Dolphins vs. Patriots: Score and Twitter Reaction for 'Thursday Night Football'

Little time to prepare for an undefeated opponent led by one of the best quarterbacks of all time proved too much for interim head coach Dan Campbell's resurgent Miami Dolphins to handle in Week 8's edition of Thursday Night Football.

The reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots took care of business as usual in Foxborough against their AFC East rival, improving to 7-0 on the season with a 36-7 victory.

Bleacher Report's Matt Miller hinted at the inferior competition Miami faced prior to Thursday's game and how the Dolphins—new energy under Campbell and all—were a bit in over their heads:

Patriots QB Tom Brady ended his night 26-of-38 passing for 356 yards and four touchdowns. He set the tone early, capping an eight-play, 80-yard drive with a 47-yard touchdown pass to star tight end Rob Gronkowski, who frankly did most of the work, in the first quarter:   

ESPN Stats & Info recognized the significance of Gronk's latest end-zone spike, as he proceeded to have a team-high 113 yards on six catches:

It didn't get much better for the visitors at the start of the second quarter. Center Mike Pouncey snapped the ball past an unsuspecting Ryan Tannehill to give New England two points on a safety, stretching the Pats' lead to 9-0.

Ben Volin of the Boston Globe commended the reaction from Gillette Stadium's PA personnel:

Things settled down thereafter for Miami, as it was able to get a strong pass rush on Brady and keep New England off the scoreboard for a while.

But the Patriots were getting in Tannehill's face pretty well in their own right, especially Chandler Jones. Pats Pulpit's Rich Hill shows how much of a beast Jones was on one of his two sacks for the evening:

"

Chandler Jones beats a double team for a major sack. pic.twitter.com/KcYJA08iVr

— Rich Hill (@PP_Rich_Hill) October 30, 2015"

The seed was planted for Tannehill to be rattled, and it didn't help when the Dolphins QB threw into tight coverage on an out route and was intercepted by Logan Ryan toward the end of the first half. It led to a Stephen Gostkowski field goal from 52 yards out with 3:25 left in the second quarter.

Shifty Pats running back Dion Lewis devastated the Dolphins in the opening half as well. The last of his six receptions and 93 yards in the opening half resulted in a 16-yard TD grab with 24 seconds remaining. It was yet another master class in the two-minute offense from Brady.

The extent to which Lewis was outperforming Miami's offense on his own to that point was rather humorous:

Desperate times called for Miami's measure to attempt a 63-yard field goal at the end of the half, which kicker Andrew Franks pulled way left to preserve New England's shutout through 30 minutes.

Credit Miami for coming out firing in the second half, as Tannehill orchestrated an excellent drive. Lamar Miller closed it out with a one-yard TD plunge set up by a beautiful 29-yard pass from Tannehill to tight end Jordan Cameron.

It just didn't matter, because Brady, Lewis and New England's offensive juggernaut were that good, forcing Tannehill to press into another interception in the fourth. Duron Harmon returned the ball to the Dolphins 15, where Brady essentially iced the game with a 3rd-and-5, 10-yard scoring strike to Julian Edelman.

Brady and Edelman added another TD of 16 yards later in the last quarter to add to the blowout. Field Yates of ESPN provided perspective on Brady's scorching 2015 pace thereafter:

Ben Volin of The Boston Globe and the Patriots' official Twitter feed alluded to the other rarefied air Brady entered Thursday:

In the aftermath of the Deflategate saga, it seems to be statement win after statement win for Brady and head coach Bill Belichick's perennial AFC East powerhouse. Analyst Tony Dungy did well to articulate the message Belichick's team sent Thursday:

The Patriots have a real chance to reach the midway point of the 2015 campaign undefeated with Washington coming to Foxborough in Week 9. Washington is currently on a bye, but New England has a mini idle week of sorts and extra time to game-plan for an opponent with a minus-two turnover differential.

Although Miami didn't achieve the desired result on Thursday evening for factors discussed in the introduction, the deck was stacked against the Dolphins to a large degree. Their defense played well for much of the first half to stay within striking distance.

This is simply a tough stretch on the Dolphins' schedule, as they'll be on the second of three-straight road games in Week 9 against the Buffalo Bills.

Also of concern for the Dolphins are injuries to right tackle Ja'Wuan James and defensive end Cameron Wake. CBS Sports' Tracy Wolfson indicated Wake's injury is to his Achilles. If one or both of them is out for an extended period of time, it will be hard for Miami to muster momentum in the next couple of contests.

Post-Game Reaction

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

To quickly follow up on those Dolphins injuries in question, left tackle Branden Albert expressed optimism about James' outlook but feared the worst for Wake.

"I don't think Ja'Wuan's injury is serious but I feel bad for Cam. I've been there," said Albert, per the Palm Beach Post's Andrew Abramson. 

After missing Week 7 due to injury himself, Lewis returned to account for over 100 yards from scrimmage for New England. The elusive ball-carrier gave credit to Brady afterwards for putting the Pats in position to succeed.

"He's smart—he makes sure everybody's in the right spot at the right time for the perfect play," said Lewis of Brady, per Patriots.com. "He tries to get us in the perfect play as much as he can. He's a competitor and he does a great job leading us."

Gronkowski spoke about his historic touchdown, crediting his execution of the play that made it work, courtesy of the Boston Herald's Jeff Howe:

It should be noted Brandon LaFell threw an excellent block to spring Gronkowski down the sidelines. On the other hand, seeing a man of Gronkowski's size ambling at that speed is an athletic marvel in and of itself.

The best quote of the night may have been from Edelman when he described a great joke from the stoic Belichick.

"Coach always says just hammer away b/c if you don't, you're going to be stubbing your toe on the floor with the nail coming out," said Edelman, per Howe.

Andrew Perloff of Sports Illustrated lamented at New England's overall blandness at its post-victory press conference, though:

Any lack of entertainment when addressing the media was made up for at Gillette Stadium with plenty of touchdowns and sheer dominance most NFL fanbases can only dream of. 

Speaking of dreams, the talk of an undefeated record certainly won't quiet down after Thursday's exceptional display. Anyone inside the New England locker room figures to be hushed about such rhetoric, however.

The "Patriot Way" that's proven so effective over the years mandates focusing on the task at hand, not looking ahead to long-term goals and doing one's job in the present. Week 8 was a textbook example of how the Patriots' philosophy continues to work wonders.