As New England Patriots fans we have been down this road before, an awesome regular season that garnered the top spot in the AFC. Now that the playoffs are about to start we will see just how good this team rally is. Will it be another postseason of disappointment or one of joy?

The last two seasons the Patriots have been one and done in the playoffs, losing both games at home. In 2010 they lost the hated New York Jets. In 2009 the Baltimore Ravens blew them out. In fact the Patriots have lost their last three playoff games going back to their Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants.

There are a few troubling signs for New England heading into the second season. Here are three that concern me.

Poor starts: Although the Patriots are on an eight game winning streak they have started the last three games in dreadful fashion. Week 15 against the Denver Broncos they fell behind 16-7. The next week, against the Miami Dolphins, they were down 17-0 at the half. Finally in Week 17 they were down 21-0 before they blew past the Buffalo Bills. If they continue this trend into the playoffs a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers would likely crush them. Falling down one score is okay, but trailing by several is an issue. The Patriots offense will become even more predictable, in other words passing on every down, and good defenses will get to Tom Brady.

Passing defense: The Patriots are no longer giving up the most passing yardage per game, now that distinction belongs to the Green Bay Packers, but it is definitely a concern. New England’s pass defense has made some mediocre quarterbacks look like All-Pros. The team’s survival in the playoffs will probably depend on the amount of turnovers they can generate. Having Patrick Chung back is definitely a plus as well. If the Pats can continue their bend but don’t break ways then a long playoff run is possible.

Recent history: I hate to say it but this is the same kind of team that has failed the last two seasons. When the Patriots were winning Super Bowls it was with defense. As much fun as it is sometimes to watch Tom Brady chuck it all around, it would be nice to sometimes play a grind it out style. Unfortunately this team is incapable of that.

Conclusion: In my opinion the Patriots would like to see the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Houston Texans so they could face the Bengals in Foxboro. The Steelers, although a bit banged up, present the biggest challenge of all the possible matchups. I would take the Patriots over the Bengals or the Denver Broncos, but not the Steelers. We will see after this weekend which team the Patriots will draw.

Quick notes: Is it wrong that I took so much pleasure when New York Jets imploded and missed the playoffs? I guess that is what you get when you make Santonio Holmes one of your captains. How long do you think it will be before Rex Ryan tells us the Jets will be in the Super Bowl after the 2012 season?

Also a big congratulations to Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker for the impressive seasons they put together. Welker is my favorite current player and I hope we Patriots fans have at least a few more years of watching this craftsman ply his trade. The fact that Gronkowski broke the record for both yardage and touchdowns by a tight end is impressive. If we are extremely lucky he will be a feared weapon for several years like Shannon Sharpe, Tony Gonzalez, and Antonio Gates.

Darren Pare has been a New England Patriots fan for over 25 years and Steve Grogan, Troy Brown and Wes Welker are his favorite all time players.

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FOXBORO — 

It goes on every week with every team in the NFL. A player goes down and someone shouts, “Man up.”

Injuries are an unwelcome, but grudgingly accepted part of football and no organization is immune to their potentially crippling consequences. But how the talent drain due to sprains, tears, twists, breaks and head shots is dealt with plays a crucial role in determining whether a season will be a success or failure.

The Patriots are 13-2 in large part because Tom Brady, who’s on the verge of becoming the third player in league history to throw for 5,000 yards in a season, has mostly remained upright. That he’s been able to do so despite multiple injuries to his pocket protectors can be directly traced to the universally acknowledged Patriot Way.

“I think there are probably a lot of places that may or may not have handled what we’ve had to go through up front as well,” said Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters, a 12th-year veteran and first-time Patriot. “I think that has to do a lot with the environment here. I think that has a lot to do with the way the organization has been built.

“Over the years you’ve seen a lot of players you’ve never heard of all of a sudden show up and do well and I think it has a lot to do with the way the coaches coach and the way the players take preparation seriously.

“I can definitely say I’ve been around places and been on different teams where a lot of people would have been in frantic or panic situations if they had to deal with some of the things we’ve had to deal with this year.”

At the middle of the medical madness has been the center position, which has dealt with more shuffling than a poker table at Foxwoods. Waters, the only one of the Patriots’ five starting offensive linemen with a chance to play in all 16 games, has lined up next to four different players.

Dan Koppen, who had been snapping for Brady since 2003, suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1. Dan Connolly stepped in at center until he was injured and replaced by Ryan Wendell, who was in turn injured and replaced by Nick McDonald.

Three rather anonymous substitutes, all of whom were undrafted and former practice squad players — two of whom were previously cut by other teams — filled in and did what they were supposed to do with minimal disruption to one of the most complex and prolific offenses in the league.

The bar is set high in Foxboro, and it isn’t lowered for anyone.

“Nobody comes here with limited expectations of themselves because I don’t think that’s going to be allowed here,” Waters said before amending himself. “That’s definitely not allowed here.”

Right tackle Sebastian Vollmer has only been available for six games due to back and foot injuries. Left guard Logan Mankins, a four-time Pro Bowler, suffered a knee injury on Christmas Eve that is expected to sideline him until at least mid-January and left tackle Matt Light, a Pro Bowler last season, missed that game with an ankle injury.

The Patriots replaced that trio against the Dolphins with rookies Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon and journeyman Donald Thomas. And while things were a little rough for one half, the patchwork line ultimately solved its communication issues and allowed Brady to do his thing as the Patriots rallied for a 27-24 victory.

“Everyone knows going into a game that they have to be ready to play,” director of player personnel Nick Caserio said. “Whatever happens before the game, whether it’s a day before the game or the day of the game, there’s really not much you can do about it. We have a lot of confidence in the players that are active for the game, so the expectation is that they’re going to go out there and perform and do their jobs.”

Bill Belichick seconded the motion while pointing out if the coaches didn’t have confidence in the player, he wouldn’t be on the field. You might get called on to douse a fire around here, but you’ll never be thrown into one.

“If they’re out there, we have confidence in them,” Belichick said. “If they’re not out there, there’s either another player ahead of them or we’re not confident that they can go out there and do it. It’s as simple as that. We’re not going to put anybody out there on the field that we don’t have confidence in.”

That in-game trust is built in practice where the offensive line is overseen by one of the best positional coaches in the league.

The Foxboro Faithful are quick to question the credentials of offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien and wonder if Matt Patricia is fit to be defensive coordinator — de facto or otherwise. But when it comes to Dante Scarnecchia, there are no such concerns.

“He does a hell of a job,” O’Brien said of the 63-year-old, no-nonsense assistant who has worked in the NFL since 1982, all but two of the years with the Patriots.

“I can’t say enough about Dante,” Brady said last week during his weekly paid appearance on WEEI. “His leadership at that position. He really handles the offensive line and coaches those guys extremely hard and he expects nothing less than their best every single day in practice and obviously in the game. I think you really see that.”

It all seems so seamlessly simple, but it isn’t. Just ask the 2-13 Rams or 6-9 Bills, both of whom have missed three-fifths of their starting offensive line for much of a season in which they ended up floundering after no one answered the call to “Man up.”

Not much else going on in the NFL world today.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP)—Tom Brady is practicing with the New England
Patriots after being limited in Thursday’s session by an injury to his
non-throwing shoulder.

Two days after sitting out practice, Brady stretched with his teammates
during the brief period open to reporters Friday.

Asked what Brady was able to do Thursday, coach Bill Belichick said Friday:
“Play quarterback, the usual thing.” When asked if Wednesday was a planned day
off for Brady, Belichick said he thought that had been covered.

The Patriots have said Wednesday’s absence was not injury-related.

When asked whether Brady would be able to play Sunday against the Buffalo
Bills, Belichick said that, too, has been covered.

Comcast SportsNet has reported that Brady had X-rays to check for a
separated left shoulder and was told he was “all set.”

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FOXBORO — 

Houston Antwine, one of the Patriots’ top defensive players in their early years, and his wife, Evelyn, have died, the team said yesterday.

Antwine, 72, died Monday in Memphis, Tenn., of heart failure, and his wife died yesterday of lung cancer, the team said.

A member of the Patriots’ 50th Anniversary Team, Antwine played from 1961-71 with the franchise before spending the 1972 season with the Philadelphia Eagles.

In 142 regular-season games for the Patriots, he had 39 sacks, leading the team in that category during the 1967, 1968, and 1969 seasons, although sacks were not an official statistic then.

“For those of us who grew up watching the Boston Patriots, this is a really sad day,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. “In the 1960s, the defensive tackle tandem of ‘Twine’ and Jim Lee Hunt were as good as any in the league and helped propel the Patriots to the franchise’s first division championship in 1963.

“I loved hearing Houston’s stories about those early days in Boston. It was such a thrill for me, personally, to spend time with the players from that era.

“I am saddened to learn of the deaths of both Houston and Evelyn and want to express my deepest sympathies to the Antwines’ daughter, Regina, and all who mourn her losses. Let us all cherish life and remind loved ones how we feel about them daily.”

Antwine attended Southern Illinois, where he became a multiple sport athlete, a defensive tackle and an NAIA wrestling champion.

At 6-foot, 270 pounds, he was drafted by the Houston Oilers in the eighth round (64th overall) in 1961, then traded to the Patriots before ever playing a game for the Oilers. Antwine became a defensive catalyst for the Patriots, making the all-star team from 1963-68.

In addition to making the Patriots’ 1960s All-Decade team, he was chosen to the all-time All-AFL team.

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Houston Antwine, one of the Patriots’ top defensive players in their early years, and his wife, Evelyn, have died, the team said Tuesday.

Antwine, 72, died Monday in Memphis, Tenn., of heart failure, and his wife died Tuesday of lung cancer, the team said.

A member of the Patriots’ 50th Anniversary Team, Antwine played from 1961-71 with the franchise before spending the 1972 season with the Philadelphia Eagles. In 142 regular-season games for the Patriots, he had 39 sacks, leading the team in that category during the 1967, 1968, and 1969 seasons, although sacks were not an official statistic then.

“For those of us who grew up watching the Boston Patriots, this is a really sad day,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. “In the 1960s, the defensive tackle tandem of ‘Twine’ and Jim Lee Hunt were as good as any in the league and helped propel the Patriots to the franchise’s first division championship in 1963.

“I loved hearing Houston’s stories about those early days in Boston. It was such a thrill for me, personally, to spend time with the players from that era.

“I am saddened to learn of the deaths of both Houston and Evelyn and want to express my deepest sympathies to the Antwine’s daughter, Regina, and all who mourn her losses. Let us all cherish life and remind loved ones how we feel about them daily.”

Antwine attended Southern Illinois, where he became a multiple sport athlete, a defensive tackle and an NAIA wrestling champion.

At 6-foot, 270 pounds, he was drafted by the Houston Oilers in the eighth round (64th overall) in 1961, then traded to the Patriots before ever playing a game for the Oilers. Antwine became a defensive catalyst for the Patriots, making the all-star team from 1963-1968.

In addition to making the Patriots 1960s All-Decade team, he was chosen to the all-time All-AFL team.

Services and burial information were not yet available.

What do you guys think about this.

Boston Patriots Houston Antwine. (Photo courtesy New England Patriots)

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AP PHOTO
New England’s Stevan Ridley finds room to run during Saturday’s 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins in Foxboro. The Patriots can lock up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a win over the Bills Sunday.

FOXBORO — The New England Patriots have one major goal remaining in the regular season: clinching home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. All they need to do is beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

That doesn’t seem so difficult for a team that has won its last seven games and will be at home against one that dropped seven straight before winning Saturday.

The Patriots (12-3) must keep avoiding turnovers and get decent play out of a makeshift offensive line should two starters remain sidelined. But the Bills (6-9) won 34-31 in the third game of the season, handing the Patriots one of their three losses. The Patriots gave the ball away four times in that game, all on Tom Brady’s interceptions leading to 24 points.

“I think everyone still has a pretty bitter taste in our mouths from the last time we lost to the Buffalo Bills,” Brady said Monday on WEEI radio. “It was an incredibly difficult loss for our team. Everyone is going to be excited to go out there and see if we can do a better job.”

They’ve done much better at hanging on to the ball throughout their winning streak. In those seven games, the Patriots have 16 takeaways and just two giveaways. They lead the AFC with a plus-14 turnover differential.

In their first eight games, that differential was zero — 14 takeaways and 14 giveaways.

“In the beginning of the season, it just wasn’t very good,” offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said Monday. “It’s kind of ironic playing

Buffalo this week and the challenges that they present. We turned the ball over four times against Buffalo in that game and we can’t do that. That’s just no way to win.”

Brady has thrown just one interception in the last seven games after having 10 in the first eight.

“Tom has done a much better job of taking care of the ball and he’s very, very conscious of it and it carries over to the rest of the offense,” O’Brien said. “If we can just continue to do that, that’s one of the major stats that equals wins, just taking care of the ball. The way our defense has been playing opportunistic football, that’s going to help us going forward.”

With better protection, Brady has more time to stand in the backfield and allow his receivers to get open. That was a big problem early in Saturday’s 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins in which the Patriots trailed 17-0 at halftime.

Left tackle Matt Light didn’t play after hurting his ankle in pregame warmups. Left guard Logan Mankins started but suffered a knee injury in the first quarter that ended his day. There was no word on whether either would face the Bills.

“I don’t really know much more than I knew on Saturday” about Mankins, coach Bill Belichick said. “(Sunday) was Christmas, so today’s not a normal Monday. We’ll see where everybody is today and, more importantly, Wednesday when we hit the field again.”

Brady was sacked twice on New England’s first 10 offensive plays against Miami and was hurried often. But with offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia making adjustments, the protection was much better in the second half with rookie tackles Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon, and free agent guard Donald Thomas filling in.

“We have a lot of depth up there because we bring in guys that are multiple position guys,” O’Brien said. “They’re smart guys, they’re tough guys and then Dante gets them ready to play. When one guy goes down, it’s really the next-guy-up mentality.”

Scarnecchia has had plenty of experience with that. He’s in his 28th year as a Patriots assistant, the last 12 as offensive line coach and assistant head coach under Belichick. They also were New England assistants under Bill Parcells in 1996.

“Dante, as I’ve said many times before, is really just an outstanding coach at every level, whether it’s working with experienced players or developing young players or game planning against sophisticated schemes or teaching the most basic techniques to rookies, undrafted players, things like that,” Belichick said.

“He really is very thorough, well prepared, smart, communicates well with his players. … He’s done a great job all the years that I’ve been here.”

Scarnecchia has coached in 32 of the Patriots’ 36 playoff games. He, and the rest of the team, would like to play two at home this season. If they win those, they’ll reach the Super Bowl.

But Brady is focusing on beating the Bills. If the Patriots lose, they can earn the top seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs only if both Baltimore and Pittsburgh lose.

“It’s hard to not be aware of” possible playoff opponents, Brady said. “We definitely don’t sit there in team meeting rooms and say, ‘These are all the scenarios that can play out.’ … We really are concerned with how we’re performing.”

Gotta run!.

By beating the Bills on Sunday, Tom Brady and the Patriots can celebrate earning the No. 1 seed in the upcoming AFC playoffs. AP PHOTO

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site.

FOXBORO — The New England Patriots have one major goal remaining in the regular season: clinching home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. All they need to do is beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

That doesn’t seem so difficult for a team that has won its last seven games and will be at home against one that dropped seven straight before winning Saturday.

The Patriots (12-3) must keep avoiding turnovers and get decent play out of a makeshift offensive line should two starters remain sidelined. But the Bills (6-9) won 34-31 in the third game of the season, handing the Patriots one of their three losses. The Patriots gave the ball away four times in that game, all on Tom Brady’s interceptions leading to 24 points.

Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker outruns Miami Dolphins inside linebacker Kevin Burnett during the second half last Saturday. AP PHOTO

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site.

“I think everyone still has a pretty bitter taste in our mouths from the last time we lost to the Buffalo Bills,” Brady said yesterday on WEEI radio. “It was an incredibly difficult loss for our team. Everyone is going to be excited to go out there and see if we can do a better job.”

They’ve done much better at hanging on to the ball throughout their winning streak. In those seven games, the Patriots have 16 takeaways and just two giveaways. They lead the AFC with a plus-14 turnover differential.

In their first eight games, that differential was zero — 14 takeaways and 14 giveaways.

“In the beginning of the season, it just wasn’t very good,” offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said yesterday. “It’s kind of ironic playing

Buffalo this week and the challenges that they present. We turned the ball over four times against Buffalo in that game and we can’t do that. That’s just no way to win.”

Brady has thrown just one interception in the last seven games after having 10 in the first eight.

“Tom has done a much better job of taking care of the ball and he’s very, very conscious of it and it carries over to the rest of the offense,” O’Brien said. “If we can just continue to do that, that’s one of the major stats that equals wins, just taking care of the ball. The way our defense has been playing opportunistic football, that’s going to help us going forward.”

With better protection, Brady has more time to stand in the backfield and allow his receivers to get open. That was a big problem early in Saturday’s 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins in which the Patriots trailed 17-0 at halftime.

Left tackle Matt Light didn’t play after hurting his ankle in pregame warmups. Left guard Logan Mankins started but suffered a knee injury in the first quarter that ended his day.

There was no word on whether either would face the Bills.

“I don’t really know much more than I knew on Saturday” about Mankins, coach Bill Belichick said. “(Sunday) was Christmas, so today’s not a normal Monday. We’ll see where everybody is today and, more importantly, Wednesday when we hit the field again.”

Brady was sacked twice on New England’s first 10 offensive plays against Miami and was hurried often. But with offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia making adjustments, the protection was much better in the second half with rookie tackles Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon, and free agent guard Donald Thomas filling in.

“We have a lot of depth up there because we bring in guys that are multiple position guys,” O’Brien said. “They’re smart guys, they’re tough guys and then Dante gets them ready to play. When one guy goes down, it’s really the next-guy-up mentality.”

That’s all the news for today.

The New England Patriots cut two players from their practice roster today: defensive back Ross Ventrone and defensive lineman Cedric McKinley.

Ventrone played in eight games this season for the Patriots and made two solo tackles. The Patriots originally signed Ventrone in 2010 as a rookie out of Villanova. He remained on the practice squad of New England for most of the 2010 season.

McKinley did not play in any games for New England in 2011. McKinley was undrafted out of Minnesota and signed to the Vikings’ practice squad in 2010. The Patriots signed McKinley to the practice squad roster on Dec. 20., 2011.

The Patriots (12-3), which have already won the AFC East division, are preparing for the final regular season game against the Buffalo Bills (6-9) at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 1 at 1 p.m.

For more coverage of the Patriots, visit our team page or our blog Pats Pulpit.

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Read More: Tom Brady (QB – NEP), Reggie Bush (RB – MIA), Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots

The New England Patriots (12-3) fell behind 17-0 at halftime of their Week 16 matchup with the Miami Dolphins (5-10) only to storm back and score 27 of the game’s final 34 points in a 27-24 come-from-behind win at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. It was New England’s seventh straight win.

Miami jumped on the Patriots early, with Matt Moore burning the suspect New England secondary for two first half touchdown passes. The Dolphins held Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in check, as the New England signal caller completed just 7 of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three times.

Brady and the Patriots offense erupted, however, in the second half. He completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards, finishing the game 27 for 46 for 304 yards.

Reggie Bush was stellar again for the Dolphins, gaining over 100 yards on the ground for a fourth straight game. He finished the day with 113 yards on 22 carries.

For more on the Dolphins, please visit The Phinsider, SB Nation’s Dolphins blog. For the perspective from the other side, please visit SB Nation Boston and Pats Pulpit, SB Nation’s Patriots blog.

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FOXBORO — 

The AFC Championship will be played 28 days from today. The Patriots nearly lost it yesterday before rallying for a 27-24 win over the Dolphins.

The Patriots had worked so hard over the last six weeks to go from a three-way tie with the likeable Bills and hated Jets in the AFC East to first place in the whole AFC, one game up on the Ravens, Steelers and Texans with two to play.

All they needed to do was to win out — on home turf, no less — and they’d be seeded first in the conference playoffs. That would mean a first-round bye and home-field advantage, the latter a particularly valuable chip since it eliminates the possibility of playing in Baltimore or Pittsburgh in January.

The Ravens went 8-0 at home this season. The Steelers were 7-1, including a win over the Patriots in Week 8.

So the mission was clear as the Patriots took the field yesterday on a frigid Christmas Eve afternoon. But despite there hardly being a cloud in the sky, they spent the first 30 minutes in a fog, falling behind, 17-0.

To make matters worse, the Ravens and Steelers were both rolling and appeared poised to join the Patriots atop the wins chart.

Despite having an offense that couldn’t get started and a defense that couldn’t make a stop, the Patriots retained their poise as they retreated to the locker room.

“There was no one who was going crazy,” said guard Donald Thomas, who was pressed into making his first start in two years — when he played for Miami, ironically enough — as part of a patched-up offensive line that made due without Pro Bowlers Matt Light and Logan Mankins for all or most of the day.

“We all knew what we had to do; we all knew what we were capable of doing. We all know what kind of offense we have and what kind of team we are. So it was basically everybody had to look in the mirror and at each other and pick it up. And that’s what we did.”

The Patriots were as out of synch as a group of 6-year-old dancers. But they remained resilient, a key component of any championship-chasing club.

The comeback started innocently enough, the Patriots taking the opening kickoff of the second half and putting together a modest drive that netted them three points. Then came the play of the game, Vince Wilfork throwing his 335-pound (ha, ha) frame on a Matt Moore fumble at the Miami 38.

The Dolphins, like the Broncos the week before, had jumped out to a big lead on the Patriots. And the Dolphins, like the Broncos, gifted away what appeared to be a surefire win.

The Patriots gladly accepted the pre-holiday present, turning it into a 1-yard touchdown reception by Deion Branch that reduced the deficit to 17-10. The game wasn’t over, but the Dolphins were finished.

“The defense comes up with a huge turnover and for us to execute and put some points on the board was huge,” Thomas said. “It really kills the momentum of the other team and the psyche of them. I think that’s what happened today.”

The Patriots would score 27 straight points before the Dolphins finally answered with a token touchdown that was only meaningful to the wags in Vegas.

So the good news is the Patriots, winners of seven straight, are 12-3 and remain on track to nab the top seed, although as Wilfork noted, “We’ve had byes before and it wasn’t pretty.”

And while hardly unstoppable — not with that defense — they have proven to be unflappable.

The bad news is falling behind by two scores to the Broncos and three scores to the Dolphins is no way to run a company that’s in business to win games. That budding trend wasn’t lost on the Patriots.

“The key is that we keep getting in bad spots,” guard Brian Waters said. “That’s something we have to continue to work on so we’re not getting in those situations. But the fact we have a very calm and focused demeanor says a lot about the individuals we have around here.

“And the fact we have a great coaching staff that is going to put us in the position we need to be in to be successful. If we trust that and trust in one another to do our jobs we have a pretty good chance of doing well.”Whether the Patriots win the AFC Championship remains to be seen, but they certainly enhanced their chances by not losing yesterday.

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady and the New England Patriots looked lost in a terrible first half. Then they rallied to finish as winners, clinching a playoff bye with a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.

The Patriots trailed, 17-0, at halftime then scored on their first five possessions in the second half. The Dolphins helped when Matt Moore lost a fumble at his 38-yard line, then threw an interception that Devin McCourty picked off at the Patriots’ 2.

New England (12-3) won its seventh straight game. After Houston lost to Indianapolis on Thursday night, the Patriots needed a win or a tie to lock up one of the top two spots in the AFC.

Miami (5-10) lost for the third time in eight games after opening at 0-7 and is 1-1 under Todd Bowles, who took over when Tony Sparano was fired.

But the Dolphins seemed headed for a victory and got a break even before the game started when Patriots left tackle Matt Light hurt his ankle in warm-ups and didn’t play. Left guard Logan Mankins took his spot, but he left with a knee injury suffered on New England’s second series.

Their absence showed as the Dolphins kept pressuring Brady. He completed 7 of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three times in the half. But once the third quarter began, Brady and the Patriots looked completely different starting with the very first play, a 22-yard completion to Rob Gronkowski.

Brady completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards in the second half, finishing at 27-for-46 for 304 and leading one scoring drive after another — a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, a 1-yard pass to Deion Branch, a 1-yard sneak by Brady that tied the game, a go-ahead 42-yard field goal by Gostkowski after McCourty’s first interception of the year and another 1-yard sneak by Brady with 2:56 to go.

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That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

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