The Patriots choked on defense in this game as they led Chad Henne torture them all game long.  Fins’ kicker Dan Carpenter kicked a 41-yard field goal with 1:02 left in the game as the defense let the kid QB drive right down the field at the end of the game to beat them.  LB Jerod Mayo led the way for the Patriots on D last night with 12 tackles, 1/2 a sack and he had a QB hit.  CB Darius Butler pitched in with 8 tackles and 2 passes defensed.  The Dolphins finished up with 416 total yards on offense (88 rushing, 328 passing) in this game.

Tom Brady had a so-so game for him completing 19 of 29 passes for 352 yards with 2 TD passes and 2 INTs.  Laurence Maroney led the way on the ground for the Pats yesterday with 41 yards rushing on 13 carries (3.2 ypc).  Sammy Morris pitched in with 40 yards rushing on 9 carries (4.4 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 25 yards (12.5 avg).  Kevin Faulk pitched in with 3 carries for 15 yards (5.0 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Wes Welker had another outstanding game for the Patriots with 10 grabs for 167 yards.  Sam Aiken only caught 1 pass but it went for a 81-yard TD.  Randy Moss only caught 2 passes for 66 yards (33.0 avg) with a TD.  The Patriots finished up with 448 yards on offense (96 rushing, 352 passing) in this game.  The Patriots are now 7-5 on the season but their lead in the AFC East is only 1 game over each the Fins and the Jets.

The New England Patriots (7-4) were not able to keep up with Drew Brees and the high-scoring New Orleans Saints (11-0).  The Saints offense did to the Patriots what they have been doing to every other team all season, as they Pats let Brees throw for 371 yards and 5 touchdowns on 18/23 passes.  They didn’t do a good job stopping the run either, with Mike Bell and Pierre Thomas combining for 114 yards 24 carries.  The defense was not able to slow down the Saints very much at all, which put a lot of pressure on Tom Brady and the offense.

The Patriots offense was able to keep up with the Saints for most of the first half, but the Saints were still able to build a 24-10 lead at halftime.  Tom Brady did not have his best stuff, as the Pats needed a near perfect game out of Brady for him to keep up with Brees.  Brady overthrew a few receivers and just wasn’t sharp.  He ended up with 2 interceptions and failed to reach to the endzone, passing for 237 yards 21/36.  Laurence Maroney had a good game, rushing for 64 yards on 15 carries.  He had a nose for the endzone as well, getting in for 2 rushing touchdowns.  The Patriots need more production like that out of Maroney, although he did lose a key fumble.  I thought the Patriots were at the same level as the Saints, but it looks like they need to make some improvements if they want to get to the Super Bowl this year.

The New England Patriots (7-3) were able to force 5 turnovers against the New York Jets (4-6) and cruised to an easy win.  Leigh Bodden got the Patriots off to a good start when he intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass and ran it back 53 yards for the first score of the game.  Bodden ended up intercepting Sanchez 3 times, and Sanchez finished the game with 136 yards and 4 interceptions on 8/21 passes.  The Patriots defense didn’t do as well against Jets’ running back Thomas Jones, who had 103 yards on 21 carries, but they kept the Jets scoreless until late in the first half, giving the offense the chance to build a big lead.

Tom Brady and the offense were able to get pretty much whatever they wanted.  Brady and Welker hooked up for some big plays in this game, as Welker caught 15 passes for 192 yards.  Brady finished with 310 yards and a touchdown on 28/41 passes.  Laurence Maroney also rushed for 2 touchdowns and 77 yards on 22 carries.  The closest the Jets got to the Patriots was 24-14 in the 3rd quarter, but the Patriots held them off the rest of the game and scored another touchdown in the 4th quarter to seal the win.

This game between the Indianapolis Colts (9-0) and New England Patriots (6-3) lived up to all of the hype and came down to the wire.  Who would have thought a coaching mistake from Bill Belichick would end up being the Patriots’ downfall.  Widely considered the best coach in the NFL, Belichick took a big gamble with 2:08 left when he went for it on 4th and 1 from his own 28-yard line.  The Patriots were up 34-28 and turned the ball over on downs, giving Peyton Manning a short field.  This was obviously a bad call by Belichick as Manning easily led his Colts’ to a touchdown with 13 seconds left.  The Patriots blew a 17 point lead going into the 4th quarter, the biggest 4th quarter lead that a Belichick team has ever blown.

Tom Brady and the offense had an outstanding game, but they needed one more yard to win this one.  Brady outplayed Manning through most of the game, but not by much.  Brady and Randy Moss hooked up for some big plays throughout the game, including two touchdown passes.  Brady went 29/42 for 375 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception while Moss had 9 catches for 2 touchdowns and 179 yards.  The Patriots’ defense contained the Colts running game to 91 yards, but they could have done a better job against a Colts’ team that has struggled to run the ball all season.  Manning ended up on top in the quarterback shootout, getting one more touchdown than Brady but also throwing one more pick.  He had 28/44 for 327 yards and 4 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.  The Patriots defense did what they could against Manning, but Belichick put them in almost an impossible situation late in the game and it obviously cost them.

The Patriots held off the pesky Dolphins today in Foxboro.  Tom Brady was solid as usual as he completed 25 of 37 passes for 332 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  Laurence Maroney had one of his better games in a while as he carried the ball 20 times for 82 yards (4.1 ypc) with 1 TD run.  Randy Moss was outstanding for the Patriots today as he caught 6 passes for 147 yards (24.5 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Wes Welker was also pretty busy in this game with 9 catches for 84 yards (9.3 avg).  The Patriots rolled up 432 total yards of offense in this game (109 rushing, 323 passing). 

The defense had a rough time overall in this game but they did hold the Dolphins to only 17 points.  LB Jared Mayo led the way for the Patriots in this game with 12 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 QB hit.  Safety Brandon McGowan also had a solid game with 11 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss.  OLB Tully Banta-Cain had one of his best games of the season today with 9 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and 3 QB hits.  The Dolphins finished up with 334 total yards in this game (133 rushing, 201 passing).  The Patriots are now 6-2 on the season.