The Result

The New England Patriots had a bad taste in their mouth.  It was as if someone had made them eat one of those science experiments you find in your fridge every once in a while and they didn’t like it one bit.  They decided it was time to do something about it and they marched into Miami where as a franchise they’ve been horrible just 11 wins in 43 games and they played a very good game, and patiently pulled away from the Miami Dolphins with a 48-28 win at Dolphin Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

I don’t think it was all the fact that they got manhandled in Week 3 by the Fish but that Joey Porter had the game of his life and added insult to injury and then he continued to talk to who ever would listen and it didn’t stop until ESPN aired a piece he did with Keyshawn Johnson this morning about how he feels cheated because when he was in Pittsburgh those Steelers teams should have kicked the Patriots asses.  Joey the problem ws is the the Steelers, like you, love to run your mouth and it eventually catches up to you.  and it today it caught up to Joey big time as he was a none factor and then in frustration ended up with an unsportsman like penalty on the final New England drive that gave the Patriots first and goal and allowed them to add the final TD on the day.

What Bill Parcells and Company have done in such a short time in Miami is great to see, but with this loss it looks like the AFC East is becoming a two horse race between the New York Jets and the Patriots.  And if Matt Cassel has anything to say about how the division ends up it could be an exciting finish as the lifelong back up became the first quarterback in Patriots history to have back-to-back 400 yard passing games.  Now sit back and digest this for a second.  Tom Brady, Jim Plunkett, Drew Bledsoe, Steve Grogan and all the others have never done that.  But don’t think for one second that Cassel is supplanting Brady or that he will even be in a Patriots uniform next season.  Brady is a Hall of Famer and only 32 years old coming off an ACL injury that is so common these days its not funny.  Cassel though will be somewhere next season playing QB in the NFL as a starter.  We just know it won’t be in New England.

With the win the Patriots are now 7-4 and still one game behind New York who beat Tennessee.  Miami drops to 6-5 and their playoff hopes just got slimmer.

Scoring Plays

1^st Quarter

• NE – Gostkowski 30 yard FG
• MIA – Pennington 3 yard pass to Camarillo – Carpenter PAT

2^nd Quarter

• NE – Cassel 8 yard run – Gostkowski PAT
• MIA – Pennington 7 yard run – Carpenter PAT
• NE – Cassel 25 yard pass to Moss – Gostkowski PAT

3^rd Quarter

• MIA – Pennington 2 yard pass to Cramer – Carpenter PAT
• NE – Cassel 8 yard pass to Moss – Gostkowski PAT
• NE – Faulk 21yard run – Gostkowski PAT

4^th Quarter

• MIA – Pennington 13 yard pass to Williams – Carpenter PAT
• NE – Cassel 29 yard pass to Moss – Gostkowski PAT
• NE – Gostkowski 31 yard FG
• NE – Green-Ellis 1 yard run – Gostkowski PAT

Offensive Player of the Game

New England QB Matt Cassel was 30 of 43 for 415 yards, 3 TD passes, ran for 1 TD and had 1 INT.

Defensive Player of the Game

New England Safety Brandon Meriweather had 6 tackles (4 solo) and 1 INT he returned 19 yards.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

In the third quarter with Miami driving, a penalty set them back to 3rd and 20 at the NE 47 and Seymour sacked Chad Pennington forcing a Miami punt in a 3 point game.  On the ensuing drive on 2nd and 8 at the NE 15 Cassel threw to Wes Welker in the slot who took the ball for 64 yards to the MIA 21.  After and incomplete pass to Moss on 1st down, Kevin Faulk ran up the middle 21 yards for a TD that was the back breaker.  From then on it was a different game.

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Cue the music…and no not that hokey Dolphins Fight Song either.  Welcome to the Patriots and Dolphins live blog.

We use the Cover it Live software which helps us blog the event in real time with you.  We don’t mind lurkers, really we don’t but we’d rather have you involved and commenting and maybe adding some insight.  It’s easy to get involved too.  When the BLOG GOES LIVE, pick a screename, enter in the box you will see near the bottom the commentary box and then send us your comments.

This is our third Patriots game day blog and we’ve gotten more people each week so jump in.  If you choose to lurk that’s cool too but at least vote in the poll questions!

This is a big game for the Patriots who along with the Dolphins are 6-4 but the Patriots have 2 division losses and can’t afford a third.

Despite this terrific catch by Randy Moss with just 00:01 left on the game clock the New England Patriots managed to lose the Week 11 AFC East matchup with the New York Jets in OT.  And now over a week later it turns out that the Jets win may not be without controversy.   That makes this weeks matchup in Miami all the much more important because at 4-4 in the conference and 2-2 in the division this is as close to a must win game as there is in Week 12.  Right now if the season ended the Patriots would be going home.

Stat of the Week in the Patriots favor:  They are 16-1 after a loss since 2003.

Stat of the Week not in the Patriots favor: They are 11-32 all-time in Miami and it includes losing streaks of 16 (1970-85), 6 (1989-94) and 5 games (1998-2002).

Al Riveron is today’s referee. He is in his first season as a NFL ref and hasn’t been without controversy. You may recall Riveron was the ref who made the horrible intentional grounding penalty for a safety on Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers a week or so ago in Minnesota.

If you missed it you can get all the info you need on the Patriots-Dolphins game by checking out the Official Sox & Dawgs Patriots-Dolphins Week 12 preview.  It has the rosters, injury report, the game line, some tailgating information for recipes and drink’s and the broadcast information for the game.

So as we wait for the live blog to begin just before game time it’s time to hit you with some tidbits from the week. 

The Patriots made a roster move Saturday afternoon placing LB Eric Alexander on the IR. And also on Saturday the team announced that RB LaMont Jordan and CB Mike Richardson were downgraded and are out for Sunday’s game as is LB Adalius Thomas who was listed as out on the Friday injury report.

Speaking of roster moves just about every NFL player has a story on how they made their first roster or survived a cut somewhere in their NFL career.  Patriots special teams captain Larry Izzo is no different, The Herald’s “Joker” has Izzo’s story about making the Dolphins as an undrafted rookie.

Everyone seemed to write this week about how Matt Cassel who never played at USC is now playing in the NFL while his much heralded former Trojan teammates, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, are either injured or riding the pine.  So you can take your pick from the AP’s Howard Uhlman’s piece, the story from the Globe’s Chris Gasper or the blog post from WEEI’s Mike Petraglia.

Uhlman also tells us Wes Welker and Sammy Morris were pulling for their Red Raiders on Saturday but unfortunely for them at Texas Tech they ran into a steamroller known as the Oklahoma Sooners.

ESPN’s Tim Graham wonders which team has more pressure on it today.

The Herald’s Karen Guregian has Vince Wilfork saying the defense is ready for whatever Miami decides to run.

Eric McHugh of the Patriot-Ledger in Quincy MA has his own Patriots-Dolphins preview and he has a look at how the Wildcat has worked for the Dolphins in each game that they used it.

The Globe’s Mike Reiss has a few minutes with…Patriots TE David Thomas.

CBS’s Dan Dierdorf who will call the game with Greg Gumbel on CBS today has some analysis on the game.

The Patriots Ladies will be having a coat drive on November 28th at Patriot Place.

The New England Patriots have placed injured LB Eric Alexander on the season ending Injured Reserve.  Alexander played in only one game this season Week 1 against Kansas City before becoming inactive with a hamstring injury.

With Alexander moving to the IR the Patriots have activated rookie LB Vince Redd from the practice squad and placed him on the 53-man roster.

There is still no sign of Junior Seau but if these guys keep dropping it’s just a matter of time.

Pro Football Talk has a post today that may possibly cause a bigger shit storm than SpyGate and once again it’s the New York Jets on video from a New England Patriots game.

In the video which was pulled from YouTube on a copyright claim but is still partially available on Deadspin shows apparently a league official, who Mike Florio says looks like Red Auerbach, congratulating Jets GM Michael Tannenbaum saying “Michael, I told ya”.

PTF goes on to say “on the surface, none of this looks all that bad.  But as we understand it, it’s highly unusual for league officials to celebrate non-Super Bowl wins with the victorious team.  And some league insiders believe that the longer version of the video promptly exited YouTube specifically because of the presence of (NFL V.P. of Football Operations Ray) Anderson and ‘Auerbach’.”

This Week

The New England Patriots visit the Miami Dolphins at Dolphins Stadium in Miami FL on Sunday at 1 p .m.

The Patriots are 2-2 on the road, 2-2 in the division and 4-4 against the AFC. The Dolphins are 4-2 at home, 2-1 in the division and 5-3 against the AFC.  The teams are tied for 2nd in the AFC East.

The Dolphins beat the Patriots 35-14 in week 3 at Gillette Stadium.

Here are the rosters for the Patriots and Dolphins.

Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.

The Line/Prediction

As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots +1. The over/under is 42.

My prediction is Patriots 27, Dolphins, 20. Take the points (Patriots) and take the over. I am 4-5-1 against the spread and 5 of 10 on calling the over/under in 2008.

Tickets

Tickets to the game, if available, may 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 the Miami make sure you check out the links.

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

Click for stadium directions, parking and stadium information, parking map and a Dolphins Stadium seating chart. 

Tailgating

Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. 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 for good measure here is one of my own.

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 by theme.

Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’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 is televising the game regionally and Greg Gumbel will do the play-by-play while Dan Dierdorf will handle the game analysis. You can see if you are getting the game and look for your local CBS Station.

Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket has the game on Channel 706.

For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.

Patriots All-Access airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time. Make sure you check out the Patriots Football Network for information on when you can see Patriots All-Access in your market.

Radio

The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.

It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 10 a.m. along the network.

The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.

If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.

All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Channel 157, the Dolphins Radio Network has a trio of former Dolphins calling the game including former WR Jimmy Cefalo doing play-by-play and fomer Dolphin TE’s Jim Mandich and Joe Rose with analysis. Their call is available on Channel 121.

Since the satellite merger XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games and in most cases has just the radio call of the home team.  This game can be heard on XM Channel 108.

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Not all the New England Patriots cheerleaders are as infamous as Caitlin Davis and each and every year the team scours the planet or least most of New England looking for the new crop for the following football season.

So if you think you have what it takes to be a Patriots cheerleader here is the basic information for you.

On Saturday February 21st there will be an optional audition workshop, the following Saturday, February 28th will be the preliminary auditions and the finals will be held on March 7, 2009.

Candidates must be 18 years old by February 21, 2009 in order to be eligible for the 2009 Squad.  Here is the 2008 audition information including what to bring with you.

Hard to believe it’s been five days since the Patriots played on Thursday night losing in overtime to the New York Jets, 34-31.  The game wasn’t without excitement though as Matt Cassel led the Patriots back from deficits of 24-6 and 31-24 to end up tied with just 0:01 left on the game clock when Randy Moss made of most fantastic catches I’ve ever seen occur on a football field.  The only one’s I can think of off the top of my head are David Tyree in last years Super Bowl, Lynn Swann in the Super Bowl and Marvin Harrison’s one hander in Foxboro a few years back.  In his second season here Moss has had some great one’s and hey there maybe even be one from last year that was better but none of them had the pressure of that catch and that’s what makes it his best in a New England uniform.

In case you want to see some highlights of the game from the Jets game here is the video package from Patriots.com

The bug guy, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, made an appearance on Patriots Friday last week after the overtime loss.

Is Tim Graham of ESPN.com writing his columns while he is high?  No Seriously. 

“The Joker” says Matt Cassel has shed all doubt and has arrived and that LB Jerod Mayo is putting up some big numbers.  Sit down folks, the rookie from Tennessee led the league in tackles heading into Sunday’s games.

Mike Reiss of the Globe tells us the players were given the weekend off after two games in five days.

The Globe’s Christopher Gasper says the special teams let the team down.

The ProJo’s Mike McDermott says it looks like Thursday night’s performance earned Matt Cassel a boat load of money from some team next season and beyond.

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The New England Patriots have placed rookie CB Terrence Wheatley on the season ending injured reserve with a wrist injury he suffered against Indianapolis.  It was reported last week that Wheatley had surgery on torn ligaments in the wrist. 

TE Tyson DeVree was activated from the practice squad to take Wheatley’s roster spot and the team signed rookie LB Darrell Robertson to the practice squad.

DeVree was signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent and had been a member of the Patriots’ practice squad since September 17.   He finished his college career at the University of Colorado (2006-07) after transferring from Western Michigan (2003-04) following his sophomore year.

Robertson was originally signed by the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie free agent following the 2008 NFL Draft and was released by the Cowboys on August 30th.  Shortly thereafter he was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League and saw playing time in two games.

Personally I hate these Thursday night games.  Why not just do Saturday night games instead it makes it much easier on the teams than having to deal with the ultra shortened week and then a long layoff that’s almost like having a second bye week.

Don’t forget to check out the official Sox & Dawgs Jets-Patriots Preview for the team rosters, broadcast information, odds, news and both teams plus stuff you need it you’re going to the Razor for the game.

First things first.  Tonight is Troy Brown Night at the Razor and the former Patriots wide receiver will be honored at halftime.  Brown spent his entire 15 year career with New England and was the ultimate Patriot.  Bob Kraft loves him, Bill Belichick loves him, his teammates loved him and the fans love him.  There just isn’t much more you can say about Brown that hasn’t already been said.

This is too funny and comes from Sox & Dawgs friend Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch.  Seems a Jet player wanted to comment on the Patriots to Mark Cannizarro of the New York Post but didn’t want his attached to it to avoid the bulletin board material.

To quote Bruce: “Um, just because you’re anonymous doesn’t mean your comments aren’t bulletin board material, genius.”  No one ever said all football players are smart.

Rain is in the forecast for the game and Patriots QB Matt Cassel doesn’t seem to care.

Was it me or was Shira Springer’s Globe article on Tom Brady’s recovery a little behind the times?  It’s like it got caught up int he blogosphere from 3 weeks ago and decided to land the other the day.  There was nothing in it we don’t already know and it proved that medical people without prior knowledge of the specific case no jack shit about the injury.  Maybe Shira Springer, Medicine Woman should stick to something besides medical reporting.

Reiss’ Pieces has the “Bits from Belichick” in preparation for the tonigh’s showdown with the Jets.  Reiss also has the updates on Adalius Thomas and Laurence Maroney.

If Thomas is placed on the IR is Junior Seau coming back to Foxboro far behind?  What about Rosevelt Colvin?  In fact Rosey checked in with Dale and Holley Tuesday on WEEI.

This morning Christopher Gasper of the Globe has this post surgery update on Thomas.

“The Plagiariser” says Ty Law’s signing with the Jets is just another shot in the fued between the two teams.

So is this the week Sammy Morris comes back?  It still doesn’t look good for LaMont Jordan either.

The new Hall at Patriot Place is a hit.