Patriots drop fourth straight game with ugly, penalty-filled 15-10 loss to Dolphins
FOXBORO -- It's gone from bad to worse for the New England Patriots. Jerod Mayo's team fell to 1-4 on the season after an ugly 15-10 home loss to the Miami Dolphins on a penalty-filled afternoon for the Patriots.
The Patriots did themselves zero favors throughout the game, as they were hit with 12 penalties for 105 yards on Sunday afternoon. They shot themselves in the foot over and over again, including late in the game when rookie receiver Ja'Lynn Polk couldn't get both feet down inbounds on what would have been a go-ahead touchdown grab with just over a minute left. It was initially ruled a touchdown, but then overturned after a quick review.
"I thought it was close," Mayo said of Polk's overturned touchdown catch. "But it was the correct call in my opinion. Saw the replay live, just a tough, tough call.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett was sacked only twice but was hit nine times throughout the game. He ended up throwing for 160 yards thanks to some big plays late in the game, but it was another extremely lackluster afternoon from the Patriots offense.
"Honestly, nothing was good," said Brissett. "Penalties taking us backwards, we just -- honestly, we've just got to play better. It's getting to that point where you've just got to play better. Penalties in the wrong situations, in bad situations. We're not good enough to do that and to go backwards to try to score points. We need to continue to go forward. We've got to change that, fix that."
Miami got 194 passing yards from backup Tyler Huntley, but it was the rush attack of Raheem Mostert (80 yards on 19 carries) and Jaylen Wright (86 yards on 13 carries) that led Miami to the win. That duo -- and untimely penalties -- burned the Patriots in Miami's only touchdown drive of the day early in the fourth quarter.
The Dolphins ran 20 more plays than the Patriots on offense -- 75 to 55 -- and outgained New England, 372-299.
"It just wasn't a good day," said Mayo. "It's about execution, especially in critical situations."
The Dolphins got the ball first and kicked a 54-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead -- Miami's first lead of the 2024 season. The Patriots couldn't answer on their first possession as Brissett was sacked twice; on second-and-3 because he held onto the ball for too long and on third-and-6 because the offensive line --mainly backup center Nick Leverett -- failed to block anyone.
The Patriots gave Miami a possession back when they had 12 men on the field for a Dolphins punt, but Christian Gonzalez made that moot when he picked off Huntley at the Miami 43-yard line. The New England offense needed just four plays to find the end zone, thanks to a 33-yard touchdown run by Rhamondre Stevenson that gave the Patriots a 7-3 lead with 3:55 to play in the first quarter.
Stevenson started the game on the bench behind Antonio Gibson after fumbling in the first four games, but he was only benched for a series. He ran for 89 yards on his 12 carries.
The game got extremely ugly after Stevenson's touchdown, with eight penalties by the two teams in the first half. The Patriots had six of those penalties and just three first downs over the first 30 minutes.
It was just as ugly when the two teams actually got plays off. Brendan Schooler blocked a punt for the Patriots and got them the ball at the Miami 23, but the New England offense lost 20 yards on two holding penalties and Joey Slye missed a 33-yard field goal attempt on the ensuing possession.
Around the two-minute warning, the Dolphins were facing a third-and-3 at the New England 25. But a bad, early snap lost Miami 22 yards and they had to punt the ball away. The Patriots did nothing with that possession though, running for eight yards on first down before throwing it twice to stop the clock for Miami.
Bryce Baringer's ensuing punt was short and Braxton Berrios returned it to the New England 44 with 55 seconds left in the half. But Miami continued to be their own worst enemy, and a false start turned a 46-yard field goal try into a 51-yard attempt. They didn't even get that attempt off because of a bad snap, and the game went into halftime with New England on top 7-3.
Both teams added a field goal on their first possession of the second half. After New England went three-and-out on their second possession, the Dolphins went on an eight-play drive that covered 57 yards -- which included a 16-yard run by Wright and a 16-yard connection between Huntley and Tyreek Hill -- and ended with a 47-yard field goal to make it a 10-9 game with 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Miami could have had more, but Gonzalez stopped Jaylen Waddle short of the first-down marker on a 12-yard reception on third-and-13.
The Patriots got a first down on their next possession thanks to a 24-yard run by Gibson, but punted from the Miami 43 when Brissett's third-down look for Ja'Lynn Polk was too far out of bounds for the rookie. It looked like the Patriots had stopped the Dolphins at that same spot when Huntley's short pass to Mostert on a third-and-13 came up short, but Christian Elliss was called for a defensive pass interference to give Miami a first down.
Wright and Mostert combined for 49 rushing yards over the next six plays for the Dolphins, and fullback Alex Igold punched it in from three yards out with 4:24 to play. Miami couldn't connect on the two-point conversion, so the Dolphins took a 15-10 lead.
Polk moved the chains for the Patriots with a 13-yard reception and then drew a defensive holding penalty on the next play. Stevenson ran for 10 yards on a first down carry to get the Patriots to the Miami 43, but left after taking a helmet to his left shin. Gibson replaced him and picked up another 10 yards his first down carry, but the Pats went backwards the next play when Vederian Lowe was hit with a 10-yard holding penalty.
New England faced a third-and-8 at the Miami 31 out of the two-minute warning, and Brissett came through with a quick 19-yard feed to DeMario Douglas over the middle. It looked like Brissett had connected with Polk on a touchdown in the back of the end zone on second down, but the rookie didn't get his back heel down in bounds. He was able to get one foor and a toe down in bounds, but Polk wasn't dragging his foot, so it was an incomplete when his heel came down out of bounds.
Brissett felt the pressure on third down and threw it away, setting up a gotta-have-it fourth down for the New England offense with a minute left. Hunter Henry was flagged for a false start though, setting up a fourth-and-15. The Dolphins sent everything at Brissett on the play and the quarterback's pass into the end zone fell incomplete.
The Patriots got the ball back with 29 seconds left after forcing a Miami punt, taking over at their own 43 after a 15-yard return by Marcus Jones. Brissett hit Kayshon Boutte for 21 yards to get to the Miami 36 and then Henry for 25 yards to the Miami 11, but the Patriots were out of timeouts and couldn't stop the clock when Henry came up with his reception at midfield.
The Patriots have now lost four straight and will look to stop the bleeding next Sunday with a home game against the 4-1 Houston Texans.