New England Patriots overpower Miami Dolphins Part Two
Though the first quarter was favourable for the Dolphins and saw no points scored by the New England Patriots, in the next three quarters the Patriots would come back harder than ever. The real action began in the third and fourth quarters but by the second
the Dolphins were already becoming aware that the Patriots had their own plans for the game.
At the end of the first quarter the Dolphins stood at a 7 point lead after a 9th minute touchdown. The Patriots had taken possession through an interception in the final minutes of the drive and continued from Miami’s 49 yard line in the second
quarter.
Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady started the second quarter with a 10 yard short left pass to tight end Aaron Hernandez. The drive slowed down but continued to move forward. In following 8 plays the Patriots move 30 yards to the 9 yard line and were trying
to make their move for the endzone. On the 9 Yard line Brady was sacked for 6 yards by linebacker Cameron Wake.
Wake was lightening fast and jumped Brady from the right without meeting any resistance along the way. Brady had no chance of throwing a pass before the sack. Brady took 10 more yards after the sack to get to within 5 yards of the endzone before Stephen
Gostkowski was brought on to make the field goal attempt. The attempt was good and the first of many points for the Patriots were put up on the board.
After the field goal, Gostkowski’s 70 yards kick was returned for 21 yard by Miami’s defensive back Nolan Carroll. The Patriots were very stingy about giving up yards. In the first 5 plays the Dolphins covered just 18 yards and called their second timeout.
When play resumed the Patriots gave up 16 yards in a penalty while Henne passed 7 more yards. The Dolphins lost 6 yards in a penalty of their own too. In the following play Ricky Williams dashed 16 yards right through the middle of the Patriots’ defence. At
the 30 yard line cornerback Kyle Arrington was the only one of the New England Patriots who got his hands on Ricky enough to cause him to tumble. If Ricky had just made it past Arrington he would have had a clear path for touchdown.
Ricky’s 16 yard effort, which took the Dolphins to the 27 yard line ended up being in vain as Henne threw an interception in the very next play. Henne was aiming for Patrick Cobbs but once again New England’s Rob Ninkovich would get in the way. Cobbs was
running to the right of the field but Ninkovich cut in front of Cobbs at the exact moment Henne released the ball. Ninkovich dived for the ball and made the interception for no gain.
Less than 3 minutes remained after the interception. Brady continued calmly and cautiously up the field averaging 5 yards per play for the first six play to get from the 25 yard line to the Dolphins’ 45 yard line. But it cost almost two full minutes to make
those 6 plays for 30 yards. Exactly 59 seconds remained on the 45 yard line. Brady pulled it up a notch and threw a 10 yard pass at wide receiver Brandon Tate. After missing the next pass Brady was able to complete a 12 yard pass at Tate again.
The Dolphins called a time out to think through the final 26 seconds of play remaining in the quarter. With an 11 yard pass to Wes Welker the Patriots moved up to the 12 yard line with exactly 12 seconds of play remaining too. In the next plays Brady couldn’t
complete a pass and then was sacked for 0 yards loss. Still on the 12 yards line, both teams called timeouts with just three seconds remaining.
In the final seconds the Patriots got into field goal formation and brought Stephen Gostkowksi on to make the field goal attempt. The attempt is good. The quarter ended with the Patriots narrowing the lead to just one point to stand at 6 against the Dolphins
7.
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