Dolphins at Patriots: Highlights, score, and recap

A Duron Harmon interception on a 4th and five with two seconds left in the game lifted the New England Patriots over the Miami Dolphins 31-24 in high fashion on Sunday.

A blowout at the end of the second quarter ended up being a nail-biter in Foxborough on Sunday. Give credit where it’s due, as the Dolphins, who appeared to be on track to get blown out, kept it close in the second half, outscoring New England 24-7 in the final two and a half quarters.

Turnovers, miscues, and everything in between led to the demise of the Dolphins Sunday. It wasn’t till the second half that Ryan Tannehill started to heat things up a bit, but by then the games was way out of hand.

Per ESPN Stats and Info, the Patriots under Bill Belichick have had a lead of 20 points or more at the half in 33 games, as the Patriots led 24-3 at the half. In those 33 games, the Pats have never blown the game, though they nearly did Sunday.

The Patriots got off to a gangbusters start against Miami despite losing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a shoulder injury halfway through just the second quarter when middle linebacker Kiko Alonso came in with the hit (about the only pressure Alonso got all day on the QB). Jacoby Brissett, a rookie and a third-round pick out of North Carolina State, came into the game to replace Garoppolo.

Brissett was shaky early but dusted off the rust and did just enough in the second half to preserve a win for the Patriots. Let’s take a look at the highlights from the game.

Highlights

Garoppolo’s second touchdown of the game.

https://twitter.com/nflnetwork/status/777565595692781568

His third touchdown of the game. All three of his strikes came in the first half.

Here is the injury to his shoulder.

Miami’s defense was suspect throughout most of the game, and this play sums up their performance against New England.

That play set up this touchdown to LeGarratte Blount.

The Dolphins finally started to get into a rhythm on offense, which was kickstarted by this catch by DeVante Parker.

Following the catch, the Dolphins scored their first touchdown on the game on this out and up by receiver Kenny Stills.

Miami started climbing back into the game as the Patriots offense went stagnant for a moment in the second half.

A nice run here by Kenyan Drake for six which brought them back within seven.

Three Stars

1- Jimmy Garoppolo

Jimmy G threw three touchdown passes in the first 18 minutes of the game. Without one of those touchdown passes, this game goes to overtime. He was 18/27 for 234 yards with a quarterback rating of 130.8. When he was blitzed, Garoppolo completed 7 of 10 passes for 103 yards including one of his scores. What was really evident from Garoppolo was his eye manipulation on linebackers and safeties. On all of his touchdown passes he either looked of a linebacker or safety and went the other way with the ball.

2-LeGarrette Blount

Running for 123 yards on 29 carries, Blount averaged 4.2 yards a carry and picked up a score. His most impressive feat was on the Patriots final drive of the game. He carried the ball five times picking up 32 yards mostly out of the I formation. Despite the missed field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, they took five minutes off the clock on the drive in large part to Blount.

3-New England’s Secondary

Wait, what? Tannehill threw for 389 yards on 32 completed passes. He also had two touchdowns and nearly led the team to victory. Yeah, I get it. But a lot of those yards, and both touchdowns, came in the second half when the Patriots dialed things down quite a bit. In the first half, however, the Patriots defense stifled the Dolphins offense, playing a lot of man-to-man coverage. It worked because a) they have really good cover corners in Logan Ryan and Malcom Butler; and b) the pass rush was heavily affecting Tannehill. Losing Garoppolo for any amount of time is bound to be tough, but the Pats defense is capable of holding this team together.

Next: Jimmy Garoppolo injury update

Odds

New England was six-point favorites at home.

What’s Next

New England takes on Houston at home on Thursday as Miami heads back home to south beach

to play Cleveland in their home opener.