Week 3-Dolphins Dominate, Ending Patriots Streak

In 2006 the patriots lost to the Miami Dolphins 21-0. That would be the Patriots last regular season loss for the next 21 games. Yesterday, the Dolphin yet again managed to handle the Patriots. The Fins only won one game between the victories they had over us. And honestly, the earned the victory the got yesterday.

The Patriots looked terrible, completely helpless against the Dolphins surprisingly complex offensive schemes. Many of their offensive plays had college-football designs. Where they would line up there running back, Ronnie Brown,(Who is one of the few stars the Dolphins actually have on their team) as a quarterback, and he could either hand off to yet another running back, take it out himself, or pass it even. And the Patriots...just couldn't stop it. They looked helpless and weak on almost every down. The defense made few plays, and the offense barely existed.

Cassel threw 19 complete passes of out 31, and scored a touchdown. He also threw one interception to a defensive linemen, and fumbled the ball late in the game. He didn't look quite as ready and prepared this week as he did last week against the Jets. Several of his passes were underthrown and a few were dropped. Which isn't his fault, but it just goes to show how badly the Patriots played. The running game was not a factor on the Patriots side, especially because Maroney was out with an injury, and Lamont Jordan was playing on a sore foot.

The defense was the worst factor all game. The Dolphins, who had one of the worst offenses this season so far, threw and ran all over the Patriots. Dolphin quarterback, Chad Pennington, only threw 3 incompletions out of his 20 passes. And Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams ran freely for 4 touchdowns. Ronnie Brown also threw one into the endzone for a late score.

The only promising thing the Pats showed all day, was there special team kick returns. Elis Hobbs set a record for most kick return yards for the day with over 200. That's a sad record however, due to the fact that it shows how often the Pats had to be kicked off to...

All in all, the Patriots and Dolphins looked like they traded rosters for this game, and The Dolphins earned the win for playing hard and sticking it to a rival team. However, they are only 1-2 and Pats remain above them at 2-1. Both teams now have a bye week and plan to rest up, and hopefully improve their game plans for the rest of the season.

I hope this loss is a wake up call to a Patriots team that needs to rally and overcome a humiliating loss. They have the ability to continue to be a great team. Belichick will not let this kind of play continue, and the Patriots are well known for not allowing consecutive losses in their team history.

In two weeks the Patriots go to San Francisco to play the 49ers in a game that should be a relatively easy win. Granted we play like the previous weeks, against the Chiefs and Jets. Improving to 3-1 would be a confidence booster to the Patriots who still seem to be ailing from the loss of Tom Brady.