By Byler Henry
Sunday afternoon, the Dolphins pulled out a stunning, improbable win against the rival Patriots. It was a closely contested game that had you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Now at 7-6 the Dolphins are still in the hunt; the Ravens currently have the sixth spot, and the Colts hold the tiebreaker over Miami based on their head to head win. Running back Kenyan Drake offers his thoughts on the win. “We are 7-6 right now. We still have an uphill battle. We have to continue to be very gritty, hard-nosed, never-say-die attitude, and continue to get these wins.” With three games left in the season, the Dolphins must continue to win while a little luck must go their way.
It was a back forth contest with the Patriots scoring first, then the Dolphins scored, and this tic for tac continued in the first half with the Patriots leading 27 to 21 at halftime. The Dolphins kept it close the entire game, the biggest lead the Patriots had was six points. Overall the offense had a good game. Ryan Tannehill had an exceptional good game even though he was sacked four time. He had 265 passing yards with 14 completions on 19 attempts (74%), 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Kenny Stills led the Dolphins in receiving yards with 135 on eight receptions
while adding a touchdown for good measure. The running game looked good with Frank Gore turning back the clock and gaining 92 rushing yards, while Brandon Bolden gained 60 rushing yards on two carries and two touchdowns. Kenyan Drake scored the game winning touchdown on the last-minute miracle play. The whole team was excited to see such an amazing play that led to a Dolphin victory. Defensive tackle Akeem Spence offered his thoughts on the play. “Running down the field allow-ed me to get a key block. It was the greatest thing. And then seeing ‘Gronk’ (Rob Gronkowski) and ‘K.D.’ (Kenyan Drake), foot race, I’m going take KD every time. And then when he got in the end zone,we all rushed the field. I was like, ‘This is my greatest moment.’ To win a game like that! it took 60 minutes – offense, defense, and special teams. Guys just had to keep fighting, keep believing. That’s kind of been our season. It’s been ups and downs; but now, I feel like we finally started put-ting it together as a team – executing offense, defense – and just putting it together and it showed today, and guys just kept believing.”
Defensively, the Dolphins played well. They were able to sack Tom Brady twice and hold the Patriots to six points in the second half. Even though he was sacked twice, Tom Brady still had an excellent game with 358 passing yards, three touchdowns, 27 completions on 43 attempts (63%), and no interceptions. The Patriots special teams also got two blocked punts turning one into a touchdown on the same drive. Getting this win was key for the Dolphins to stay alive in the playoff race. Patriots still lead the AFC East division. The next game will be a tough but winnable game for the Dolphins, a road game against the Vikings. Head Coach Adam Gase is ready for the next game. “Yeah, basically we’re playing one week at a time right now. Any loss for us could be the end. So, we just have to make sure that we refocus on Wednesday and get things cleaned up and get ready for the next one.” The Dolphins home and away record make them look like two completely different teams. They are 6-1 at home, but 1-5 on the road. Currently they are on two game winning streak, so maybe that will give them a boost to finish strong. They must run the table in order to have a chance to make the playoffs, lets wait these three weeks out and see what happens.
