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 4th a ten from the Pats 25 Miami had 1st 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 4th 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.
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Turning Point(s) of the Game
The goal line stop by the Patriots defense in the 3rd 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 5th 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 7th 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 3rd 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 9th 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 3rd 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.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
