Well the Patriots started off 2011 on a positive note with a 38-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on the road.  The big story of the game was that reigning NFL MVP Tom Brady threw for a team record 517 yards.

Brady’s performance was the first 500 plus yard game in the NFL since 1996 when Boomer Esiason did it.  He also set a Monday Night Football record for most passing yardage on a MNF game.

It was the fifth highest passing yard total in the history of the NFL and the first time in his career that Brady had thrown for 500-yards in a game his previous high going into last night was 410 yards.

Also Monday night former Miami WR Wes Welker had a pair of TD catches, 8 catches for 160 yards overall and extended his streak of games played with at least one catch to 80 games, 66 of those have come as a Patriot.  The last game Welker played in that he did not catch a pass was on Christmas Eve, 2005 when he was a Dolphin.

Other offensive news from the opening game is that the tight ends played a huge part in Brady’s performance as Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez combined for 13 catches and 2 touchdowns.

The bad news offensively is that C Dan Koppen broke his ankle just prior to half time and he is expected to miss between 6 and 10 weeks.  Look for Dan Connolly to fill in at center as he did last night.

Also the team promoted OL Thomas Welch prior to the game from the practice squad because they needed some depth on the line for the game as Ryan Wendell and Sebastian Vollmer were both out.  If was a prophetic move with Koppen going down and Connolly having to move from the guard rotation to center.  With the promotion of Welch the team released LB Jeff Tarpinian, who had already been declared out of the game, to make room on the 53-man roster.

To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Defensively the team still has some things to work on.  People will look at the yardage they gave up to Miami.  488 total yards allowed on 390 passing and 98 on the ground but you have to look at a few things.

New England was playing with a large lead most of the second half and that leads to soft yardage.  This was especially so on the last three Miami drives that saw them score one “blow out game touchdown” by Reggie Bush, get stopped on 4^th and goal and get picked on the goal line to end to end the game while gaining 211 yards on those three drives.

In at least the final drive by the Dolphins, if not the last two, CB Kyle Arrington, was playing defensive end.

This explains a portion of the 25 first downs allowed, the yardage allowed and Miami’s 4^th down efficiency (4 for 5).

There were things the defense did well.  One was the pass rush they had four sacks plus numerous pressures, hits and 1 INT and they also caused a fumble.  They came up big on two “and goal to go” situations.

First in the third quarter 2^nd year CB Devin McCourty and then rookie CB Ras-I Dowling both broke up passes intended for WR Brandon Marshall in the end zone.  Prior to this with the ball on the two-yard line on first down they stuffed a run attempt.

Then in the fourth quarter after Devon Best came up short at the pylon the Dolphins went for it on 4^th and goal from the one-yard line and Dowling once again came up big defending a corner fade very well.

Another positive was Miami’s 3^rd down conversion percentage of 14.2 % (2 for 14).  That’s a significant improvement over some of the numbers that were put up in that category last season.

One thing they need to do is some better overall pass coverage.  They were beaten a few times on plays that should have been covered better. Overall though you can’t complain about the win, on the road, in Miami, on Monday night.

Last Friday the Patriots worked out several players among them were former Patriots OL Quinn Ojinnaka along with DE Everett Brown, OL Pat McQuistan, DE Carl Ihenacho, DE Jeremy Jarmon and former UConn OL Donald Thomas.

Ojinnaka appeared in 8 games with New England in 2010, mostly played in field goal protection package.  Thomas and McQuistan are former Dolphins and like Belichick is known to do he worked out an opponents former players.  Anything for an edge.

Then last Saturday they worked out seven more players they were TE Daniel Hardy, CB LeQuan Lewis, DB Prince Miller, TE Shawn Nelson, S Mana Silva, DB Josh Victorian and DB Jamar Wall.

Nelson is the most accomplished of the group he has 20 catches and 1 TD for Buffalo where he played 12 games in 2009.

The Patriots are one of only a few teams whose captains do not wear the “C” on their jerseys.

It seems former New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini has some regrets about how the video taping controversy was handled.

Head coach Bill Belichick met with the media via conference call for his day after post mortem on the win.

Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien met with the media on Tuesday via conference call as well.  He spoke extremely well of Connolly and the job he did filling in for Koppen.

Seems Albert Haynesworth loves powerboats and that was how he met his best friend in 2005 while in Rhode Island.

Talking about life in the NFL with the Gronkowski Brothers.

Rookie Nate Solder started in his first NFL game and did a very good job on Miami pass rusher Cameron Wake.

Aaron Hernandez made it rain after his touchdown catch.

Brady is nominated for FedEx Air Player of the Week you can vote for him through noon on Friday.

Tarpinian cleared waivers earlier Tuesday and was re-signed by the Patriots to the practice squad in the afternoon.

Welch who, as we wrote in the beginning of this post, was promoted Monday night to the 53-man roster was released on Tuesday afternoon.  This leaves a roster spot open on the regular roster look for the team to sign another offensive lineman, one with center/guard experience, to fill in during Koppen’s absence.

Speaking of releases, the poor sap that got stiff-armed by Wes Welker on the 99-yard TD pass, Benny Sapp got pushed to the unemployment line today by Miami.  Despite being out run by Welker who, according to Tom E. Curran of Comcast Sports Net, “looked like Secretariat”, Sapp did make a nice play tipping Brady’s pass that led to the Miami interception in the 3^rd quarter.

Patriots-Dolphins earned a 10.6 rating last night nationally making it the fourth most watched cable television show in 2011.

New England plays the San Diego Chargers Sunday at 4:15 p.m. in the 2011 Home Opener.  Look for the Sox & Dawgs “In The Red Zone Game Preview” available on Friday morning.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

In a fast paced game at Sun Life stadium in Miami Gardens, FL the New England Patriots beat their AFC East rival Miami Dolphins 38-24 to open the 2011 season which they dedicated to Myra Kraft, the late wife of their owner.

Both teams started quick on offense by scoring on their first possession.  Miami got on the board first when QB Chad Henne capped a 12 play, 84-yard drive with a 9 yard run for 7-0 Dolphins lead.

The Patriots responded just as quickly to Miami’s game opening scoring drive.  New England set up their score with a 46-yard bomb by Tom Brady to WR Matthew Slater out of a three tight end set.  RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis then scored from 4 yards out capping a 6 play, 78-yard drive for the Pats to tie the game 7-7.

Early in the second quarter New England broke the tie when TE Rob Gronkowski hauled in a 10-yard pass from Brady and New England was up 14-7 they took that lead to the locker room at the half.

Miami got even once again when the Dolphin defense finally came up with a big play and intercepted Brady on a tipped screen pass and the ball was returned inside the 10 yard line.  Two plays later Henne hit WR Brian Hartline for a 10 yard TD pass.

Brady started to really pick apart the Dolphins secondary in the second half as they had a tough time keeping up due to inures and conditioning.  After methodically moving down field Brady found former Fish WR Wes Welker for a two-yard TD pass and a 21-14 lead.

Late in the third quarter after New England went up 21-14 the Patriots defense stopped Miami on 3 tries from the two-yard line.  They stuffed a run, a then twice stopped passes to Brandon Marshall, one broken up by Devin McCourty the other by rookie Ras-I Dowling that forced the Fish to get three on a Dan Carpenter 27-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-17.

On the ensuing drive the Brady and Patriots tight ends carved up that Miami secondary again and increased the lead to 28-17 when Brady found Aaron Hernandez in the back of the end zone for a leaping 1-yard TD catch over a mismatched defense.

Once again after the tight ends for the Pats abused the Dolphins defense the Patriots ended up settled for a Gostkowski field goal to give them a 31-17 lead.

After converting on a 4^th a ten from the Pats 25 Miami had 1^st and goal at the 10 again.  After a short pass to Reggie Bush and an over thrown into the end zone, the Patriots brought a blitz on Henne who was able to find WR Devon Best, who stretched to get the ball to 1-yard line.  Originally after being declared a TD the officials overturned the play on review.  So on 4^th and goal from the one Henne tried to throw to Hartline but the play was defensed well by rookie CB Dowling again in a big goal line play.

The on the very next play Brady broke the Dolphins completely with a 99-yard TD pass to Wes Welker.  The play was on a shotgun with no backfield protection and Miami bringing a blitz. Game over.

Miami was able to get a soft end of a blow out game TD, which saw the Patriots playing CB Kyle Arrington as a defensive end.  Bush was able to take a Henne pass and dive for the pylon to cut the lead to 38-24, Patriots.

Overall it was a good effort especially offensively.  This team will only get better as the season progresses and once again it’s going to be a fun autumn and winter watching New England Patriots football.

Patriots at Dolphins Game Recap via ESPN includes stats, scoring plays, play by play and photos.

To continue reading, hit the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

The goal line stop by the Patriots defense in the 3^rd quarter when they stopped the Dolphins 3 times from the 2-yard line and forced a field goal.

Offensive Player(s) of the Game

This was difficult.  Patriots QB Tom Brady 32 of 48 for 517 yards and 4 TD’s with 1 INT.  He set a Patriots team record for passing yards and it was the 5^th most passing yards ever in a game in NFL history.

Defensive Player(s) of the Game

Patriots Rookie CB Ras-I Dowling, who after missing a lot of camp with a leg injury came up big in his NFL debut making a play on not one but two separate goal to go series for the Dolphins.  He also had 2 solo tackles.

Game Notes

Starters for the Patriots were:

On Offense:

LT Light

LG Mankins

C Koppen

RG Waters

RT Solders

TE R Gronkowski

TE Hernandez

WR Branch

WR Welker

QB Brady

RB Woodhead

On Defense:

DE Ellis

DT Wilfork

DT Wright

DE Carter

WLB Mayo

MLB Guyton

SLB Ninkovich

CB McCourty

CB Dowling

S Chung

S Barrett

Inactives for the Game:

Patriots

1. LB Brandon Spikes

2. RB Shane Vereen

3. QB Ryan Mallett

4. RT Sebastian Vollmer (back)

5. WR Taylor Price (hamstring)

6. OL Ryan Wendell (calf)

7. DE Jermaine Cunningham (groin)

Dolphins

1. WR Marlon Moore

2. FB Charles Clay (hamstring)

3. RB Daniel Thomas (hamstring)

4. LB Ikaiha Alama-Francis

5. OL Ryan Cook

6. TE Will Yeatman

7. DE Ryan Baker

The spread (Patriots minus 7) was covered, as was the over/under (45.5).  I am now 8-5-2 vs. the spread and 11 of 15 calling the under/over.

The Patriots wore their white road jerseys, while the Dolphins wore their aqua home jerseys.

The Patriots had their NFL record of seven consecutive regular season games with 30 plus points scored and no turnovers end tonight.  The previous record was 3 games.

This was the 7^th time these teams met in the season opener and the Patriots now have a 4-3 edge in games.

The Patriots have won 8 straight season openers.  Their last season opening loss was in 2003 in Buffalo, 31-0.  They are now 28-24 in season openers overall.

New England is 49-14 against their AFC East Rivals since 2001.

The Patriots have won 13 of the last 18 games between the teams.

This was the Patriots 42nd appearance on MNF, they are 20-22 overall on Monday night and 11-14 as the road team.

New England is 3-2 when opening the season on MNF.

New England is 13-5 on MNF under Belichick.

This is the 11th time the Dolphins and Patriots have matched up on MNF and the 10th time the game is from Miami.  The Patriots lead the MNF series 6-5; the Patriots have won 6 of the last 7 MNF contests.

The New England tight ends had 13 catches for 189 yards and 2 TD’s.

C Dan Koppen was carted off the field before end of the first half appears to be a left leg injury possibly his ankle. He was seen on crutches after the half and was replaced at center by Dan Connolly.

K Stephen Gostkowski missed a rare field goal attempt from 48 yards prior to the end of the first half.

OL Thomas Welch was promoted from the practice squad prior to the game to give the team depth at offensive line.  LB Jeff Tarpinian was released to make room for Welch on the 53-man roster.

Rookie RT Nate Solder did a wonderful job blocking DL Cameron Wake.

People were worried about WR Deion Branch having zero preseason catches well he showed up tonight with a couple beauties.

Miami TE Anthony Fasano was hurt in the third quarter when after making a catch he was blown up by S Patrick Chung.

Miami DB Vontae Davis left the game with cramping in the 3^rd quarter.

Dolphins WR Brandon Marshall cramped up and collapsed on the field in the final seconds of the game.

The Dolphins lead the overall series vs. the Patriots 50-42.

Bill Belichick now has 178 wins – 10th all-time.  Bill Parcells is 9^th with 183 wins.

Belichick is now 14-11 overall against the Dolphins in his career.

Tom Brady is now 13-6 vs. Miami.

Brady is 11-4 in MNF games.

Brady is 50-22 on the road in his career in the regular season.

Brady’s 4 TD passes give him 265 in his career breaking the tie for 10th all-time with Dave Krieg.

Brady had gone 11 plus starts without an INT (358 attempts) before he was picked in the third quarter on a tipped pass.  His last one was an end of regulation Hail Mary against the Ravens last season.

The INT of Brady led to the Dolphins tying the game at 14-14 early in the 3^rd quarter.

The 358 consecutive attempts without an INT is the NFL record.

Brady set a Patriots team record and a MNF record with 517 yards passing.

WR Wes Welker now has catches in 80 consecutive games, 66 as a Patriot.  The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.

Welker’s 99-yard TD catch and run tied a NFL record for longest play from scrimmage.

Peter Morelli was the game referee.  The temp at kickoff was in the 80’s, cloudy and humid with a heat index in the low 90’s.

Post Game Interviews

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

This Week in the AFC East

Buffalo beat Kansas City, 41-7

NY Jets edged Dallas, 27-24

AFC East Standings

Patriots                   1-0/0-0
Jets                        1-0/0-0
Dolphins                  0-1/0-0
Bills                        1-0/0-0

Next Game

The Patriots host the San Diego Chargers at Gillette Stadium on Sunday in the 2011 Home Opener.  Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on CBS.

Follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem

Photo credit: Getty Images