The Dolphins were hoping to make a statement today. Unfortunately for them, the statement they made was that their defense wasn't up to the task of staying with Matt Cassell.
Matt Cassel.
The New England backup quarterback looked every bit as good as Tom Brady has looked in the past in leading New England to a 48-28 victory. Cassel completed 30 of 43 passes for 415 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
When it was over, Cassel was celebrating with his receivers after New England's final TD with 37 seconds to play. For good reason, I guess. Randy Moss had eight catches for 125 yards and three TDs -- two of them caught against Jason Allen, the other against Andre' Goodman.
Wes Welker had eight catches for 120 yards.
The Patriots had 530 total yards. That is the most allowed by the Dolphins this season. The previous high was 485 yards allowed against Houston.
So the Dolphins didn't fight very well on defense although Channing Crowder got ejected for fighting. In fact, Crowder was ejected along with New England offensive tackle Matt Light.
The Miami offense had only modest success keeping the team in the game. Quarterback Chad Pennington completed 24 of 41for 341 yards. He also had three touchdown passes. Pennington did throw an interception that New England converted into a score.
Miami is now 6-5 and sinks to third place in the AFC East, tied with the 6-5 Buffalo Bills. The Jets are 8-3 and New England is 7-4.
meow.....meow.......
Anyone wanna run the pus$$sy cat offense...meow...meow!
Hold off on the Hall OF Fame Jacket for Sporano guys.
Posted by: Dan | November 24, 2008 at 11:22 AM
Our secondary is not THAT bad (in fact they are above average IMHO). They were made to look that bad by a QB playing above his pay-grade (kudos to Cassel) and our true achilles heal, our D-line. Absolutely no pressure the entire game. We know where the draft will focus next year.
Posted by: George | November 24, 2008 at 11:46 AM
*heel
Posted by: George | November 24, 2008 at 11:47 AM
Will you all please stop whining about how the officials helped the Patriots win this game and how the Patriots are so classless? If the Dolphins could trade their last eight years of haplessness for what the Patriots have accomplished, they'd do it a minute. Don't for a second think that Parcells' blueprint is anything other than to copy the Patriots system of drafting, signing and developing players. And please don't cry about the last touchdown. Maybe the defense could have shown some pride and stopped them. And it was appropriate that Porter got them 15 extra yards with his big mouth. I wouldn't have blamed the Patriots for scoring 60 after Porter's stupid pre-game comments. Enjoy the progress over last year, and hope that someday the Dolphins organization and team can look like the Patriots.
Posted by: T | November 24, 2008 at 11:49 AM
It seems as though some of you Miamians have your heads on straight and can see this team for what it really is, a work in progress. The rest of you, (Beerphin, Robert, Eddie etc.) belong in straight jackets like your mentally ill Mr. Porter. Too bad this shitheel is going to drag your team down to his level. You have some good players there, Camarillo and Ginn in particular. But with an a**hole like Porter you'll never win it all, because it's all about Joey Porter, not the team. And FYI, the margin of victory in the September game was Dolphins +25. So please stop all the whining about running up the score and poor officiating. And tell the idiots doing the local broadcast to deal with it and grow a pair. Eddie, you're from New England ? Stay after class for some extra spelling help. Jeez....
Posted by: Bill from Boston | November 24, 2008 at 01:03 PM
Camarillo out for season. Figures.
Right after we sign a contract extension. It seems we are still living under the Shula curse.
Posted by: George | November 24, 2008 at 01:39 PM
I'm proud of the Dolphins today. Asking them to sweep the Patriots was asking a lot. They battled and never rolled over. Bottom line is the Patriots needed the game a lot more than we did. Still, winning 4 out of the last five games will still make the Dolphins a factor. Be proud, suck it up, learn from it, and be back again.
No Patriot fans have the right to slam the 'Phins. They beat your team worse on your own field this year. Took you guys a while to recover too since the 4-7 Chargers slapped you guys around a bit too. next week, you fall back after the Steelers rip you guys a new one!
Posted by: Mark | November 24, 2008 at 02:06 PM
Mark, I don't see any Patriots fans on here slamming the "Phins, but the criticism of the 'Phin fans is sure deserved. Way too much whining about officiating and about those mean Patriots making us cry by playing football until the final whistle. One thing you'll never see from a Patriot player is the type of tough guy quotes you get from Porter even before a game. That alone should tell you a lot about what kind of organization Kraft and Belichik run and what kind of players they have. No wonder they seem to always be in the Super Bowl. It's time for Miami fans to remember (if that's possible) what it was like to be a first-class organization and stop crying about someone else's success.
Posted by: T | November 24, 2008 at 02:31 PM
Only losers blame their own incompetence on others. Losers only see what they want to see. So I guess that makes most Miami fans losers.
You blame the refs for bad calls? Learn football and you would see that the refs made the correct call on the Moss touchdown.
You say the Pats are cheap but you don't want to see that Crowder was the one who attacked Light first and then ran away.
You blame the refs for Porter's penalties. How stupid.
It is okay to hate the Patriots but stop blaming everything and everyone else for being losers.
It is a great time to be a Boston Fan.
Posted by: Patriots Rule | November 24, 2008 at 03:01 PM
I'm a Rays fan myself.
Posted by: George | November 24, 2008 at 03:24 PM
Joey Porter is a loudmouth and frontrunner. He always has been and always will be. He could be good if he just SHUT UP AND PLAYED! As a Steelers fan, I hated him because of his classless blabber.
As for the Patriots running up the score--RELAX. They ran four straight dives up the middle. The Dolphins knew what the Patriots were doing but THEY QUIT and didn't make the tackles.
I think kicking a field goal on 4th down would have been rubbing salt in the wound. If your defense can't stop a simple dive play--the most basic running play in football--they deserve to have the score run up!
Posted by: real deal | November 24, 2008 at 03:39 PM
Patriots win with the same salary cap as the other teams in the AFC. Hate them if you want but respect that overall, as an organization from top to bottom, they are superior to most, including the Fins.
Posted by: | November 24, 2008 at 09:47 PM
We need Belichick to replace Spoarano and then maybe we can have a winner!
Posted by: Fins Love | November 25, 2008 at 03:20 PM
WHY CANT YOU GUYS BE PROUD OF HOW FAR WE HAVE COME. IF YOU BEEN A TRUE FAN FOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, THEN YOU SHOULD BE PRETTY HAPPY. AND ANYBODY WHO COMPARES CHAD PENNINGTON TO JAY FIELDER HAS TO BE A COMPLETE DUMBASS.
Posted by: | November 26, 2008 at 03:07 PM