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New England Patriots Rout Miami Dolphins, 36-7

By DJ Smith

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The New England Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins 36-7 on Thursday Night Football. The Patriots moved to 7-0 on the season, while the Dolphins drop to 3-4.

Tonight another AFC East team thought that this year was different, new Miami Dolphins head coach Dan Campbell brought a new perspective, a new leader when he took over as head coach 3 weeks ago. Miami fans, players and writers thought that this would finally be the year that, even if they won’t win the AFC East they’ll be able to hang with the champs.

And just like so many before them, the Miami Dolphins failed on Thursday night.

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The Patriots had the ball to begin the game and Tom Brady was able to march down the field with ease on the Miami defense. Along with Brady, Dion Lewis who made his return after missing last week’s game against the Jets with an abdominal injury, made a pivotal play early on. On a 3rd down and 16 Brady dumped off a pass to Dion Lewis and he was able to dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge from Dolphin defenders and picked up the first down.

That drive later resulted in a 47 yard pass from Brady to Rob Gronkowski who recorded his second longest touchdown reception of his career. Is there any doubt that if he stays healthy for the next handful of years he may eclipse records set by guys like Shannon Sharpe, and Tony Gonzalez. Enough can’t be said about his mere presence on the football field and the amount of sleepless nights he causes for NFL coaches.

If you needed any further clarification that the Dolphins were defeated before the end of the first half, watching

Ryan Tannehill

pull a

Peyton Manning

from Super Bowl 48:

From that moment on you knew that this would be the same Patriots and Dolphins game that we’ve seen for a better part of a decade and a half. A quick tip of the cap to Stephen Gostkowski who set the record for most consecutive field goal kicks in Patriots franchise history, leaping over his predecessor Adam Vinatieri. I put this question up on my Twitter timeline;


No Gostkowski hasn’t kicked any Super Bowl winning kicks, but the consistency that he has shown since joining the team in 2007 has been staggering. Has there been any situation where Gostkowski has taken the field and you think to yourself “NO! NOT THE GOSTKOWSKI KID!”

I didn’t think so.

Tom Brady was able to find Dion Lewis late in the first half to extend the lead to 19-0 as both teams headed into the locker room. Watching Dion Lewis throughout the game you had the feel that the offense ran smoother with him in the backfield and his stats back that up catching 6 passes gaining 93 yards with a touchdown.

Thursday was not LeGarrette Blount’s night as he struggled to get anything going, but I wouldn’t be worried especially looking back at his track record.

Can we also take a minute to acknowledge the greatness and sheer domination that Matthew Slater gives the Patriots special teams week after week. He was drafted by the team in 2008 and particularly the past few years we’ve seen GIANT leaps in his play.

Every kick off, and every punt you hear Slater’s name being in or around the football. Patriot fans glamor at Brady, Gronk, and Julian Edelman but its time to start recognizing how great Slater is as a player on this team.

Brady ended his night with back-to-back touchdowns to Julian Edelman totaling his season stats to 20 touchdown passes and 2,410 passing yards. Again it’s a complex argument comparing the 2007 undefeated team compared to this team, but one thing is clear. The Patriots have the same level of intensity as that 2007 team had, and with the amount of quality players on this team it equates to the Patriots starting the season 7-0.

The New England Patriots next game is on Sunday November 8th against the Washington Redskins starting at 1:00pm on FOX.

Next: C&C Podcast: Episode 42

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