Road Kill: Patriots Fall To Dolphins

Different road game.  Same story.

Get out to an early lead.

No pass rush.

Secondary gets torched.

Offense disappears in second half.

Patriots lose another road game.

This storyline sounds all too familiar. It happened in New York, Denver, Indianapolis, New Orleans, and now Miami.

The Patriots started off like gangbusters yet again. They raced out to a 14-0 lead highlighted by a 58 yard bomb from Brady to Moss that brought me to my feet!

Can the Patriots finally shake off their road game funk?

Not so fast.

They had the Dolphins on the ropes early and let them back into the game, yet again.

Miami cut the lead to 14-10 at the half.

Panic set in yet again in Patriots Nation.

A sigh of relief was breathed when Sam Aiken hauled in a miraculous catch over the Miami corner and raced 81 yards for the score to give the Patriots an eleven point lead, 21-10.

Chad Henne then began to pick apart the Patriots secondary.

Sounds familiar?

It was rookie Darius Butler not Jonathan Wilhite that was victimized. Davone Bess ran wild catching 10 catches for 117 yards and a TD.

No need for the wildcat or running game as Henne went 29 for 52 for 335 yards and two scores. He moved the ball at will in the second half as Miami got back into the game.

The lack of a pass rush is killing the Patriots. Henne had all day to throw and the secondary couldn’t cover or make any big plays.

Richard Seymour, how is Oakland treating you?

I hope that 2011 pick pans out because the Patriots could use Mr. Seymour in the worst of ways!

Enough about the same old song and dance defense, what about the offense?

Why do they continue to disappear in thin air in the second half?

After Moss’s touchdown scamper, he only caught one pass.

He didn’t finish off blocks. Is he dogging it? Food for thought.

Yet again the only highlight for New England was Wes Welker, who caught 10 passes for 167 yards, bouncing back nicely from getting shut down by the Saints.

Tom Brady still seems to be off on the road. He is missing open wide receivers.

He throws ill advised passes.

He was picked off in the end zone yet again. Brady also threw an interception on the final drive which put the final nail in the coffin.

The Dolphins took advantage of the porous defense, inept offense, and careless coaching to take a 22-21 lead on a 41 yard field goal by Dan Carpenter.

The team seemed shell shocked.

As a fan, you didn’t have a lot of faith in the Pats during their final drive.

Brady with one minute left on the clock?

It used to be a slam dunk, but the Pats were slammed down when Brady tried to make something happen but the pass hit a Dolphins linebacker right in the hands.

Game.

Set.

Match.

Division loss.

Conference loss.

First back to back loses since the 2006 season.

I am not jumping off the band wagon.

I repeat I am not jumping off the band wagon.

I am a realist.

The Patriots are no longer an elite team.

They are good and competitive.

I will follow them until I am put in the ground, but I realize that they are rebuilding.

Being in New England, we are spoiled. Rebuilding for Pats fans is double digit wins and a division title.

We could live in KC, Cleveland, St. Louis, or Oakland. Life could be worse.

The Patriots have four games left versus Carolina and Jacksonville at home. They also have no layups with contests against Buffalo and Houston on the road.

They SHOULD run the table, but who knows.

The defense needs to step up and the offensive stars need to be more consistent.

There is no room for error now. The Jets and Dolphins are now breathing down their necks.

Joe Gill is a featured blogger for Boston Sports Then and Now, Rootzoo.com and Trufan.com