New England Patriots: Tom Brady, Pats Send Message with Blowout in Miami
Last year, the Patriots had a chance to lock up home field advantage in the season finale in Miami against the Dolphins and failed to deliver.
There was no such slip up this time around.
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With a dominating performance by their future Hall of Fame quarterback, the New England Patriots delivered a loud message to the sixth seeded Dolphins and the rest of the AFC playoff field:
This Patriots team is going to be a difficult out.
Tom Brady finished the day 25-32 for 276 yards and three touchdowns as the Patriots locked up the number one seed in the AFC and assured themselves home field throughout the playoffs. They’ll have a week off and await their next opponent as the Wild Card round takes place next weekend.
New England’s win look similar to their earlier win over the Dolphins in Week 2, as the Pats raced out to a 20-0 lead on Brady touchdowns to tight end Martellus Bennett and wide receiver Michael Floyd before Miami came back with two touchdowns of their own to make it 20-14.
Just as it looked like Miami would come back again, the Brady and receiver Julian Edelman delivered the crushing blow.
Facing a 3rd and 7 from their own 23 yard line, Brady hit Edelman on a quick hitch pattern for a first down. As he raced up the field, Edelman got a bone-crushing block from Floyd near the 45 yard line of New England to clear the path and the Patriots never looked back from there. A LeGarrette Blount one yard touchdown and two point conversion finished the scoring as the Patriots bookend their season with a 35-14 win.
New England, who finishes the season at 14-2 for the first time since 2010, had struggled in Miami in recent seasons, having not won there since 2012. But as they did in Denver two weeks ago, they made sure another one of their houses of horror would not derail another Super Bowl run.
And they did so in dominating fashion.
FIVE OBSERVATIONS
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WHAT’S NEXT:
A bye. New England has next weekend off as they prepare to face off against either the Dolphins, Raiders, Chiefs, or Texans depending on how the seeding plays out in the afternoon games.
