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I don�t know what else there is to say, it was a thorough defeat,� grumbled Bill Belichick on the post game of this one. All told, the coach spent about a minute and a half at the podium, and looked as if he might at any moment erupt in a tirade against the gathered media. Yup, the normally stoic Belichick took his media antipathy to a whole new level on this one, and I must say, it was the only entertaining thing the Pat�s organization offered all day. <BR><IMG SRC="tab.gif"> But after all, he�s right; what more was there to say? What kind of new and revealing analysis did the media vultures expect to come out of Belichick�s mouth? It�s the same five or six statements every week, lose or win, said in different permutations. And that, in a way makes a loss like this one seem all the more maddening. <BR><IMG SRC="tab.gif"> When asked by one media member �how concerned are you about the level of play that the team has put forth, not just today but in the past few weeks?� Belichick neatly avoided the question by responding �Well, we�re 9 and 4, a lot of teams would like to have that record.� Now I would have never expected that sort of loser�s copout from Bill Belichick. Nine and four teams of the Patriot�s pedigree don�t get handled like they did on Sunday against an inferior operation. They don�t get shut-out. They don�t allow their quarterback to be hurried nine times and sacked four. They don�t have multiple turnovers. They don�t have nine penalties against them. They don�t come out flat. In short, they don�t get dominated. <BR><IMG SRC="bradydown.jpg" ALIGN="RIGHT" BORDER=0 VSPACE=5> Granted, there were a lot of people (myself included) who from a long-view saw this as a tough late season match-up. Historically, the Dolphins play hard against the Pats in Miami, as Brady�s 2-5 on-the-road record against the team would show. Along with that, the Dolphins had won four of their last five coming into the game, and showed signs of coming together despite being crossed out of playoff contention. But it�s safe to say that no one saw this one coming- a disaster of epic proportions from the Belichick coached Patriot�s in December. Nothing went right. Not one thing. <BR><IMG SRC="tab.gif"> The Patriot�s only real offensive threat on the day came in the form of a botched trick play- a thirty three yard Faulk to Brady to Graham touchdown pass which was ultimately called back for being a forward pass instead of a lateral. That kind of play speaks volumes to the type of day the Patriot�s had on offense- the word that comes to mind is �desperation.� But the Patriot�s total inability to get anything going on offense wasn�t what worried me the most about the performance (which says a lot, seeing as the Pats never crossed into the Dolphins red zone at any point on the day.) Nope, the thing that concerns me is less obvious than that. Over the years with the Patriots, Belichick has made his living by disabling any given team�s strengths, or in other words, by zeroing in on an opponent�s most effective weapons and neutralizing them, thereby forcing them to resort to other strategies. On Sunday, we didn�t see that. Miami all pro defensive end Jason Taylor might as well have been guarded by his own shadow- he was unstoppable. Now, not withstanding the fact that the rest of the Miami defensive line basically manhandled the Pat�s O linemen all day, it still stands to reason that Taylor should have been the Pat�s number one priority coming out of halftime. In my opinion, the breakdown of the Patriot�s offensive line is what it all comes down to. <BR><IMG SRC="tab.gif"> When asked about the atrocious performance of his linemen, Brady responded by saying �You�re never going to get me to stand up here and talk about that.� Well, Brady may be unwilling to throw his teammates under the bus, but I have no qualms about it. So with that, the Pat�s O-line needs to step it up. On pass protection, blitz pickup, blocking- the entire operation needs a �back to the basics� overhaul. <BR><IMG SRC="tab.gif"> All of this begs the questions, �Where are the Patriot�s right now? Who are they?� Is the nine and four record an accurate reflection of the team, or have we been seeing signs of what�s more to come. After this week, the already injury laden Patriot�s will likely put two more key players on the growing injury report, tight end Ben Watson and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. <BR><IMG SRC="tab.gif"> No question, right now you�re reading this thinking �He�ll be back on next week.� Well, it�s not about that; it�s not about the doom and gloom. In all likelihood, the Pats will come out strong next week against the Texans with a newly revived level of mental and physical toughness and make some plays and everything in New England will once again be roses. Not that there�s anything wrong with that, in fact, to dwell on a loss like this one would be counterproductive moving forward. But just let it be said, the Patriot�s team that showed up in South Florida this past week was deeply flawed in areas that it shouldn�t be in late December, and if the Pat�s don�t make some serious adjustments, and quickly, it will be a short lived postseason for sure. <BR> <BR> <B>Want to tell me and my pessimism to fuck off? Tell me, Tell me. <A HREF="mailto:josh@southcoast247.com">josh@southcoast247.com</A>. </B> <BR><BR><BR> <SPAN CLASS="LARGETEXT"><A HREF="pats.shtml">Read more from STATS ON PATS WEEKLY...</A></SPAN> <BR><BR> </SPAN> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <DIV ALIGN="CENTER">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE=JavaScript>  </SCRIPT>  <BR></DIV> </TD> <TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH=225 BGCOLOR="#CC9900"> <SPAN CLASS="TEXT"> <IMG SRC="http://www.southcoast247.com/column_images/ev_calx.gif"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.trumba.com/scripts/spuds.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> $Trumba.addSpud({ webName: "southcoast-calendar-arts-entertainment-nightlife-clubs", spudType : "upcomingfader" , teaserBase : "http://www.southcoasttoday.com/static/247calendar.html" }); document.write('<br /><a href="http://www.southcoasttoday.com/static/247calendar.html"><font color="#ffffff">View All Events</font></a>'); </script> <noscript>Your browser must support JavaScript to view this content. 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