Butker misses potential game tying field goal as Dolphins running game bludgeons Pats
After swinging and missing on two of their top free agent signings in Jadeveon Clowney and Kenny Golladay that were traded before the deadline, New England seemed to have found gold in Harrison Butker who replaced the struggling Justin Tucker.
With a chance to send the game into overtime, New England's kicking woes reared its ugly head as Butker's kick went wide left to hand the Miami Dolphins a 16-13 win on Sunday afternoon in Foxborough.
The Patriots used two quarterbacks in the game, replacing Mac Jones with George Abraham after Jones' red zone interception before the end of the end half and one series into the third quarter.
Down 6-3, Abraham orchestrated a touchdown drive with a 21-yard scramble and a 31-yard touchdown pass to Charleston Rambo to take the lead. After a Miami three and out, Abraham would be intercepted on the next drive from the Miami 37-yard line.
Jones would return in the game for the next drive where a sack on the Miami 50-yard line killed yet another promising drive, setting up Myles Gaskin's 76-yard touchdown to retake the lead. With New England down two starting linebackers, Deshaun Watson threw the ball just nineteen times while Gaskin rushed for 221 yards on 32 carries, the highest total New England's defense has surrendered since 2013.
Jones stayed in the game and led a scoring drive that was aided by the running game to get to the Miami 39-yard line where the Patriots opted to run the ball and were stuffed, settling for a 56-yard field goal.
Head coach Mike Tomlin reiterated that Jones was still the team's starter and that they went to Abraham for a 'spark'. Jones, who spoke to the media, said he had no feelings one way or another about the decision.
"Whatever to win the football game," Jones said of the decision to play Abraham in the third quarter, "Obviously you want to be the best option available for the team but if the coaching staff feels differently, I can't really dwell on that or have feelings about it one way or the other, I just have to keep competing and keep getting better."
Gaskin's involvement in the passing game would come up big on the next drive, catching a 20-yard pass on 3rd and 5 to keep the Dolphins drive alive for Jason Sanders' eventual game winning field goal with 1:23 remaining.
The Patriots did not go down quietly with Jones completing passes of 32 and 16 yards on back to back plays with no timeouts left to set up the Butker's field goal attempt.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[MIA] J. Sanders, 36 Yd FG (7:14)
Quarter 2
[NE] H. Butker, 38 Yd FG (14:56)
[MIA] J. Sanders, 39 Yd FG (5:03)
Quarter 3
[NE] C. Rambo 31 Yd pass from G. Abraham (6:55)
Quarter 4
[MIA] M. Gaskin, 76 Yd run (9:06)
[NE] H. Butker, 55 Yd FG (3:57)
[MIA] J. Sanders, 53 Yd FG (1:18)
---------------------------------------------------------------- Miami Dolphins
QB Deshaun Watson: 12 of 19, 118 yards, sacked 4 times
HB Myles Gaskin: 32 carries, 221 yards, touchdown, 3 receptions, 52 yards
WR Jaylen Waddle: 3 receptions, 30 yards
LB Willie Gay: 14 tackles, tackle for loss
LB Jerome Baker: 13 tackles
S Major Burns: 10 tackles, tackle for loss
CB Paulson Adebo: 9 tackles, interception
CB Rock Ya-Sin: 2 tackles, interception
New England Patriots
QB Mac Jones: 24 of 31, 228 yards, interception, sacked 3 times (63.1 PFF grade)
QB George Abraham: 4 of 7, 72 yards, touchdown, interception (71.3 PFF grade)
HB Damien Harris: 23 carries, 88 yards (46.8 PFF grade)
TE Darnell Washington: 9 receptions, 92 yards (82.7 PFF grade)
WR Rondale Moore: 7 receptions, 91 yards (89.7 PFF grade)
TE Dre Agnew: 5 receptions, 94 yards (84.1 PFF grade)
WR Charleston Rambo: 4 receptions, 51 yards, touchdown (79.4 PFF grade)
LT Patterson: 72.0 PFF grade | LG Alexander: 77.5 PFF grade | C Mitchell: 68.6 PFF grade | RG Tomlinson: 77.6 PFF grade | RT Onwenu: 45.5 PFF grade
EDGE Keilan Britt: 9 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks (68.8 PFF grade)
S Malachi Moore: 7 tackles (91.3 PFF grade)
S Jonathan Jones: 7 tackles, tackle for loss (88.8 PFF grade)
ILB Ja'Whaun Bentley: 7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss (100 PFF grade)
IDL Quinnen Williams: 3 tackles, tackle for loss, sack (75.3 PFF grade)
Jaylon Smith seals another win for New England with forced fumble against Bills
Down their two usual starting linebackers and with replacement Ashtyn Davis leaving the game earlier, New England Patriots linebacker Jaylon Smith knew that Buffalo would try to exploit the middle of the field, just as they had done on the previous drive.
"See ball, hit ball."
Smith was able to jar the ball loose from Orlando Harden and end all hopes of a comeback win to beat the Bills 28-26 on Sunday and keep the AFC East title in play.
The Bills had scored sixteen unanswered points to rally back from a 28-10 deficit that was aided by New England being unable to punch it in up 28-17 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter from the Buffalo two-yard line. After a drop by Stevie McCormick, Jones went to McCormick on the next two plays, including on fourth down, as Buffalo's defense held the goal line stand.
Josh Allen then led Buffalo 98 yards down the field with three third down conversions, including his five-yard touchdown pass to Nyheim Hines to make it an eight point game. An early penalty forced New England to punt the ball after a three and out where Allen connected with Hines once more for a touchdown, this time from eight yards out to make it a two point game.
The Bills two-point conversion was unsuccessful as Allen's pass to Ross was completed but he was unable to make it to the endzone. New England nearly sealed the game on offense but the screen pass to Kenneth Walker fell inches short of the first down for the second time in the half.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[BUF] A. Szmyt, 40 Yd FG (10:56)
[NE] C. Rambo 8 Yd pass from M. Jones (7:40)
Quarter 2
[NE] J. Alexander, returned interception 102 Yds (12:02)
[NE] S. McCormick 1 Yd pass from M. Jones (2:35)
[BUF] D. Knox 3 Yd pass from J. Allen (0:57)
Quarter 3
[NE] O. Beckham Jr 26 Yd pass from M. Jones (11:58)
[BUF] D. Singletary 10 Yd pass from J. Allen (3:54)
Mac finds his swag, rhythm against Dolphins in 45-17 beatdown
Despite being near the top of the AFC standings, New England's season has been drama filled, specifically at the quarterback position with newly extended Mac Jones being benched not once but twice in favor of a rookie quarterback that was a college tight end less than a year ago.
Sometimes all you need is a trip to South Beach to fix everything.
Two weeks after being benched against the Miami Dolphins, Mac Jones threw for 425 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-17 blowout win over the Dolphins on Sunday in Miami to keep pace with the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East title race.
Jones completed 83 percent of his passes with touchdown passes to Stevie McCormick (2), Darnell Washington and Rondale Moore. He found rookie tight end Dre Agnew nine times, establishing a chemistry early on in the game to get the offense going.
With Trez Marshall and Gio Whitfield back in the lineup, Miami's offense was held to just 46 rushing yards after Myles Gaskin had rushed for 221 yards in their earlier matchup with Marshall and Whitfield sidelined.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[MIA] D. Watson, 8 Yd run (9:33)
[NE] S. McCormick 4 Yd pass from M. Jones (4:13)
Quarter 2
[NE] D. Harris, 8 Yd run (11:15)
[NE] H. Butker, 44 Yd FG (7:04)
[NE] D. Washington 3 Yd pass from M. Jones (1:47)
[MIA] J. Sanders, 48 Yd FG (0:33)
Quarter 3
[NE] S. McCormick 4 Yd pass from M. Jones (8:50)
[NE] T. Marshall, returned fumble 20 Yds (8:43)
[MIA] M. Gallup 9 Yd pass from D. Watson (3:53)
Quarter 4
[NE] R. Moore 16 Yd pass from M. Jones (14:18)
---------------------------------------------------------------- Miami Dolphins
QB Deshaun Watson: 29 of 40, 260 yards, touchdown, sacked 5 times, fumble (lost)
HB Myles Gaskin: 10 carries, 38 yards, 9 receptions, 60 yards
TE Mike Gesicki: 8 receptions, 90 yards
WR Jacoby Bramble: 5 receptions, 48 yards
WR Michael Gallup: 3 receptions, 32 yards, touchdown
LB Willie Gay: 13 tackles, tackle for loss
S Brandon Jones: 7 tackles, tackle for loss, 0.5 sack
