Gold Stars And Penalty Flags From Patriots' Week 1 Loss To Dolphins
BOSTON (CBS) -- Well, that's not the way the Patriots wanted to open the season. It's funny -- every ex-player who is now an announcer said the Pats playing Miami in September was an advantage for the Dolphins. I guess they knew about the Miami heat and home-field advantage.
Here are your Gold Stars and Penalty Flags.
The Gold Stars
Rob Gronkowski
I know he kind of faded in the second half, but Gronk out there was a factor. He was targeted more times than any Pats pass catcher (11). That, by the way is a problem. He finished with four catches for 40 yards and a touchdown. Until fatigue caught up with him, he was handling his business. He may not be totally healthy for a while, but 50 percent of big 87 is more than enough.
Julian Edelman
Again, I don't know what happened to Edelman in the second half but he was a man among boys for the first two quarters. He caught the deep ball and he was involved in the running game. He had 116 yards of total offense and he did it without any production in the second half.
The Officials
OK, only some of the officials. Whatever guys decided to help Tom Brady up after he was sacked or knocked down from being pressured, they get the stars. I have no idea what was going on with Tom and the offensive line but they left him on his can way too many times after plays. It was noticeable to everybody. TB12 needed some pick-me-up and the refs helped him.
The Penalty Flags:
Brandon LaFell
How many flags can one player get to kill drives and plays? Brandon had a bad game all around. He was targeted six times but he had zero catches and he cost the Pats important yards with penalties. He has to and will have better games. LaFell is a good player. On Sunday though, he just looked less than average and overwhelmed.
Tom Brady
I praised Gronk for getting out there but Tom locked in on him way too fast and just did not spread the ball around. Brady kept trying to find Rob in double and triple coverages. There was a point where I thought they needed to take Gronkowski off the field in order to open the offense. Brady has to be better with his trust. Some of his throws to Gronk resulted in wasted downs. Josh McDaniels may have to watch their production, if he wants to keep the offense balanced.
Offensive & Defensive Lines
The Pats were just soft up front on both sides of the ball. The Dolphins got pressure on Brady and sacked him four times and they eliminated the Pats running game from the beginning. New England became one-dimensional offensively early on.
Then the Dolphins running attack just took it to the Pats defense. They rushed the ball for 191 yards. Few teams are going to win games when a rushing attack puts nearly 200 yards on them. That happened to the Pats on Sunday against the Dolphins and they lost.
Follow Levan Reid on Twitter @LevanReid.
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