bill Belichick is now 201-107 including playoffs in his career.

Belichick’s 201 wins are good for tie for 7th all-time with Former Broncos, Giants and Falcons head coach Dan Reeves.

Bill Belichick coached teams are 16-11 vs. Miami. Belichick is 16-9 as Patriots head coach and he was 0-2 as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Tom Brady is 15-6 vs. the Dolphins. Overall including playoffs he is 149-44.

Brady has 325 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 44 consecutive games.

He is the first starting QB in NFL history to have won 10 division titles breaking his tied with Joe Montana.

He is now 9th all-time for most completions.

Brady’s INT was the first he had thrown in 202 attempts it was the longest current streak in the NFL and it dates back to Week 6 in Seattle.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 113 consecutive games including playoffs, 96 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker went over 1,000 receiving yards for the season and now has 1,064.

WR Julian Edelman was seen post game with a walking boot on and crutches.

RB Stevan Ridley leads the team in rushing with 1009 yards on 225 carries.  He is the 12th Patriot to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and first since BenJarvis Green-Ellis in 2010.

He also scored his 9th rushing TD of the season.

LB Jerod Mayo (4th), DE Trevor Scott (1st) and DL Brandon Deaderick (2nd) all forced fumbles.

Mayo (3rd) and Scott (1st, 2nd) each had sacks Sunday.

Mayo (3rd), Scott (2nd) and DB Kyle Arrington (1st) all had QB hits.

DT Vince Wilfork had a fumble recovery it was his 4th of the season.

LB Brandon Spikes defensed two passes vs. Miami they were his 6th and 7th passes defensed this season.

WR Matthew Slater made 2 special teams tackles He leads the team with 16 special teams tackles this year.

Roster moves this week:

• Signed WR Jeremy Ebert to the practice squad.  Ebert was a 7th round pick of the team that was released after the preseason.
• Promoted RB James Develin to 53-man roster from practice squad.
• NFL suspended DE Jermaine Cunningham on Monday for 4 games for violation of the performance enhancing drug policy.
• Announced that DB Sterling Moore was signed off the practice squad by the Dallas Cowboys.

The Patriots sacked Miami QB Ryan Tannehill 3 times, while Brady was sacked 4 times tying a season high.

New England’s defense held Miami to just 15 first downs (7 rushing, 7 passing, 1 by penalty) and 277 total yards.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 4 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 14 INTs and 19 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots were 2 for 4 (100%) in the red zone.  They had 2 TDs and 2 FGs.

New England was 7 for 15 (47%) on third down conversions and 0 for 0 on 4th down attempts.

Miami head coach Joe Philbin in his 1st season as an NFL head coach; he is 5-7 since taking over.

He is 0-1 against New England in his career.

Ryan Tannehill is 0-1 vs. the Patriots.

Miami has lost the last 5 meetings between the teams.

Miami has swept the season series from the Patriots 13 times.  The last time was in 2000.

The Dolphins hold a 33-15 series advantage over the Patriots at home and they have a 15-10 series lead at Sun Life Stadium (formerly known as Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park/Stadium, Dolphins/Dolphin Stadium and Land Shark Stadium) since it opened in 1987.

Miami was 3 for 13 (23%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.

The Dolphins were 1 for 2 (50%) in the red zone.  They had 1 TD and 1 FG.

Miami fumbled the ball four times but only lost one (Tannehill).

Miami is MINUS 10 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 12 INT and 10 fumbles, while the defense has 9 INTs and 3 fumble recoveries. 

Ron Winter was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was 77 and cloudy.

Attendance – 72,114 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens FL. 

Post Game Interviews

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conference via patriots.com

This Week in the AFC East

Buffalo whipped Jacksonville, 34-18

NY Jets edged Arizona, 7-6

AFC East Standings

Patriots                   9-3/5-0

Dolphins                  5-7/1-3

Bills                        5-7/1-3

Jets                        5-7/2-3

Next Week

The Patriots host the Houston Texans next Monday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

photo credit: getty images

This Week

The New England Patriots visit their AFC East rival Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens FL on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Patriots		—-	The Dolphins
Overall	8-3		Overall	5-6
Road record	4-2		Home record	3-2
AFC East	4-0		AFC East	1-2
AFC	7-1		AFC	3-5

Ron Winter is the referee assigned to the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from 5dimes.eu via Yahoo Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 9.  The over/under is 51.5. 

My prediction is Patriots 34, Dolphins, 20. Give the points (Patriots) and take the over. I was 3-8 against the spread and 8 for 11 on calling the over/under in 2012. 

Tickets 

The Dolphins are reporting the game as a sell out.

Tickets to the game can be purchased through Ticketmaster.  You can check the availability here.

Getting To The Game 

If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Miami make sure you check out the links.

Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from weather.com.

Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking and stadium information, parking map and a Sun Life Stadium seating chart.  

Tailgating 

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com.  There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack.  I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good. 

And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages.  With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks.  You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time.  Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver.  Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television

CBS in televising the game regionally and Greg Gumbel will do play by play while Dan Dierdorf will provide the game analysis.  You can look here for your local affiliate.

See if you’re getting the game courtesy of J.P. Kirby at the506.com.

The DirecTV designation is Channel 711.

Here are all the rules on NFL TV broadcasts including explaining the blackout rules, flex scheduling and commercial breaks.

Radio

The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriots QB Scott Zolak will do the game analysis. It all starts with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh with the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.

The Patriots Radio Network call is available on Sirius Channel 92 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.

The Dolphins Radio Network has former Dolphins WR Jimmy Cefalo calling play-by-play and former Dolphins TE Joe Rose and Hall of Famer Bob Griese providing the color with Keith Sims on the sidelines via their flagship stations WINZ and WBGG-FM.

Their call is available on Sirius Channel 113, XM Channel 232 and SiriusXM Internet Channel 816.

Compass Media Network is broadcasting the game nationally with Chris Carrino and Brian Baldinger calling the game.

Patriots All-Access

Patriots All-Access features behind the scenes looks, interviews and breakdowns with head coach Bill Belichick and in depth features on the team.  The program is hosted by Steve Burton of WBZ-TV (Boston) and airs weekly in most New England television markets.

• Boston MA on TV 38 Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Providence RI on WAN Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
• Manchester NH on WMUR Saturday at midnight
• Portland ME on WMTW Sunday at 5 a.m.
• Hartford CT on WCTX Saturday at 5 p.m.
• Springfield MA on WFXQ Saturday at 7 p.m.
• Bangor ME on WVII Sunday at 11 a.m.

You can also watch it anytime on the team website in the media section.

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Last Week

The Patriots made Fireman Ed quit and go home as they destroyed the Jets, 49-19 on the road.  The Dolphins survived the sprinklers and the Seahawks winning on the final play at home 24-21.

History

• This is the 94th meeting between the Patriots and the Dolphins since they started to face each other as AFL foes in 1966 when Miami became a franchise.
• The Dolphins lead the all-time series 50-43. This includes 3 meetings in the playoffs (1982, 1985, 1997) with the Patriots holding a 2-1 post season edge.
• The Patriots swept the season series in 2011 they won in Week 1 in Miami, 38-24 when Tom Brady threw for 517 yards a team record and 5th highest total in NFL history and again Week 16 with a 27-24 win at Gillette.

Patriots Team Notes

Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Patriots Schedule/Results

The Patriots overall franchise record is 422-368-9.  They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX) in seven appearances.  Overall they are are 23-16 in the post season.

They last appeared in the playoffs in 2011 when they beat Denver home in the AFC Divisional Playoff, 45-10 and defeated Baltimore 23-20 in Foxboro in the AFC Championship Game.  They lost Super Bowl XLVI to the New York Giants 21-17. 

The Patriots were 13-3 (2-1 in playoffs) in 2011 and are the defending two-time AFC East Champions as well as the defending AFC Conference Champions.  They have won the division 8 times and the conference 5 times since 2000.

With a win at Miami on Sunday the Patriots will secure their 12th consecutive winning season and their 10th AFC East Championship since 2000 and 3rd in a row.

It would be the franchise’s 15th AFC East title breaking the tie for most division crowns with Miami.

Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 155-64.

New England now has a 5-game winning streak after starting the season 3-3.

Since 2001 the Patriots are 70-16 in games played on Thanksgiving or later.

Since 2001 New England is 41-5 in December games.

New England is 57-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001 in the regular season. 

The Patriots are now a combined 19-0 in the second half of the season since 2010.  Their last loss in the second half was in 2009 in the season finale at Houston.

An AFC East rival has not swept the Patriots in a season series since 2000 when Miami and New York swept them.

The Patriots all-time in Miami are 14-33.

The Patriots have swept the Dolphins 8 times in the series history including 5 times in the Belichick era (2003-04, 07, 10-11).

The Patriots have seven non-offensive touchdowns in 2012. The 2010 Patriots and 1961 Patriots teams own the team record with nine non-offensive touchdowns. The NFL record for most non-offensive touchdowns is 13 by Seattle in 1998.

Date             Game                     Touchdown

9/9/12          at Tennessee           Dont’a Hightower 6-yd. Fumble Return

10/21/12       vs. N.Y. Jets            Devin McCourty 104-yd. Kickoff Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Julian Edelman 68-yd. Punt Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Aqib Talib 59-yd. Int. Return

11/18/12       vs. Indianapolis        Alfonzo Dennard 87-yd. Int. return

11/22/12       at N.Y. Jets             Steve Gregory 32-yd. Fumble Return

11/22/12       at N.Y. Jets             Julian Edelman 22-yd. Fumble Return

The Patriots are 1st in the NFL in points per game with 37.0.  While they allow 22.2 points per game good for 13th in the NFL.

The New England defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 23 times this season while their quarterbacks have been sacked 15 times.

New England is PLUS 24 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 3 INT and 5 fumbles, while the defense has 14 INTs and 18 fumble recoveries. 

The Patriots are 83 for 156 (53.2%) in 3rd down efficiency and 1 for 3 (33.3%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 61 for 136 (44.9%) in 3rd down efficiency and 6 for 14 (42.9%) on 4th down attempts.

New England is 35 of 52 (67.3%) in the red zone while opponents are 19 for 31 (61.3%) in the red zone in 2012.

In goal to go situations New England is 27 for 32 (84.4%) and opponents are 14 for 18 (77.8%).

Since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994 they:

• Have the most Super Bowl wins, 3.
• Have the most regular season wins, 201.
• Have the most wins including playoffs, 220.
• Have the most conference titles, 6.
• Have the most division titles, 11.
• Have the most playoff wins, 19
• Have played the most playoff games, 29.
• Are tied for the most playoff seasons, 13.
• Have the best playoff win percentage, .671.
• Have drafted the most Pro Bowl players, 20.

New England set the following team records in 2011:

• Total yards, 6,848.
• First downs, 399.
• Net passing yards, 5,084.
• 100+ yard receiving games, 18.
• Games with 30+ points, 12 (tied for most in NFL history).

Patriots Staff Notes

This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Dolphins.

Bill Belichick coached teams are 15-11 vs. Miami. Belichick is 15-9 as Patriots head coach and he was 0-2 as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 183-100 in his 18th NFL season.  He is 147-56 with New England and 36-44 with Cleveland.  He is 17-7 in the playoffs, 16-6 as head coach of the Patriots in the post season.  When you combine his regular season and post season records he is 200-107.

Belichick’s 200 wins are good for 8th all-time.  Former Broncos, Giants and Falcons head coach Dan Reeves is 7th with 201 wins.

Belichick is one of five head coaches in NFL history whose father (Steve Belichick) played in the league.  The others are former Kansas City head coach Todd Haley (Dick Haley), former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan (Dick Nolan), former Cincinnati head coach David Shula (Don Shula) and former NY Jets head coach Joe Walton (Frank Walton).

Belichick is one of just four coaches to win three Super Bowls, joining Chuck Noll (4), Joe Gibbs (3) and Bill Walsh (3).  Those men are all in the Hall of Fame.

He is the only coach in NFL history to win three championship titles in four seasons.

He is the only coach in NFL history to have led his team to 10+ wins in 9 consecutive seasons.

Special Teams coach Scott O’Brien was a member of Nick Saban’s staff in Miami in 2005-06.

Patriots Possible Starters

Offense:

LT: Solder

LG: Do. Thomas

C: Wendell

RG: Connolly

RT: Cannon

TE: Hernandez

TE: Fells

WR: Lloyd

WR: Welker

QB: Brady

RB: Ridley

Defense:

DE: Ninkovich

DT: Wilfork

DT: Love

DE: Scott

LB: Mayo

LB: Spikes

LB: Hightower

LCB: Talib

RCB: Arrington

S: McCourty

S: Gregory

Patriots Players Notes

This is Tom Brady’s 13th NFL season he is 14-6 vs. the Dolphins. Of the 6 losses 5 have occurred in Miami.

Overall Brady is 132-38 as a starting QB and is 16-6 in the playoffs for an overall record of 148-44.  Brady is a 7 time Pro Bowl QB; two time NFL MVP and has won 3 Super Bowls while twice being named the games MVP.  He is also listed as the 21^st Greatest Player in the History of the NFL according to the NFL Network.

He was ranked in the preseason by ESPN’s Ron Jaworski as the 3rd best quarterback in the NFL.

Brady has 132 career wins he is 5th all-time.

Brady finished the 2011 season with 5,235 passing yards and joined Drew Brees (5,476 in 2011 and 5,069 in 2008), Dan Marino (5,084 in 1984) and Matthew Stafford (5,038 in 2011) as the only players in NFL history to reach 5,000 passing yards in a single season.

Brady has 324 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time.  Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.

Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 43 consecutive games.

The Patriots are 88-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game.

Brady has 52 games in his career with 300 or more passing yards he is tied for 5th all-time with Kurt Warner.

On the season Brady is 274 of 421 (65.1%) for 3299 yards with 24 TDs and 3 INTs his QB rating is 105.0.

With 16 completions Brady will move into 9th place on the all-time list.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 111 consecutive games including playoffs, 94 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker leads the team with 80 catches for 961 yards.

Welker has the second most receptions (730) all-time among undrafted receivers. Rod Smith is the NFl’s all-time leader with 849.

TE Rob Gronkowski has 37 receiving touchdowns and 38 touchdowns overall (1 rushing) since 2010. The NFL record for most receiving touchdowns in a player’s first three NFL seasons is 43 by Randy Moss and the NFL record for most touchdowns overall by a player in his first three NFL seasons is 47 by Barry Sanders (4 receiving and 43 rushing).

He leads the team with 10 TDs, RB Stevan Ridley is 2nd with 8 TDs.

Ridley leads the team in rushing with 939 yards on 206 carries.  If he gets 61 more rushing yards he will be the 12th Patriot to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and first since BenJarvis Green-Ellis in 2010.

T Marcus Cannon made his first NFL start on Thursday against the Jets.

K Stephen Gostkowski has two field goals of 50 or more yards in 2012.  With one more he will be the first Patriots kicker with three field goals of 50 or more yards in one season.

Gostkowski (7 for 10) needs one more field goal of 50 or more yards to tie Adam Vinatieri (8 for 17) for most in team history.

Rookie DE Chandler Jones and DE Rob Ninkovich lead the team with 6 sacks.

With one more sack Ninkovich will have a new career high for sacks.

Patriots rookie record for sacks is held by Garin Veris who had 10.5 in 1985.

Jones also leads the team with 11 QB hits.

Ninkovich and LB Brandon Spikes lead the team in forced fumbles with 5 each which ties Mike Vrabel’s franchise record.   

Ninkovich leads the team with 4 recovered fumbles.

Mayo leads the team in tackles through 11 weeks with 143 (89 solo).

Rookie S Tavon Wilson leads the team in INTs with 4. He now has more INTs in his rookie NFL season than he did in his college career at Illinois.

McCourty also has team high 11 passes defensed in 2012. CB Kyle Arrington is 2nd with 8 passes defensed.

WR Matthew Slater has a team high 14 special teams tackles.  Rookie S Nate Ebner is 2nd with 13 special teams tackles.

Former Dolphins now with the Patriots are WR Wes Welker, T Donald Thomas, DE Rob Ninkovich, LB Mike Rivera and CB Will Allen (IR).

DT Vince Wilfork  is a native of Boynton Beach FL.

DE Justin Francis is a native of Opa-Locka FL.

There are only two players on the team who played on at least one of the Super Bowl championship teams, Brady (3) and Wilfork (1).

Roster moves this week:

• Signed WR Jeremy Ebert to the practice squad.  Ebert was a 7th round pick of the team that was released after the preseason.
• Promoted RB James Develin to 53-man roster from practice squad.
• NFL suspended DE Jermaine Cunningham on Monday for 4 games for violation of the performance enhanching drug policy.

On Wednesday the team submitted following players for the injury list. G Dan Connolly (back); TE Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip); G Logan Mankins (ankle/calf); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee); T Markus Zusevics (illness) and DE Chander Jones (ankle) did not practice.  DT Ron Brace (back); S Patrick Chung (shoulder); WR Julian Edelman (concussion); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring); WR Brandon Lloyd (knee); DT Kyle Love (knee) G Nick McDonald (shoulder); WR Matthew Slater (concussion); LB Brandon Spikes (knee); LB Tracy White (foot) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) had limited participation.  LB Jerod Mayo (elbow) had full participation in practice.

On Thursday the following players were on the injury list. TE Rob Gronkowski (forearm/hip); G Logan Mankins (ankle/calf); T Markus Zusevics (illness) and DE Chander Jones (ankle) did not practice. DT Ron Brace (back); S Patrick Chung (shoulder); G Dan Connolly (back); WR Julian Edelman (concussion); TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle); LB Dont’a Hightower (hamstring); WR Brandon Lloyd (knee); DT Kyle Love (knee) G Nick McDonald (shoulder); WR Matthew Slater (concussion); LB Brandon Spikes (knee); T Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee); LB Tracy White (foot) and WR Wes Welker (ankle) had limited participation. LB Jerod Mayo (elbow) had full participation in practice

The Patriots captains for 2012 are QB Tom Brady, DT Vince Wilfork, G Logan Mankins, LB Jerod Mayo, CB Devin McCourty and WR Matthew Slater (special teams).

The Patriots have 5 New England natives on the roster they are: TE Aaron Hernandez (Bristol CT); OL Donald Thomas (New Haven CT); DE Ron Brace (Worcester MA); LB Niko Koutouvides (Plainville CT) and OL Jamey Richard (Weston CT – IR).  They have 11 players who played for a New England school or a Big East Conference member.  They are CB Will Allen (Syracuse – IR); DE Ron Brace (Boston College); RB James Develin (Brown); RB Tony Fiametta (Syracuse – Exempt List); DE Justin Francis (Rutgers); S Stephen Gregory (Syracuse); DE Chandler Jones (Syracuse); CB Devin McCourty (Rutgers); OL Donald Thomas (UConn); OL Jeremiah Warren (South Florida – Practice Squad) and NT Vince Wilfork (Miami).

The Patriots have 6 retired numbers: 20 – Gino Cappelletti, 40 – Mike Haynes, 73 – John Hannah, 78 – Bruce Armstrong, 79 – Jim Lee Hunt and 89 – Bob Dee.

Dolphins Team Notes

Here is the Patriots roster, depth chart and injury report for the game.

2012 Dolphins Schedule/Results

Miami's all-time record is 405-306-4 they are 20-20 in the post season with their last post season appearance coming in 2008 when they lost to Baltimore in the AFC Wild Card game, 27-9.

They last played for a conference championship in 1992 when they lost to San Diego in the AFC Title game, 29-10.

They have won two Super Bowl titles (VII, VIII) in five appearances.  They last appeared in a Super Bowl in 1984 losing to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XIX, 38-16.  The Dolphins franchise started in 1966 in the AFL.

This is the 40th anniversary year of the 1972 Dolphins undefeated season in which they finished 17-0 and won Super Bowl VII beating Washington 14-7.

The Dolphins hold a 33-14 series advantage over the Patriots at home and they have a 15-10 series lead at Sun Life Stadium (formerly known as Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park/Stadium, Dolphins/Dolphin Stadium and Land Shark Stadium) since it opened in 1987.

Miami has swept the season series from the Patriots 13 times.  The last time was in 2000.

Dolphins largest margin of victory in the series is 52 points.  Their largest margin of loss is 34 points.

Miami has lost the last 4 meetings between the teams.

Dolphins longest series win streak is 9 games from 1989-93.

Miami has two shut outs in the series, while they have been shut out three times.

The Dolphins are 26th in the NFL in points per game with 19.2.  While they allow 20.5 points per game good for a tie for 9th in the NFL.

The Miami defense has sacked the opponents quarterback 22 times this season while their quarterbacks have been sacked 29 times.

Miami is MINUS 10 in turnover differential. The offense has given up 12 INT and 9 fumbles, while the defense has 8 INTs and 3 fumble recoveries. 

The Dolphins are 52 for 143 (35.4%) in 3rd down efficiency and 3 for 8 (37.5%) on fourth down attempts.  Opponents are 58 for 168 (34.5%) in 3rd down efficiency and 9 for 10 (90%) on 4th down attempts.

Dolphins Staff Notes

Hear what Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin had to say to the New England media about the match up.

Miami head coach Joe Philbin in his 1st season as an NFL head coach; he is 5-6 since taking over.

He has never coached against New England in his career.

Philbin, a Springfield MA native, is a former high school player and coach at Longmeadow (MA) High School.  He also coached at Northeastern and Harvard as the offensive coordinator. 

Prior to coming to Miami he was the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers since 2007.

He is the 10th head coach in Miami franchise history.

Philbin lost his 21-year old son Michael this past January in a tragic water accident in Wisconsin.  He and his wife also have five other children.

Defensive Coordinator Kevin Coyle played DB at UMass from 1975-77.  He coached at College of the Holy Cross from 1982-1990.

Assistant special teams coach Dave Fipp coached at the College of the Holy Cross from 1998-99. 

Offensive assistant Ben Johnson was a coach at Boston College in 2010 and 2011.

Assistant wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan was born in Springfield MA and was a WR at the University of Maine from 1998-2000.

Assistant offensive line coach Chris Mosley coached at Boston College in 2007 and St. Anselm College in 2011.

Wide Receivers coach Ken O’Keefe was born in Milford CT.  He coached at the University of New Haven in 1976-77.

Assistant strength and conditioning coach Dave Puloka was born in Arlington MA and was a linebacker at the College of the Holy Cross from 1997-2000.

Special Teams Coordinator Darren Rizzi was a tight end at the URI from 1988-91 and was a coach for the Rams in 1992. He returned as head coach of URI in 2008. He has also coached at the University of New Haven (1993-97 and was head coach 1999-2001) and Northeastern in 1998.

Offensive Coordinator Mike Sherman was born in Norwood MA and was a college lineman at Central Connecticut State College in 1974-77.  He coached at College of the Holy Cross from 1985-88.

Offensive line coach Jim Turner was born in Boston MA and coached at Northeastern 1994-98 and Harvard 2000-02.

Director of College Scouting Chris Grier is a UMass graduate and former Patriots intern.

Dolphins Possible Starters

Offense:

LT: Long

LG: Incognito

C: Pouncey

RG: Jerry

RT: Martin

TE: Fasano

WR: Bess

WR: Hartline

QB: Tannehill

RB: Bush

RB: Clay

Defense:

DE: Starks

DT: Soliai

DT: Wake

DE: Wilson

LB:  Misi

LB: Dansby

LB: Burnett

LCB: Carroll

RCB: Smith

S: R. Jones

S: Clemons

Dolphins Players Notes

Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill is in his first season in the NFL and he is 5-6.  He was Miami’s first round draft pick in the 2012 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M.

He has never faced New England in his career.

He set the Miami rookie record for passing yards (2,373) last Sunday when he passed Dan Marino (2,210).

Tannehill was the first rookie QB to start a season opener in Dolphins history.

Tannehill is 197 of 334 (59%) for 2373 yards, 7 TDs and 12 INTs for a QB rating of 72.9.

WR/PR Davone Bess (1,196) needs just 36 yards to tie former Dolphin WR Wes Welker (1,232) for 2nd all-time on the Dolphins career punt return yards list.  Former S Jake Scott is the all-time franchise leader with 1,330 yards.

K Dan Carpenter has the 5th most points in franchise history with 508.  He trails Uwe von Schamann (540), Pete Stoyanovich (774), Garo Yepremian (830) and Olindo Mare (1,048).

His field goal percentage of 81% is the highest in team history.

LB Karlos Dansby leads Miami with 83 tackles (62 solo).

WR Brian Hartline has 24 catches in his career for 25 yards or more, 6th most in Dolphins history.

Hartline leads the team with 807 receiving yards on 55 catches.  Bess also has 55 catches for 715 yards.

CB Sean Smith, S Chris Clemons and S Reshad Jones lead the team in INTs with 2 each.

Smith is the team leader with 11 passes defensed.

Jones and Smith lead the Dolphins with 2 forced fumbles each.

LB Jason Trusnik leads Miami with 10 special teams tackles (8 solo).

RB Reggie Bush leads the team with 150 carries for 662 yards.

DE Cameron Wake is 10th in team history in sacks with 37.5. He leads the Dolphins this year with 9.5 sacks.

TE Jason Mastrud was a member of the Patriots practice squad in 2010.  T Will Yeatman was in camp with the Patriots as a TE in 2011 but was waived. 

G Ryan Durand is the only Dolphin player from New England he is from Walpole NH.

The following players were listed on the injury report on Wednesday.  RB Jorvorskie Lane (knee) did not practice.  TE Anthony Fasano (hip) and LB Austin Spitler (ankle) were limited in practice.  WR Davone Bess (wrist); CB Nolan Carroll (neck); LB Karlos Dansby (biceps); QB Pat Devlin (hip); S Reshad Jones (thumb) and RB Daniel Thomas (knee/ankle) had full participation.

The following players were listed on the injury report on Thursday. RB Jorvorskie Lane (knee); TE Anthony Fasano (hip) and LB Austin Spitler (ankle) were limited in practice.  WR Davone Bess (wrist); CB Nolan Carroll (neck); LB Karlos Dansby (biceps); QB Pat Devlin (hip); S Reshad Jones (thumb) and RB Daniel Thomas (knee/ankle) had full participation.

Miami’s captains for 2012 are appointed weekly.

There are 4 players on the Dolphins roster from Big East universities and New England based colleges.  They are LB Jonathan Freeney (Rutgers); G Josh Samuda (UMass); G Ryan Durand (Syracuse) and DT Chas Alecxih (Pittsburgh).

The Dolphins have three retired numbers: 12 – Bob Griese, 13 – Dan Marino and 39 – Larry Csonka.

Next Week

The Patriots host the Houston Texans next Monday at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA.  Kick off is at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.

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