Who could’ve seen this coming? Sure, the New England Patriots were without their star quarterback Tom Brady. But the Patsies had won 21 straight regular season games, and hadn’t lost in Foxboro since 2006. The nearly perfect Patriots of a year ago, hosting the nearly winless, in 07, Dolphins. The Patriots looked good last week in defeating Brett “Fahvrah” and the Jets while Miami was humiliated out in the desert by the usually so-so Cardinals. I didn’t even try to see this game (we are after all moving so I’m kinda busy). I wish I had seen this one.
Fans booed the Patriots. Many left early. The record winning streak of their favorite team was ending with a stunning domination by the lowly Dolphins. Ronnie Brown scored a team-record four touchdowns rushing and threw for another — with four of the scores coming on direct snaps to the running back — as Miami shocked New England 38-13 Sunday. It was the first victory for new coach Tony Sparano, and it was a stunner. ”That was fun. It was obviously a pretty emotional deal,” he said. “They executed the game plan on both sides of the ball to perfection.” The Patriots kept getting fooled by the same trickery: six direct snaps resulting in four touchdowns after the Dolphins didn’t use the play in their other two games.
From the perspective of a Dolphins fan, we haven’t had much to cheer about for the past four or five years. I imagine Miami will win 5 or 6 games this season, which is usually nothing to write home about. However, for the Parcells regime, yesterday’s game was a start towards respectability. The Dolphins dominated every aspect of the game. They were tough, aggressive and innovative on offense. And it couldn’t have come against a better opponent as far as I’m concerned.
By the way, the Patriots last regular season loss; a 21-0 defeat at the hands of the Miami Dolphins.
