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A20 SPORTS
Wednesday 13 december 2017

Brady struggles again in Miami, as Pats lose to Dolphins

By TIM REYNOLDS enough tonight, across the
AP Sports Writer board.”
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) Brady didn’t have his first
— Tom Brady was a mere completion until the sec-
mortal in Miami. ond quarter, after missing
Again. on his first four throws — one
The five-time Super Bowl of which was intercepted.
champion wins just about The Dolphins went after him
everywhere, just about ev- all night, never letting him
ery week. But games at Mi- get into rhythm. With no
ami have been a struggle running game and no Rob
more times than not for the Gronkowski, serving a one-
longtime New England star, game suspension over an
and Monday night was unnecessary hit he doled
yet another entry on that out last week, the Patriots
list. Brady was intercepted needed Brady to be ex-
twice, probably should ceptional.
have had at least one oth- “I’ve got to throw the ball
er pass picked off, and the better,” Brady said. “That’s
Patriots lost to the Dolphins where it starts.”
27-20 — denying New Eng- The Patriots being the Pa-
land a chance to clinch triots, they nearly pulled
the AFC East. off a comeback from a
Brady finished 24 of 43 for 27-10 third-quarter deficit
233 yards and a touch- anyway. Brady connect-
down. He’s now 7-9 in his ed with James White for a
career when visiting the 3-yard scoring throw early
Dolphins, with a passer in the fourth, and the Patri-
rating of under 90 in 10 of ots got to the Miami 1 in the
those 16 games. final moments. But a pair
His rating Monday: 59.5, his of penalties pushed them
lowest in a regular-season back to the 16, and Ste-
game since 2013. phen Gostowski’s 33-yard
“We’ve had a lot of good field goal with 53 seconds
nights this year,” Brady said. left got New England within
“And this was a bad night.” a touchdown.
It wasn’t all on him, not by a That left an onside kick to
long shot. decide matters. The low-
The Patriots couldn’t run percentage play didn’t
the ball whatsoever, finish- work, and Belichick was
ing with 10 yards on 25 car- asked afterward what hap-
ries — and that came af- pened.
ter running for at least 191 “They recovered it,” Belich-
yards in each of their last ick said, then shrugging.
two games. New England On a night where the Pa-
had given up an average triots had few answers, at
of 11.9 points in its last eight least that one was succinct.
games; it gave up 27 to “I wish we played bet-
the Dolphins. And the Pa- New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore (24) attempts to tackle Miami Dolphins wide ter,” Brady said. “But we
triots, in the stat that might receiver DeVante Parker (11), during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 11, didn’t.”q
be most surprising, were a 2017, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Associated Press
staggering 0 for 11 on their
third-down chances. worse than that.” top seed in the AFC play- “They obviously did a bet-
The last time they were The result was an end to the offs. ter job than we did. We
0-for-anything on third Patriots’ 14-game road win- “They did a good job to- just weren’t really good
downs? 1991, when Phoe- ning streak, hardly a great night,” Patriots coach Bill enough in any area, con-
nix — that’s what the Car- springboard into what’s a Belichick said of the Dol- sistent enough in any area
dinals were called then — short week before a show- phins, before the rest of his to win the game. We all
beat the Patriots. down in Pittsburgh on Sun- postgame availability be- need to do a better job
“That was pretty bad,” day that will likely go a long came mostly a collage of and hopefully we’ll be able
Brady said. “Can’t get any way toward deciding the short, mumbled answers. to do that. This wasn’t good