Game Plan, Play Calling come Into Question Following Patriots' Ugly Loss To Dolphins

As the saying goes, one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch, but if one were to pluck the New England Patriots' Monday night bad apple from their season's tree, they would have immediately tossed it into the slop bucket.

No need to slice it open, because this one was marred with bruises and pock-marked with ugly worm holes.

Brady throwing gingerly off his back foot

For sure, the Patriots' 27-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins before a stunned National Television audience was enough to cause the team's many detractors to sing with glee their song of the Patriots' demise - but just like in the bad apple analogy, one bad game doesn't spoil their whole season.

It was ugly, make no mistake about that, and Patriots' fans everywhere are either desperately searching for reasons or excuses why their offense managed just 248 yards of total offense, or simply channeling their inner-Bill Belichick and muttering "We're on to Pittsburgh" - while Dolphins' fans are beating their chests and running amok in a frenzy, bellowing at the top of their lungs and spitting beer on tourists.

Because at 6-7, this game is probably going to be the highlight of their season - the Dolphins' Super Bowl, you might say - and anytime you can beat the defending champs so thoroughly and dominate them in every facet of the game, no one is going to blame you for whooping it up afterwards.

But while the Dolphins and their fans will have to settle for the elation of beating New England to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, the Patriots have much loftier thoughts, such as their upcoming heavyweight matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday which suddenly presents ominous consequences for them should they fall in the Steel City.

It was roundly expected that New England and Pittsburgh would meet at Heinz Field with identical 11-2 records in what was being billed as a winner-take-all fight for the top seed in the American Football Conference playoffs - but instead the Patriots limp into the contest at 10-3, and even though a win over the Steelers would again cause a tie atop the conference and a significant tie-breaker for New England, there is suddenly another team to be concerned about.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have suddenly emerged as a legitimate threat to break into the top two teams in the AFC with a record of 9-4 and a much easier schedule than either the Patriots or Steelers.

A loss by either team would put the Jags squarely in contention for one of the top two seeds, along with the resultant first round playoff bye and homefield advantage in the divisional round and perhaps beyond. A Patriots' loss to Pittsburgh and a Jacksonville win over Houston would give the Jaguars possession of the second seed in the conference, based on a better conference record (9-2 vs 7-3)...

...while a loss by the Steelers would put the Jaguars right on their doorstep with an identical conference record, but with Pittsburgh holding a razor-thin edge in the strength of victory tie-breaker, but with a proverbial cupcake schedule (at Houston, vs. Cleveland).

So, any way you slice it, the Patriots loss at Miami was rotten to the core and could have a tremendous impact on their season yield, particularly if quarterback Tom Brady's putrid performance was based more on health than on missing his main target in the passing game in tight end Rob Gronkowski.

Granted, without having to account for Gronkowski, the Dolphins' defenders were able to concentrate on manning-up against Brady's slim receiver depth chart and were able to take wide outs Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan completely out of the game on precision coverages by Xavien Howard and Bobby McCain, who both had capable safety help over the top since neither had to worry about Gronkowski...

...while linebackers Kiko Alonzo and Alterraun Verner focused on limiting the Patriots' fine stable of running backs - the result of which was an abysmal 24 of 43 performance by the obviously laterally-limited Brady for just 233 yards and two interceptions - both by Howard covering Cooks - and just one score, a three-yard out-flat to running back James White.

Obviously, those numbers are season-lows from Brady, but what really hurt the offensive effort was the lack of a ground game, as offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels called just ten running plays all game, resulting in only 25 yards, both season-lows.

Defensively, the Patriots struggled against the Dolphins' game plan, which was as vanilla and mundane as one could expect - yet given the losses to injury coupled with sheer exhaustion due to New England's offense's inability to sustain drives to give the defense their proper rest, it was as effective as anyone's.

Miami's full complement of speedy wide receivers and tight end Julius Thomas kept New England's secondary on their toes all night, leaving the decimated linebacking corps to deal with running back Kenyan Drake - who ran around the Patriots' defensive front and made the likes of interior run-stuffers Elandon Roberts and Jonathan Freeney have to chase Drake sideline to sideline...

...and in the passing game splitting Drake out wide and isolated on Roberts, who was like a stick in the mud against the speed of the the second year breakout candidate - and the results were predictable.

Touching the ball 30 times, Drake ran for 114 yards on 25 carries, but did most of his damage in the passing game, picking up 79 yards in just five receptions. Key weapon Jarvis Landry came in second to Drake totaling just 46 yards, but scoring two of Miami's three touchdowns.

In contrast, no Patriots' pass catcher topped 50 yards with the exception of Danny Amendola, who along with Cooks, padded his stats against Miami's two-deep zone once the Dolphins figured they had the game in hand.

But perhaps the worst slice of apple to come out of this debacle was the health status of Brady, who was beaten like he stole something - which wasn't entirely the fault of the offensive line, but more a combination of excellent coverage down the field by the Dolphins and Brady's gimpiness in the pocket, not sliding around and buying time like he normally does...

...and when he did release a ball, doing so almost chopping down on his front foot instead of stepping into his throws, causing many balls to drop sharply towards the turf and landing at the feet of his receivers. This was perhaps a combination of many factors, perhaps including a sore right Achilles tendon, which seemed to affect his ability to plant and step up, the physics of which suggest he would drive the ball into the turf short of his target.

If that is the case, then that could be what was responsible for both of his interceptions by Howard - not to mention that Howard was all over Cooks in a fantastic display of coverage skill - but it would also explain how even his trademark accuracy on intermediate an long throws  was replaced by short ducks that left his receivers with no chance.

But what hurt the Patriots the most was the fact that McDaniels abandoned the option of running the ball for the most part, and completely ignored it in the second half, even in situations where running the ball made the most sense - case in point being on a first-and-goal at the Miami one-yard line with a minute and a half remaining in a 10-point game, throwing three straight times and suffering two penalties which not only burned time off the clock, but forced them to settle for a field goal.

Not to mention that once the Patriots got some offensive momentum early in the fourth quarter and a comeback appeared to be tangible, Brady dropped back to throw on 21 consecutive plays over five fourth quarter possessions, when his exhausted defense dug deep and gave the ball back to the offense time and again.

All said and done, this loss lies on the coaching staff, who appeared to come into the game with a game plan custom-suited to play right into the strength of the Dolphins, then topped it off with questionable decisions in the play-calling area - particularly on offense.

Belichick has long said that players win games but coaches lose them - and on this particular night, his game plan had most everything to do with losing the game.

And now that his team has been backed into a corner and must have a win against Pittsburgh on Sunday, we will get to see if Monday night was just a fluke and an error in judgment, or if the Patriots lack the intestinal fortitude to go into a hostile environment and take what they want.

If they don't, they may find themselves on the outside looking in at Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, and hosting a wildcard game instead of getting that all-important late-season rest on a bye week.