Feelin’ Randy: Pats Kill the ‘Cat and Squish the Fish
You know what they say. You win some, you lose some. You give a little, you get a little. You go 8 for 12 in your office pool, then you wildly overestimate the winning team’s score in your NFL preview article. That’s just life.
Aside from the minuscule disappointment with the Patriots not scoring enough against the Dolphins to cover the spread, Sunday’s 27-17 Patriot victory was an absolute joy to watch. Sure, one could view this game as exciting because of acrobatic catches, multiple lead changes, a touchdown pass by a running back, standout individual performances and one 70+ yard touchdown play, but the real excitement, although hard to visualize, was in the ego and attitude of a couple of superstars.
On the Patriots’ third play of their opening drive, 1st and 10 on their own 43, Tom Brady threw down field to Randy Moss, who was a step ahead of his defender deep into Miami territory. However, the ball was just slightly under thrown, allowing 2009 first-round pick Vontae Davis to make an incredible play to intercept the potential touchdown. That’s when the fun started, and the two best players on the field that day schemed a schoolyard-type path to both redemption and revenge.
Moss with his acrobatic catch over Davis. Image provided by Boston.com
As the Dolphins capitalized on Brady’s mistake, bringing it back to the Patriot 34 where Dan Carpenter put the Dolphins on the scoreboard first with a career-long 52-yard field goal, one could imagine the interaction happening simultaneously between Tom Brady and Randy Moss. The future Hall of Fame receiver, now angry and itching for another shot against the rookie cornerback, instructing Brady to throw it to him again whether he was wide open, or giving Davis a piggyback ride, as he draws his planned route in the dirt with his index finger.
Brady, annoyed he failed to put enough behind his last pass, adjusting Randy’s plan by tracing his idea on the front of his jersey, dragging his finger in the exact direction he wants him for their next shot.
On the next possession, Brady dared, then double-dog-dared Davis to try it again. After a L-Mo run to start the drive, he hit Moss for a 12-yard first down. L-Mo once again got the call on first down, followed by Tom Brady dropping back and hurling another deep pass to Moss, this time to the right side of the field. This time, the receiver didn’t have a step on his man. He was actually covered about as well as possible on that play, only the All-World QB-WR tandem didn’t care. Randy Moss responded to the eerily similar pass by making a spectacular one-handed grab with Vontae Davis in his face and fell to the Dolphin’s 1-yard line. Their day was just getting started, but we’ll get back to that.
From there, L-Mo punched it in for his 3rd touchdown of the year.
For the most part, and despite both Miami touchdowns developing out of it, the Patriots were able to keep the Wildcat madness to a minimum. Neither Ronnie Brown nor Ricky Williams had a particularly great day (Although Pat White did average 7.5 yards per rush on his 6 carries). However, Williams did manage to tie the game at 10-10 in the 2nd quarter with a 15-yard touchdown run out of the formation. In the 3rd quarter, Ronnie Brown, who otherwise rushed for 48 yards on 15 carries, lobbed a 1-yard touchdown to TE Joey Haynos to bring their total to 17, where it would stay for the rest of the 3rd, and all of the 4th quarter.
"Good for another Patriot... FIRST DOWN!"
In the end, New England was too much for the Dolphins’ defense. Among the great individual performances were Maroney’s 82 hard-earned yards and a touchdown; Wes Welker’s 9 receptions for 84 yards (6 of which were good for Patriot 1st downs, including three on one drive); Stephen Gostkowski’s four field goals (30, 38, 34, 40 yards, 1XP); as well as Benjamin Watson and Kevin Faulk contributing some key plays and badly-needed 1st downs.
But in the end, the uncontested Star of the Game was Randy Moss. Not only does his line (6 receptions, 147 yards, 1 TD, 1 2Pt) impress but it’s even more impressive when looked at more closely:
Catch #1: 12 yards resulting in 1st down.
Catch #2: 36 yards, one-handed, to the Dolphin 1, resulting in 1st down.
Catch #3: 4 yards resulting in 1st down.
Catch #4: 71 yard catch & run for a touchdown.
(Play immediately following #4 that doesn’t officially count as a reception): 2-point conversion
Catch #5: 7 yards
Catch #6: 17 yards resulting in 1st down
Out of 7 times Randy Moss caught a pass from Tom Brady, all but one resulted in either points, or a fresh set of downs. If you’re looking to make an impact in a game, you simply don’t get more effective than that.
Image provided by Boston.com
On the flip-side of the star player-spectrum was Joey Porter, who after once again unleashing verbal assaults on upcoming opponents, was shut-out by Sebastian Vollmer, the Patriots late-second round pick from this April. Not only was Porter not enough of a factor to even assist in a tackle, after viewing the game twice I’m not sure he ever got close enough to Tom Brady to talk trash to him. That has to be embarrassing for Porter, who was last shut-out against the New York Jets after telling reporters he wanted to “Put Mark Sanchez on the sideline with an ice pack.” If there’s ever been a linebacker who has talked so much trash in a season in which he’s accumulated 12 total tackles, I’d love to know about it. Really.
While the actual final score of the game may not have been quite the blow-out I originally predicted, the school-yard attack and possibly permanent psychological damage done to Vontae Davis’s self-esteem was just plain fun. Congratulations to Bill Belichick as well, who managed a brilliant game to neutralize each one of Miami’s strengths including most notably their running game and Ted Ginn, Jr.’s deadly kick return abilities (4 for 97 yds).
The New England Patriots must now carry their momentum into Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to face the Colts next week. Normally, I would find them fairly intimidating at 8-0, if not for Indianapolis management inexplicably dressing David Carr in Peyton Manning’s uniform the last two weeks, during which he has as many touchdown passes (1) as Joseph Addai.
Bring them on.
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