Dec. 27, 2011 10:28 PM
Associated Press

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

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

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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

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“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.

There are numerous reasons for the Patriots’ second-half turnaround, not the least of which is a lack of turnovers.

Sure, it has helped that the Patriots have averaged 34.6 points and faced a string of second-string quarterbacks during their seven-game winning streak, which has seen them go from 5-3 and tied for first place in the AFC East to 12-3 and the top spot in the conference.

But you dramatically improve your chances of scoring — and winning — when you don’t give the ball away. The Patriots have been doing all three for quite a spell now.

They committed 14 turnovers in their first eight games, their generosity placing them in the middle of the league. They have two giveaways in the last seven games and are now tied with the Saints (16) for third fewest, behind the 49ers (10) and Packers (12).

“We talk about it every day,” coach Bill Belichick said yesterday of the nonstop emphasis on ball security at One Patriot Place. “We talk about it from the first day of training camp. We talk about it every day, every week, every game. It’s a top priority for us — protect the football whenever we handle it, whether it’s on offense or in the kicking game or if we’re on defense and get possession of the ball.

“There’s never a day that goes by that it doesn’t get talked about and emphasized. Of course the players are aware of it, as they should be. They know how important it is and so does everybody else.”

Half of the Patriots’ turnovers have come in two games. They had four each in a 34-31 loss to the Bills in Week 3 and a 24-20 setback to the Giants in Week 9.

Since losing to the Giants, the only giveaways have been a lost Tom Brady fumble against the Chiefs and that infamous red-zone interception by Brady against the Redskins.

“I think it starts with the quarterback,” offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said. “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. 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.”

The defense has 30 takeaways, tied for fourth most in the league. The Patriots have a plus-14 turnover differential for the season, which ranks third.

The Patriots are 92-4 (.958) since 2001 when finishing with a positive turnover differential, including 9-1 this season. The loss came against the Steelers when they finished at plus-1 with no giveaways.

The Patriots are 17-8 (.680) when finishing with an even differential during that span. They’re 24-30 (.444) when finishing with a negative number, including 2-2 this season.

You might recall the Patriots set a league record for fewest turnovers in a season with 10 last year. Even more impressive, it was accomplished in 16 games. The Chiefs had the old record of 12, set during the nine-game, strike-shortened season of 1982.

So the 49ers can tie the Patriots’ mark if they have no giveaways against the Rams on Sunday.

Silvestro replaces Carter

The Patriots didn’t make a big splash when it came to replacing injured defensive end Andre Carter on the roster, opting to promote undrafted rookie Alex Silvestro from the practice squad Friday.

Silvestro made his NFL debut the next day in a 27-24 win over the Dolphins. He was in for about a dozen snaps on defense while also playing a bit on special teams.

“Smart guy, works hard,” director of player personnel Nick Caserio said. “(He) has a little bit of position versatility along the front — he can play on the edge, to a degree can play on the inside, and has some value in the kicking game as well.

“He’s done a good job for us during the season on the look (scout) team and when he’s had his opportunities in practice defensively. That’s why we brought him up for the game. He had a handful of plays that he was on the field for, so we’ll see what happens here moving forward.”

Silvestro attended Rutgers, which is also the alma mater of Nate Jones, Devin McCourty and Tiquan Underwood. That makes it the most represented school on the Patriots roster.

The Patriots have three players from Purdue (Niko Koutouvides, Matt Light, Rob Ninkovich) and from Florida (Aaron Hernandez, Brandon Spikes, Gerard Warren). There would be four Gators, but Jermaine Cunningham is on injured reserve.

Extra Points

The Patriots released safety Ross Ventrone from the 53-man roster and defensive lineman Cedric McKinley, who was signed Dec. 20, from the practice squad. Don’t be surprised if Ventrone, who is a human transaction machine, is signed to the practice squad in the days to come. … Belichick had nothing to offer in the way of an update on Pro Bowl guard Logan Mankins, who injured his left knee early in the first quarter Saturday and didn’t return.

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP)—The New England Patriots emphasize playing well for
60 minutes every game. On Saturday, 30 was enough—barely.

Rallying from their worst half of the season, the Patriots scored on their
next five possessions and clinched a playoff bye with a 27-24 win over the Miami
Dolphins on Saturday.

“You don’t want to, certainly, make a habit of this,” said Tom Brady, who
scored on two 1-yard sneaks and threw for a 1-yard touchdown. “We showed some
resiliency.”

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

“It’s good to clinch,” said Deion Branch, who caught the touchdown pass
from Brady, “but not by the way we played. It’s not the way you want to do
it.”

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.

“First half we came out and played our tempo and our ballgame,” Bowles
said. “The second half they made us play theirs.”

The AFC East champions trailed 17-0 at halftime but made the necessary
adjustments and went to their no-huddle offense more, keeping the Dolphins from
making defensive substitutions. And Brady was on target after a first half in
which heavy defensive pressure against a makeshift offensive line affected his
accuracy. He completed just 7 of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three
times in the half.

But in the second half, he completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards,
finishing at 27 for 46 for 304 yards and leading one scoring drive after another
— a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, the scoring pass to Branch, his
own sneak that tied the game, Gostkowski’s 42-yard go-ahead kick after Devin
McCourty’s first interception of the year, and the other sneak with 2:56 to go,
making it 27-17.

The Dolphins made it closer on Matt Moore’s 15-yard scoring pass to Davone
Bess with 1:48 to play. They had three timeouts left, but their hopes faded when
Brady hit Wes Welker for a 6-yard gain and a first down.

“We had (Brady’s) number in the first half, but in the second half he came
out and made a lot of plays,” Miami linebacker Karlos Dansby said. “He is a
coach on the field.”

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 warmups 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.

“There’s always things that are going to go wrong in a football game and
things aren’t going to work out the way you want them to all the time,” said
Welker, who finished with 12 catches for 138 yards after managing just two for
20 in the first half. “The main thing is just playing a full 60 minutes and
never giving in and understanding that one drive and one score (can) get things
going.”

The Patriots punted on their first six series of the first half then missed
a field goal on the other. The Dolphins struggled in the second half when Moore
fumbled the snap at his 38-yard line and Vince Wilfork recovered, starting the
drive capped by Branch’s touchdown.

“They committed penalties in the first half,” Dolphins guard Richie
Incognito said. “We turned the ball over and committed penalties in the second
half. That is never a good recipe.”

Reggie Bush had another outstanding game for Miami with his fourth straight
rushing day of at least 100 yards. He finished with 113 on 22 carries one week
after gaining a career-high 203 yards.

His latest performance gave him 1,086 yards rushing for the season, the
first time in his six years, the first five with the New Orleans Saints, that he
passed 1,000.

“It really doesn’t mean anything right now,” he said. “This one’s pretty
tough.”

The Dolphins had taken a 3-0 lead on Dan Carpenter’s 47-yard field goal 4:01
into the game and made it 10-0 with 1:15 gone in the second quarter on Moore’s
19-yard pass to Brandon Marshall.

They stretched that to 17-0, the Patriots biggest deficit of the season, on
a 1-yard touchdown pass from Moore to Charles Clay. The 89-yard drive was helped
by two defensive pass interference penalties on third down.

But the Patriots remained calm in the locker room at intermission.

“There wasn’t a bunch of yelling,” Wilfork said. “We just came in and
said we’ve got to play better, we’ve got to make more plays.”

They did. The Dolphins didn’t.

“Our guys fought,” Bowles said, “but we didn’t finish.”

Notes: Welker set a franchise record for one season with 1,518 yards
receiving. He broke the mark of 1,493 set by Randy Moss in 2007. … Bush was
checked my medical personnel on the sideline late in the game “Something in my
leg just didn’t feel right,” he said. “I’m walking. If it was serious, I
wouldn’t be walking.” … Moore completed 17 of 33 passes for 294 yards, his
highest total as a Dolphin. He threw for more than that with the Carolina
Panthers once in 2009 and once in 2010. … The victory was the largest comeback
by the Patriots from a second-half deficit since Nov. 10, 2002 when they beat
the Chicago Bears 33-30 after trailing 27-6 in the third quarter.

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FOXBOROUGH, MASS.—

A common word thrown around the Miami Dolphins’ locker room this season has been “winnable.” That’s what happens when a team piles up defeats in games they probably should have won. The latest example was Saturday’s 27-24 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

The Dolphins blew a 17-point, halftime lead, creating an all too familiar post-game mood. The Patriots, meanwhile, clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs.

“We didn’t finish,” linebacker Jason Taylor said. “They made a lot of plays in the second half. We made a lot of mistakes, missed some tackles … I think it was a very winnable game for us. When you play against a quality opponent, you can’t make some of the mistakes that we made.”

The Dolphins (5-10) have now lost five games by three points or less. This one was probably the toughest to stomach because at one point they were dominating perhaps the AFC’s best team. Miami was so in control it had the New England crowd of 68,756 booing beloved quarterback Tom Brady in the first half.

Then Brady began playing like Brady.

After enduring his worst half of the season, he completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards and a touchdown in the second half. Brady then connected with Wes Welker for a six-yard pass on 3rd-and-5 on the final drive to close out the Dolphins.

“That’s what everybody across the world knows,” cornerback Vontae Davis said. “Tom Brady, that’s what he’s capable of … That’s Tom Brady. He’s an elite quarterback in this league. You can stop him three quarters. You give him the fourth quarter to comeback, he’s gonna come back.”

Brady, who finished 27 of 46 for 304 yards, did most of the damage after New England switched to a no-huddle offense in the third quarter. It eliminated the pressure the Dolphins were able to get on Brady in the first half.

That helped the Dolphins force the Patriots (12-3) into three-and-outs on three consecutive possessions. The halftime adjustments were evident, with New England gaining 293 yards in the second half. Welker had 12 receptions for 138 yards.

“We knew halftime would be 0-0,” interim coach Todd Bowles said. “We knew these guys would come back out and fight. We got back out and we fought. We just didn’t play smart. They made the plays, we didn’t.”

After kicker Stephen Gostkowski got New England on the scoreboard with a 45-yard field goal in the third quarter, the unraveling of the Dolphins began.

Quarterback Matt Moore fumbled on the next possession, giving the Patriots the ball at the 38. Brady then hit Deion Branch on a one-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-10 with 7 minutes, 10 seconds left in the quarter.

On the next series, Brady once again took advantage of a short field. The 41-yard drive ended with Brady scoring on a one-yard touchdown run that tied the score.

The Dolphins were on the verge of answering when Moore made perhaps the most costly of his mistakes. Receiver Brian Hartline had beaten Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty on a fly pattern, but Moore’s pass was badly underthrown.

The play resulted in an interception by McCourty at the 2.The Patriots used the opportunity to grab their first lead on a 42-yard field goal by Gostkowski.

“It’s frustrating,” receiver Brandon Marshall said. “But the whole season is frustrating. We got a lot of heart in this locker room but unfortunately sometimes we’ve just got to make plays. We’ve got one more game left and we’re going to go out there and try to win it.”

Scoring plays

Patriots 27, Dolphins 24

Scoring play: Davone Bess catches a 15-yard pass from Matt Moore as the Dolphins claw back to within three; Dan Carpenter kicks the PAT

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP)

WEEK 16 SCOREBOARD

• Colts 19, Texans 16
• Steelers 27, Rams 0
• Bengals 23, Cardinals 16
• Giants 29, Jets 14
• Titans 23, Jaguars 17
• Patriots 27, Dolphins 24
• Bills 40, Broncos 14
• Panthers 48, Buccaneers 16
• Vikings 33, Redskins 26
• Raiders 16, Chiefs 13 (OT)
• Ravens 20, Browns 14
• Lions 38, Chargers 10
• Eagles 20, Cowboys 7
• 49ers 19, Seahawks 17
• Bears-Packers
• Falcons-Saints

The New England Patriots emphasize playing well for 60 minutes every game. On Saturday, 30 was enough – barely.

Rallying from their worst half of the season, the Patriots scored on their next five possessions and clinched a playoff bye with a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.

”You don’t want to, certainly, make a habit of this,” said Tom Brady, who scored on two 1-yard sneaks and threw for a 1-yard touchdown. ”We showed some resiliency.”

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

”It’s good to clinch,” said Deion Branch, who caught the touchdown pass from Brady, ”but not by the way we played. It’s not the way you want to do it.”

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.

”First half we came out and played our tempo and our ballgame,” Bowles said. ”The second half they made us play theirs.”

The AFC East champions trailed 17-0 at halftime but made the necessary adjustments and went to their no-huddle offense more, keeping the Dolphins from making defensive substitutions. And Brady was on target after a first half in which heavy defensive pressure against a makeshift offensive line affected his accuracy. He completed just 7 of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three times in the half.

But in the second half, he completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards, finishing at 27 for 46 for 304 yards and leading one scoring drive after another – a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, the scoring pass to Branch, his own sneak that tied the game, Gostkowski’s 42-yard go-ahead kick after Devin McCourty’s first interception of the year, and the other sneak with 2:56 to go, making it 27-17.

The Dolphins made it closer on Matt Moore’s 15-yard scoring pass to Davone Bess with 1:48 to play. They had three timeouts left, but their hopes faded when Brady hit Wes Welker for a 6-yard gain and a first down.

”We had (Brady’s) number in the first half, but in the second half he came out and made a lot of plays,” Miami linebacker Karlos Dansby said. ”He is a coach on the field.”

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 warmups 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.

”There’s always things that are going to go wrong in a football game and things aren’t going to work out the way you want them to all the time,” said Welker, who finished with 12 catches for 138 yards after managing just two for 20 in the first half. ”The main thing is just playing a full 60 minutes and never giving in and understanding that one drive and one score (can) get things going.”

The Patriots punted on their first six series of the first half then missed a field goal on the other. The Dolphins struggled in the second half when Moore fumbled the snap at his 38-yard line and Vince Wilfork recovered, starting the drive capped by Branch’s touchdown.

”They committed penalties in the first half,” Dolphins guard Richie Incognito said. ”We turned the ball over and committed penalties in the second half. That is never a good recipe.”

Reggie Bush had another outstanding game for Miami with his fourth straight rushing day of at least 100 yards. He finished with 113 on 22 carries one week after gaining a career-high 203 yards.

His latest performance gave him 1,086 yards rushing for the season, the first time in his six years, the first five with the New Orleans Saints, that he passed 1,000.

”It really doesn’t mean anything right now,” he said. ”This one’s pretty tough.”

The Dolphins had taken a 3-0 lead on Dan Carpenter’s 47-yard field goal 4:01 into the game and made it 10-0 with 1:15 gone in the second quarter on Moore’s 19-yard pass to Brandon Marshall.

They stretched that to 17-0, the Patriots biggest deficit of the season, on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Moore to Charles Clay. The 89-yard drive was helped by two defensive pass interference penalties on third down.

But the Patriots remained calm in the locker room at intermission.

”There wasn’t a bunch of yelling,” Wilfork said. ”We just came in and said we’ve got to play better, we’ve got to make more plays.”

They did. The Dolphins didn’t.

”Our guys fought,” Bowles said, ”but we didn’t finish.”

Notes: Welker set a franchise record for one season with 1,518 yards receiving. He broke the mark of 1,493 set by Randy Moss in 2007. … Bush was checked my medical personnel on the sideline late in the game ”Something in my leg just didn’t feel right,” he said. ”I’m walking. If it was serious, I wouldn’t be walking.” … Moore completed 17 of 33 passes for 294 yards, his highest total as a Dolphin. He threw for more than that with the Carolina Panthers once in 2009 and once in 2010. … The victory was the largest comeback by the Patriots from a second-half deficit since Nov. 10, 2002 when they beat the Chicago Bears 33-30 after trailing 27-6 in the third quarter.

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

CBSSports.com wire reports
Dec. 24, 2011

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots emphasize playing well for 60 minutes every game. On Saturday, 30 was enough — barely.

Rallying from their worst half of the season, the Patriots scored on their next five possessions and clinched a playoff bye with a 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.

“You don’t want to, certainly, make a habit of this,” said Tom Brady, who scored on two 1-yard sneaks and threw for a 1-yard touchdown. “We showed some resiliency.”

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

“It’s good to clinch,” said Deion Branch, who caught the touchdown pass from Brady, “but not by the way we played. It’s not the way you want to do it.”

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.

“First half we came out and played our tempo and our ballgame,” Bowles said. “The second half they made us play theirs.”

The AFC East champions trailed 17-0 at halftime but made the necessary adjustments and went to their no-huddle offense more, keeping the Dolphins from making defensive substitutions. And Brady was on target after a first half in which heavy defensive pressure against a makeshift offensive line affected his accuracy. He completed just 7 of 19 passes for 87 yards and was sacked three times in the half.

But in the second half, he completed 20 of 27 passes for 217 yards, finishing at 27 for 46 for 304 yards and leading one scoring drive after another — a 45-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, the scoring pass to Branch, his own sneak that tied the game, Gostkowski’s 42-yard go-ahead kick after Devin McCourty’s first interception of the year, and the other sneak with 2:56 to go, making it 27-17.

The Dolphins made it closer on Matt Moore’s 15-yard scoring pass to Davone Bess with 1:48 to play. They had three timeouts left, but their hopes faded when Brady hit Wes Welker for a 6-yard gain and a first down.

“We had [Brady's] number in the first half, but in the second half he came out and made a lot of plays,” Miami linebacker Karlos Dansby said. “He is a coach on the field.”

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 warmups 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.

“There’s always things that are going to go wrong in a football game and things aren’t going to work out the way you want them to all the time,” said Welker, who finished with 12 catches for 138 yards after managing just two for 20 in the first half. “The main thing is just playing a full 60 minutes and never giving in and understanding that one drive and one score [can] get things going.”

The Patriots punted on their first six series of the first half then missed a field goal on the other. The Dolphins struggled in the second half when Moore fumbled the snap at his 38-yard line and Vince Wilfork recovered, starting the drive capped by Branch’s touchdown.

“They committed penalties in the first half,” Dolphins guard Richie Incognito said. “We turned the ball over and committed penalties in the second half. That is never a good recipe.”

Reggie Bush had another outstanding game for Miami with his fourth straight rushing day of at least 100 yards. He finished with 113 on 22 carries one week after gaining a career-high 203 yards.

His latest performance gave him 1,086 yards rushing for the season, the first time in his six years, the first five with the New Orleans Saints, that he passed 1,000.

“It really doesn’t mean anything right now,” he said. “This one’s pretty tough.”

The Dolphins had taken a 3-0 lead on Dan Carpenter’s 47-yard field goal 4:01 into the game and made it 10-0 with 1:15 gone in the second quarter on Moore’s 19-yard pass to Brandon Marshall.

They stretched that to 17-0, the Patriots biggest deficit of the season, on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Moore to Charles Clay. The 89-yard drive was helped by two defensive pass interference penalties on third down.

But the Patriots remained calm in the locker room at intermission.

“There wasn’t a bunch of yelling,” Wilfork said. “We just came in and said we’ve got to play better, we’ve got to make more plays.”

They did. The Dolphins didn’t.

“Our guys fought,” Bowles said, “but we didn’t finish.”

Notes

• Welker set a franchise record for one season with 1,518 yards receiving. He broke the mark of 1,493 set by Randy Moss in 2007.
• Bush was checked my medical personnel on the sideline late in the game “Something in my leg just didn’t feel right,” he said. “I’m walking. If it was serious, I wouldn’t be walking.”
• Moore completed 17 of 33 passes for 294 yards, his highest total as a Dolphin. He threw for more than that with the Carolina Panthers once in 2009 and once in 2010.
• The victory was the largest comeback by the Patriots from a second-half deficit since Nov. 10, 2002 when they beat the Chicago Bears 33-30 after trailing 27-6 in the third quarter.

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After a weekend in which every relevant result broke the
New England Patriots
‘ way, their path to the No. 1 seed in the AFC couldn’t be clearer.

It remains murky, however, whether their struggling defense can improve enough to make a playoff run – especially without
their biggest pass-rushing presence.

The Patriots must move on without standout defensive end
Andre Carter
as they try to move closer to securing home-field advantage throughout the postseason Saturday by defeating the
Miami Dolphins
.

Home victories the next two weeks over 5-9 foes Miami and Buffalo would ensure New England (11-3) won’t play anywhere but
Foxborough until either the Super Bowl or next season.

Of course, the Patriots also had the conference’s top seed last postseason, only to be upset by the rival
New York Jets
in the divisional round – the second straight year they’ve dropped their playoff opener at home.

Despite its stellar record, Bill Belichick’s team hardly seems like a safe bet to return to the Super Bowl for the first time
since its bid for a perfect season was spoiled there four years ago.

The
Tom Brady
-led offense is typically potent, having averaged 35.8 points during the club’s six-game winning streak. New England’s defense,
though, has allowed more yards than any other team’s, and the season-ending quadriceps injury Carter suffered last week in
Denver certainly won’t help.

“That’s tough. Andre puts so much in with his leadership alone,” defensive tackle
Vince Wilfork
said. “He hasn’t really won a lot in his career, but now he’s winning, he’s happy here, he’s having fun, he’s playing well.
To see him go down, it’s a blow.”

Playing primarily at end in a newly installed 4-3 scheme, Carter provided the Patriots with a team-high 10 sacks. Without
him, it’s possible the club could return to more of the 3-4 arrangement it has used in past years.

“We used them both at different times for different reasons,” Belichick said. “In the end, it comes back to the players -
beating blocks, making tackles, hitting the quarterback, covering the receivers.”

New England didn’t do much of any of that while allowing 167 yards on the ground in the first quarter Sunday, falling behind
16-7 early in the second. But the offense responded with 27 straight points and the defense tightened to cool down
Tim Tebow
and the Broncos in a 41-23 drubbing.

Not only did the win clinch the club’s ninth AFC East title in 11 years, but the three other teams that had been tied at 10-3
atop the conference – Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston – lost.

“I don’t think we’ve got enough time to smile,” cornerback
Devin McCourty
said. “We see that happen, but I think it really (emphasizes) how important it is for us to keep playing well and to be ready
to go on Saturday.”

Saturday’s game seems straightforward enough for the Patriots, who’ve outscored the Dolphins 117-45 in winning all three meetings
over the last two seasons.

Miami has looked like a vastly improved team lately, however, winning five of seven since an 0-7 start. The revival wasn’t
good enough to save Tony Sparano’s job, but the Dolphins won their first game under interim coach Todd Bowles, overcoming
wintry weather for a 30-23 victory at Buffalo last week.

While
Matt Moore
has thrown 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions in the last seven games,
Reggie Bush
‘s renaissance has powered Miami lately, with the former USC star finally fulfilling the lofty expectations placed on him
when he was drafted No. 2 overall by New Orleans in 2006.

With one 100-yard rushing game in five seasons with the Saints, Bush has four for the Dolphins this season – including each
of the last three contests. He posted career highs of 203 yards and 25 carries against the Bills, ripping off a 76-yard touchdown
run in the fourth quarter to all but seal the game.

“I understand the questions,” Bush said. “I was hurt a few years and I wasn’t getting a lot of touches and yards. Rightfully
so, people should be questioning whether I can do it or not. But I know given the opportunity, I can show that I can be a
good back.”

The Patriots limited Bush to 38 yards on 11 carries in the season opener while Brady stole the show, passing for a team-record
517 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-24 victory Sept. 12.

“Embarrassing,” Miami safety
Yeremiah Bell
said. “That can’t happen.”

Wes Welker
had eight catches for 160 yards in that game, including a 99-yard touchdown. The NFL leader with 104 receptions for a career-high
1,380 yards, Welker has averaged 105.4 receiving yards in eight meetings with the Dolphins, who traded him to New England
in 2007.

The Patriots’ passing attack proved last week that opponents must pick their poison. With Welker and star tight end
Rob Gronkowski
combining for just eight catches and 94 yards, tight end
Aaron Hernandez
stepped up with nine catches for 129 yards and a touchdown.

“You never know who is going to be heavily involved,” Gronkowski said.

Not much else going on in the NFL world today.

That’s all the news for today.

By DAVID J. NEAL The Miami Herald

Comment Below!.

Patriots, Dolphins still have plenty to play for

By HOWARD ULMAN

AP Sports Writer

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) The New England Patriots are in the playoffs for the ninth time in 11 years. The Miami Dolphins missed them for the ninth time in 10.

Both, though, have a lot at stake on Saturday with the Patriots going for a first-round bye and many Dolphins playing for jobs next season.

And both have the same approach to moving toward those goals. Forget about them.

“Right now, all we’re worried about is Miami,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick told reporters. “All the rest of it is just something for you guys to write about.”

Todd Bowles, a head coach for just one NFL game compared with Belichick’s 291, isn’t focused on what a victory would mean for his future in that position.

“I don’t have any expectations, really,” he said. “I’m just trying to get the guys to play hard and play better and play fast and try to come out with wins. I don’t control those decisions.”

The Patriots (11-3) clinched their third straight AFC East title last Sunday with a 41-23 win at the Denver Broncos. There are several ways for them to secure a bye this week, the easiest being a victory combined with a loss or tie by the Houston Texans. They even can clinch the top seed in the AFC and home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs if they win and Houston, Pittsburgh and Baltimore all lose or tie.

“I don’t think we think about any of those things other than Miami,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “We prepare hard, focus on what we can focus on, control what we can control, go out there and play with great effort, good execution and we’ll be in good position.”

The Dolphins (5-9) will focus on stopping Brady. They couldn’t do it in their season-opening 38-24 loss in Miami in which Brady threw for a franchise record 517 yards. Bowles, who led the Dolphins to a 30-23 win over the Buffalo Bills last Sunday after replacing the fired Tony Sparano, was the secondary coach then.

“It was the toughest game for me as a coach,” Bowles said. “You don’t see those kind of numbers every day. Nothing worked. .man (to man), zone, pressure, prevent. He completed everything. You write it off as a bad loss.”

But he remained confident and the secondary has improved considerably since then.

“I just think it was a bad game,” he said. “You just write it off and move on next week.”

The Patriots also have a dangerous offensive threat to handle. Reggie Bush rushed for a career-high 203 yards against Buffalo last Sunday, the same day New England allowed 167 yards rushing in the first quarter alone.

In their last two games, the Patriots have been burned for a total of 422 yards on the ground.

“He’s a special guy,” New England linebacker Rob Ninkovich said of Bush. “A guy like Reggie can do a lot of different things. … So you’ve just got to make sure you don’t let him do those things.”

Bush already has shown he can thrive as an every-down back, something he didn’t do in his other five NFL seasons, all with the New Orleans Saints.

So what motivates him with his team out of the playoff race?

“It’s the New England Patriots,” he said. “Anytime you’re playing a divisional opponent it’s always big and we want to finish the season strong. At the same time, we know that we’re still being evaluated. No matter what the record says, we’re all still being evaluated on a daily basis, on a weekly basis.”

Bush’s job for next season is secure.

Matt Moore is still trying to enhance his resume as the starting quarterback after Chad Henne suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the fourth game.

The Dolphins rebounded after losing their first seven games with a 5-2 record, but Moore has completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes in each of the last four games.

Still, Bush said, “he’s been the backbone of this team. I honestly believe that. Without him, we wouldn’t (have) been able to put together the stream of wins that we have. …I think you see when we give him time to throw the ball he can be dangerous, he can be effective.”

He very well could be against the Patriots. Starting with the third week of the season, their defense has been ranked worst in the league in both total yards and yards passing allowed. And now they must go on without defensive end Andre Carter, the team leader with 10 sacks who suffered a season-ending injury to his left quadriceps against the Broncos.

“He works incredibly hard and he’s been having a great season,” cornerback Devin McCourty said. “To lose a guy like that, we just have to come together as a group.”

If they succeed, they could lock up a playoff bye with one regular-season game left. But if the Dolphins play spoilers?

“We’re not trying to spoil anything,” Bowles said. “We’re just trying to get better as a team and try to close out the season on a winning note. So we’re just going to worry about us now.”

Updated December 22, 2011

Leave your comments on the news below.

AP PHOTO
Patriots wide receiver Tiquan Underwood speaks to reporters at the team’s facility in Foxboro Wednesday.

FOXBORO — The wins keep coming for the New England Patriots. Yet each one seems to spark doubts about whether they’re as good as their 11-3 record suggests.

There is concern, from former Patriots Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison to some of their current players to nervous fans who have watched opponents shred their defense.

How can a team that’s on track to allow the second-most yards in NFL history have a six-game winning streak and the best record in the AFC? Is it superior coaching, a star quarterback, or just a remarkable run of good fortune?

“Maybe one or two games we can say, ‘Man, that was a pretty good game,’ ” wide receiver Deion Branch said. “The rest of them you can just pinpoint a lot of mistakes. But we were lucky enough to come out with a victory.”

Last Sunday, the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 41-23 but allowed 252 yards rushing, 167 in the first quarter alone. One week earlier, they beat the Washington Redskins, 34-27, a victory secured only by Jerod Mayo’s interception at the Patriots 5-yard line with 20 seconds left.

And the week before, they watched a 31-3 lead shrink in the last 11 minutes before they held on to beat the then-winless Indianapolis Colts 31-24.

The Patriots figure to win their remaining regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills, both currently 5-9. If they do, they’ll have home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

But then what? The Patriots lost their opening

playoff game in each of the last two years, games in which their best antidote to poor defense, Tom Brady, struggled.

“This Patriot team is a proven regular-season team, but they have a lot to prove in the playoffs, where they have failed miserably the last two years,” Bruschi, a linebacker on the Patriots’ three Super Bowl championship teams, said Monday during an online chat on ESPNBoston.com. “All teams that make the playoffs should be feared by the Patriots, because what I fear the most for the Patriots is them playing the way they’ve played the last two years in the postseason. So it’s not about who they play, it’s about them showing up.”

Right now, it’s about ignoring the critics and just working to get better.

“I don’t really care what everyone else says,” linebacker Rob Ninkovich said. “I’m just trying to focus on each week and playing good football. We have a good record, yes, but we have to continue to play hard until the season (ends) and when the playoffs start we need to continue to improve. So I really don’t listen to anything out there, just shut it all out.”

To be fair, the starting defense has been battered by injuries. Safety Patrick Chung and linebacker Brandon Spikes missed the last six games. Cornerback Devin McCourty sat out two. Safety James Ihedigbo has missed parts of several games. And now Andre Carter, New England’s best pass rusher with a team-high 10 sacks, is out for the season after hurting his left quadriceps against the Broncos.

While they’ve allowed the most yards in the NFL, only 13 teams have given up fewer points. They’ve let teams score from inside the 20-yard line just 80 percent of the time, seventh in the league. They lead the AFC with a plus-12 turnover differential. And of their three losses, one came on a last-play field goal, another on a touchdown with 15 seconds left and a third by eight points.

“Our team has played well enough to win 11 games, so that’s good,” coach Bill Belichick said. “We still feel like our best football is in front of us and we keep working hard to try to perform at that level.”

But so far the Patriots have allowed 76 plays of at least 20 yards, more than five per game and 20 more than the single-season franchise high. Overall, they’ve given up an average of 414.4 yards. At that rate, they’d finish with 6,630 total yards, second in NFL history to the Baltimore Colts, who gave up 6,793 yards in 1981 when they went 2-14.

Because of injury or inconsistency, the Patriots have used 16 players in the secondary, including wide receivers Matthew Slater and Julian Edelman. On Wednesday they added a new one, signing seven-year veteran safety Vincent Fuller, who already had been cut this season by Tennessee and Detroit.

“They’ve had a lot of injuries, but (Belichick’s) moved guys around and they’re filling in and getting the job done,” said Redskins receiver Jabar Gaffney, a member of the Patriots team that went 18-0 in the 2007 season before losing the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. “It may not look as pretty, but they still find a way to win.”

It looked downright ugly to Harrison, a hard-hitting safety on the Patriots’ last two championship teams in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

“They should be concerned because that secondary is probably the worst secondary I’ve seen in the last decade,” Harrison, an analyst on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” said after the Redskins completed passes of 51 and 49 yards against it two weeks ago. “It’s been proven the last two years in the playoffs. If Brady’s off just a little bit, they’re vulnerable to lose.”

But the Patriots try to block out the doubters. No one has to tell them what their weaknesses are.

“You listen to other people if you want to, but (we) know what’s going on inside,” said running back Kevin Faulk, a Patriot since 1999. “There’s always room for improvement and if you are to reach what you want to reach, you always want to improve your team, no matter what it is, in every aspect of it.”

——

AP Sports Writer Joseph White in Washington, D.C., and freelancer Matthew Carroll in Foxborough contributed to this story.

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

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP)—The New England Patriots are in the playoffs for
the ninth time in 11 years. The Miami Dolphins missed them for the ninth time in
10.

Both, though, have a lot at stake on Saturday with the Patriots going for a
first-round bye and many Dolphins playing for jobs next season.

And both have the same approach to moving toward those goals. Forget about
them.

“Right now, all we’re worried about is Miami,” Patriots coach Bill
Belichick told reporters. “All the rest of it is just something for you guys to
write about.”

Todd Bowles, a head coach for just one NFL game compared with Belichick’s
291, isn’t focused on what a victory would mean for his future in that position.

“I don’t have any expectations, really,” he said. “I’m just trying to get
the guys to play hard and play better and play fast and try to come out with
wins. I don’t control those decisions.”

The Patriots (11-3) clinched their third straight AFC East title last Sunday
with a 41-23 win at the Denver Broncos. There are several ways for them to
secure a bye this week, the easiest being a victory combined with a loss or tie
by the Houston Texans. They even can clinch the top seed in the AFC and
home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs if they win and Houston,
Pittsburgh and Baltimore all lose or tie.

“I don’t think we think about any of those things other than Miami,”
quarterback Tom Brady said. “We prepare hard, focus on what we can focus on,
control what we can control, go out there and play with great effort, good
execution and we’ll be in good position.”

The Dolphins (5-9) will focus on stopping Brady. They couldn’t do it in
their season-opening 38-24 loss in Miami in which Brady threw for a franchise
record 517 yards. Bowles, who led the Dolphins to a 30-23 win over the Buffalo
Bills last Sunday after replacing the fired Tony Sparano, was the secondary
coach then.

“It was the toughest game for me as a coach,” Bowles said. “You don’t see
those kind of numbers every day. Nothing worked. .man (to man), zone, pressure,
prevent. He completed everything. You write it off as a bad loss.”

But he remained confident and the secondary has improved considerably since
then.

“I just think it was a bad game,” he said. “You just write it off and
move on next week.”

The Patriots also have a dangerous offensive threat to handle. Reggie Bush
rushed for a career-high 203 yards against Buffalo last Sunday, the same day New
England allowed 167 yards rushing in the first quarter alone.

In their last two games, the Patriots have been burned for a total of 422
yards on the ground.

“He’s a special guy,” New England linebacker Rob Ninkovich said of Bush.
“A guy like Reggie can do a lot of different things. … So you’ve just got to
make sure you don’t let him do those things.”

Bush already has shown he can thrive as an every-down back, something he
didn’t do in his other five NFL seasons, all with the New Orleans Saints.

So what motivates him with his team out of the playoff race?

“It’s the New England Patriots,” he said. “Anytime you’re playing a
divisional opponent it’s always big and we want to finish the season strong. At
the same time, we know that we’re still being evaluated. No matter what the
record says, we’re all still being evaluated on a daily basis, on a weekly
basis.”

Bush’s job for next season is secure.

Matt Moore is still trying to enhance his resume as the starting quarterback
after Chad Henne suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the fourth game.

The Dolphins rebounded after losing their first seven games with a 5-2
record, but Moore has completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes in each of
the last four games.

Still, Bush said, “he’s been the backbone of this team. I honestly believe
that. Without him, we wouldn’t (have) been able to put together the stream of
wins that we have. …I think you see when we give him time to throw the ball he
can be dangerous, he can be effective.”

He very well could be against the Patriots. Starting with the third week of
the season, their defense has been ranked worst in the league in both total
yards and yards passing allowed. And now they must go on without defensive end
Andre Carter, the team leader with 10 sacks who suffered a season-ending injury
to his left quadriceps against the Broncos.

“He works incredibly hard and he’s been having a great season,” cornerback
Devin McCourty said. “To lose a guy like that, we just have to come together as
a group.”

If they succeed, they could lock up a playoff bye with one regular-season
game left. But if the Dolphins play spoilers?

“We’re not trying to spoil anything,” Bowles said. “We’re just trying to
get better as a team and try to close out the season on a winning note. So we’re
just going to worry about us now.”

Gotta run!.