OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins needed a win to stay on top of the AFC East this weekend and after 5 interceptions of Drew Bledsoe, the Dolphins had the victory they needed. Damon Huard was efficient, Oronde Gadsden was spectacular and JJ Johnson got his first 100 yard game as a pro as the Dolphins swept the Patriots for the season.

The game started at 1:00 PM EST in Miami, where the weather was initially overcast and the temperature was warm. Eventually the weather cleared and it was sunny and warm without too much wind.

The Dolphins started with Damon Huard at quarterback, JJ Johnson at running back and Calvin Jackson returned to the lineup at strong safety. Officially, Donnalley got the start at right guard, but Gogan continued to split time with him. Inactive for the game were Dan Marino, Cecil Collins, Anthony Harris, Hunter Goodwin, Grey Ruegamer, Yatil Green, and Antoine Simpson, with Jim Druckenmiller filling the role of the emergency quarterback.

The Dolphins began this game by kicking off to the Patriots, who returned the ball to their 30. On their first series, the Patriots completed their first pass to Terry Glenn, but then stalled and punted to Miami. Miami promptly responded by going 3 and out and punted back to the Pats. The punt was short, however, and the Patriots started at their 42.

The Patriots completed one 18 yard pass to Shawn Jefferson before the Dolphins stopped them at the Miami 40. On one of these plays, the Patriots tried a halfback pass using Lamont Warren as the passer, but Lamont couldn't find an open receiver and and T-Buck got him in the backfield for a sack and a 7 yard loss.

The Patriots then punted again to the Miami 12. On the first Miami play of the next series, there was a mixup between Huard and JJ Johnson and when Huard went to pitch the ball to Johnson, Johnson wasn't watching. The ball bounced off of Johnson's shoulder and was recovered by the Patriots at the Miami 7. After one short gain, the Patriots' Terry Allen ran up the middle for 6 yards and a touchdown, giving the Patriots a 7-0 lead.

Following the kickoff, which was well returned by Marion to the Dolphin 41, the Dolphins went 3 and out and punted to the New England 4, where Ed Perry downed the ball. New England ran two short plays from their 4, but on 3rd and 5, Bledsoe tried to throw to his left, right to where Sam Madison was waiting. Sam picked off the pass and returned it to the New England 9.

From there, the Dolphins managed to get down to the New England 1 after 3 tries, but elected to kick the field goal and cut the lead to 7-3 rather than try for the touchdown on 4th down.

The kickoff went to the Patriots 22, where the Patriots put together a drive based mostly on a 43 yard run by Kevin Faulk right up the middle of the Miami defense. Uncharacteristically, both Zach and Brock Marion missed early tackles that they should have had and that allowed Faulk to get into the secondary.

The Patriots added a 17 yard pass to Coates and got down to the Miami 9, but stalled there and settled for a field goal that boosted their lead back to 10-3. The Dolphins started the next series at their 24 after the kickoff and Huard proceeded to pass to Gadsden to move the Dolphins down the field. His first pass to Gadzilla was a 15 yarder to the 41, where it took 5 Patriots tacklers to bring him down. Following two incompletions, Huard when back to Gadsden on the left sideline for 14 more yards to the New England 45.

JJ Johnson then rushed twice for 6 and 7 yards and Tony Martin added a 13 yard catch down to the Patriots' 19. Then JJ Johnson ran right up the middle for 13 yards to the Patriots' 6. Now, with 1st and goal at the 6, JJ Johnson only got two yards on 1st down, but on 2nd down, Huard dropped back to pass. He couldn't find anyone open at first and was driven out of the pocket to his left. Just as three Patriots got in his face, he threw hard to the front of the endzone where Gadzilla leaped straight up between two Patriots' defensive backs and snagged the pass, then dropped to the ground for a touchdown.

This play was great improvisation and an excellent throw by Huard, to be matched by an outstanding leaping grab by Gadsden. It tied the score at 10-10 with 8:24 left in the first half.

Following the kickoff to the Patriots' 27, the Pats were held to 3 yards on the next drive and punted to Miami at their 31. Miami started another decent drive, running JJ Johnson and throwing to Drayton and Tony Martin, until they had moved down to the Patriots' 28. Unfortunately, after a short swing pass to Konrad, Ty Law hit Konrad right in the football and Konrad fumbled. Steve Israel recovered the loose ball and the Patriots had it at their 33 to stop that Miami drive.

The Patriots went 3 and out after Tim Bowens and Jason Taylor sacked Drew Bledsoe on 2nd down and Miami got the ball back at their 33 with 1:02 remaining in the first half. Huard completed a couple of passes for 12 yards, but was then sacked and Miami was forced to punt to the New England 16. Drew Bledsoe knelt down at the 16 to end the first half.

At the half, the stats were pretty even, except that the Dolphins had lost 2 fumbles and the Patriots had had one pass intercepted. However, the early momentum that the Patriots had accumulated had vanished and Miami had the momentum going into the second haf.

The Dolphins started with the ball at their 20 after a touchback started the second half. The Dolphins ran JJ Johnson and threw short to Martin and Drayton out to their 39. There, on 3rd and 5, Huard appeared to throw incomplete down the right sideline, but Willie McGinest of the Patriots was penalized 15 yards for "roughing the quarterback" after a helmet-to-helmet hit on Damon Huard and the Dolphins continued to move to the Patriots' 46.

Huard threw to Tony Martin for 11 yards and JJ Johnson then ran 4 times in a row from the Patriots' 35 to their 3. Then, on first and goal from the Patriots' 3, Huard threw a perfect fade pass to Oronde Gadsden on his right and Gadsden got separation from Ty Law and made another terrific leaping catch for a touchdown. This gave the Dolphins a 17-10 lead.

The Patriots started at their 23, but after two short Terry Allen carries, Rich Owens sacked Bledsoe on 3rd down to force a punt. The Dolphins started at their 36, but after 3 plays, the Dolphins were facing 4th and 8, so they punted back to the Patriots, who started at their 14. After an 8 yard swing pass to Terry Allen, Bledsoe tried to hit Ben Coates about 15 yards deep. But T-Buck cut in front of Coates and picked off the pass, returning it out to the sidelines to the Patriots' 10 yard line.

Now the Dolphins had 1st and goal at the 10 and after a short run by JJ Johnson, Troy Drayton caught a quick pass to the outside and was wrestled down at the 1. This left the Dolphins facing a 3rd and goal at the 1. On the next play, JJ Johnson took the handoff and vaulted over the line to the endzone for a touchdown that gave the Dolphins a 24-10 lead.

That lead would be short lived, however. Following the kickoff to the Patriots' 32, and an incomplete pass to Lamont Warren, Bledsoe threw deep down the right sideline to Shawn Jefferson, who had gotten behind Terrell Buckley. Jefferson hauled in the pass and cut back to the middle of the field to run around Calvin Jackson, who was trying to cut off Jefferson. After that, it was a clear shot to the endzone and a 24-17 score.

Following the kickoff, Miami went 3 and out from their 28 on a run, an incomplete pass and a sack. On the sack on 3rd down, Willie McGinest slammed an arm around Huard's helmet and his forearm smashed Huard's nose and broke it, causing bleeding from the nose and some dizziness. Huard walked off the field with a towel on his nose and would not return to the game.

The Dolphins punted, but the punt was short and returned to the Miami 42. From there, Bledsoe tried to go deep to Brisby down the right sideline, but T-Buck was not fooled this time and broke up the pass at the 1 yard line. Then, after Lamont Warren was dropped for a loss, Bledsoe tried to hit Tony Simmons on a slant down the middle. But the ball was pretty high and bounced off of Simmon's fingertips into the waiting arms of Brock Marion, who returned it to the New England 41 to end the third quarter.

The Dolphins opened the 4th quarter with Scott Zolak at quarterback, but went 3 and out right away. The Dolphins tried to catch the Patriots napping by throwing two deep passes to Tony Martin, but the Patriots weren't fooled and both passes fell incomplete. The Dolphins then punted to the New England 14.

Starting there, New England put together a drive using short passes and the running of Kevin Faulk to move the ball to the Miami 36. But the Dolphins defense got tougher there and began putting pressure on Bledsoe, forcing him to throw it away twice. Bledsoe was also penalized for intentional grounding when he threw the ball away as he was about to be sacked. Then, on 3rd and 20 after the penalty, Jerry Wilson came on a cornerback blitz and sacked Bledsoe, forcing the Patriots to punt.

The punt was downed at the Miami 5, but JJ Johnson picked up 1 first down on a 3rd and 1 rushing attempt before the Dolphins stalled at their 16. Zolak tried two passes on this series, but both fell incomplete. That left the Dolphins with a 4th and 12 and they punted.

New England started at their 34 after the punt, but when Shawn Jefferson grabbed Sam Madison and spun him around downfield to keep him from intercepting another Drew Bledsoe pass, the Patriots were penalized 10 yards for offensive pass interference. Now facing first and 20, the Patriots tried a screen pass to their left, but Jason Taylor had dropped back into coverage and was in the perfect position between Bledsoe and his receiver. Taylor snagged the the ball out of the air for the Dolphins' 4th interception of the game.

This gave the Dolphins a 1st and 10 at the New England 21 with 5:24 left to play. The Dolphins elected to just run JJ Johnson and after he picked up a first down at their 11, the Patriots started using their timeouts. JJ Johnson kept running and got down to the New England 5 yard line before he was stopped on 3rd down.

Now facing 4th and 4 at the 5, the Dolphins kicked a field goal and went up 27-17 with just 3:15 remaining in the game. The Patriots had used up all their timeouts at this point and after the kickoff, they started at their 20 with just over 3 minutes remaining and no timeouts.

The Patriots drove down the field using short passes in the flat and down the middle, but they didn't get out of bounds and time was running out on them. They moved down the field to the Miami 31 with 1:14 remaining in the game, but after two incompletions, Bledsoe tried to hit Coates down the middle on a crossing route. Jerry Wilson was in coverage and crossed in front of Coates, intercepting the ball and returning it 13 yards. The irony of this play was that 2 players earlier, the Patriots had tried the same thing and Wilson had almost picked off that earlier pass, also, but had dropped it.

After that, Scott Zolak knelt down twice to end the game.

GOOD STUFF:

The Dolphins defense did a great job putting pressure on Bledsoe and covering his receivers. They sacked him 4 times, harassed him constantly, gave him nowhere to throw and (most importantly) picked off 5 of his passes. The pass defense was as good as it's been all year.

The run defense did a pretty good job, despite the stats that show they gave up 5.4 yards per rushing attempt. Most of those yards were on 1 run in the 2nd quarter where Kevin Faulk got 43 yards. If you don't factor that in, the Patriots averaged 3.3 yards per carry on most plays.

The rushing offense, while not terrific, was steady and powerful and made a number of key plays throughout the game. They did a better job on 3rd and short than they've done for most of the rest of the season. By the end of the game, they had 117 yards on 36 carries.

The passing offense was also quite steady. Huard made a number of excellent plays and while Miami didn't have any really long receptions, they did have several big plays from their wide receivers, especially from Oronde Gadsden. And Damon Huard didn't throw any interceptions.

The Dolphins had 2 offensive drives of longer than 10 plays in the game and both ended in touchdowns for Miami, which showed good ball control. And they had a good third drive going before Rob Konrad fumbled. So, they did a better job offensively than they have since the last time they played New England.

And the offense converted 47% of it's third down attempts, which is outstanding work.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

The tackling early in the game left something to be desired. Kevin Faulk's 43 yard run was allowed because of poor tackling when both Zach Thomas and Brock Marion uncharacteristically missed tackles that they should have had.

And the fumbles were both avoidable. The first was caused by lack of concentration, whereas the second one was because Rob Konrad did not protect the football. Neither fumble should have happened.

Otherwise, there's not too much to complain about in this game.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Damon Huard got off to a slow start, but after the first quarter, he had an excellent game. He did not have a lot of yards, ending the day with just 131 yards passing, but he was efficient, completing 60% of his passes for 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. His scrambling was also well executed and successful.

Scott Zolak came on in relief of Huard and didn't make any bad mistakes, which is about the only thing you can say about him. He was 0 of 4 when passing, but didn't fumble, throw any interceptions or make any other serious mistakes.

In his first start, JJ Johnson got his first 100 yard game in the NFL, rushing 31 times for 106 yards. His 3.4 ypc average was not great, but he was steady and reliable. The Dolphins handed the ball off to JJ Johnson 5 times on third down and he made 3 first downs and 1 touchdown. The only third down run of his that didn't pick up enough yards was on 3rd and 6. So, he converted 80% of his third down attempts. And if that wasn't enough, his blitz pickups were terrific and he also caught a pass for 6 yards. I think that we'll be seeing a lot more of JJ Johnson.

Rob Konrad did not have a great game, catching just two passes for 2 yards and fumbling by not protecting the ball well enough. However, his lead blocking and blitz pickups were pretty good.

Stanley Pritchett split time with Konrad in the backfield and caught 2 passes for 13 yards. He also did some good blocking.

Oronde Gadsden caught 4 passes, all of which were crucial to the team. He had 2 touchdown catches and two other catches for first downs. At one point, it took 5 Patriots' defenders to bring him down. His two touchdown catches were both the result of great leaping ability and good hands. While his stats say just 4 catches for 36 yards, Oronde was the playmaker for the Dolphins on Sunday.

Tony Martin actually had more yards that Gadsden, catching 4 passes for 44 yards. The Dolphins have started using him across the middle in shallow crossing patterns and he was wide open several times against the Patriots. While he didn't have any big plays, he provided several important catches.

Troy Drayton also reappeared after having been invisible for the past several games. He also caught 4 passes for 25 yards and ran over several New England defenders to get those yards. He also provided some decent blocking for JJ Johnson.

OJ McDuffie only caught 1 pass for 5 yards before he left the game with a sprained toe.

The offensive line played much better this week than they did last week or against the Patriots in the first game. Huard was knocked down several times, but by and large, he had enough time to throw. The line also opened up enough running room to allow JJ Johnson to get his 100+ yards. All in all, they had a decent game.

On defense, Zach Thomas had 8 total tackles and while he is not credited with breaking up any passes officially, he did some terrific things in coverage and on blitzes. As usual, he was all over the field and seemed to be at least 3 places at once.

Sam Madison also had 8 tackles in this game and picked off a pass, giving him a total of 6 interceptions this year. He would have had 2 picks, but he was tackled by the Patriots' receiver to prevent the interception.

Calvin Jackson had 5 tackles and forced a fumble on a hit on Terry Allen. However, he took a bad angle on the deep pass to Shawn Jefferson and allowed Jefferson to run by him for a score.

Rich Owens used tenacity and speed to come up with 1.5 sacks of Drew Bledsoe. When Owens wasn't sacking Bledsoe, he was putting pressure on him, forcing him to hurry his throws.

Terrell Buckley had an interception on a perfectly timed play where he cut in front of Ben Coates to grab the ball and set up a Miami score. He knocked down two other passes, including one on the Dolphins' 1 yard line that would have put the Patriots in position to tie the game in the 4th quarter. If that wasn't enough, Buckley got a sack when he tackled Lamont Warren who was attempting the halfback pass. The only black mark on his day was the deep pass to Jefferson that went for a touchdown to put the Patriots back in the game in the third quarter.

Jason Taylor was involved in 4 tackles and is credited with half a sack, but his biggest play of the day was undoubtedly the interception on the screen pass that the Patriots were attempting. He read the play perfectly and dropped back into just the right position to grab the ball.

Robert Jones had 3 tackles, but did little else that was noticeable. His counterpart on the other side, Derrick Rodgers, only had 2 tackles and was also pretty invisible for most of the game.

Darryl Gardener had 2 tackles and is credited with half a sack, the other half of which went to Rich Owens. But Gardener was part of the reason that Bledsoe was pressured constantly.

Shawn Wooden had 2 tackles on regular plays and is credited with 3 special teams tackles.

Trace Armstrong had 2 tackles, but didn't get one of his patented last-game sacks that seems to be his trademark.

Jerry Wilson was pretty invisible for most of the game, until the 4th quarter. Then he exploded, sacking Bledsoe on a cornerback blitz on one play, knocking down a pass to Ben Coates on another and finally coming up with the interception that ended the Patriots' final drive. Wilson had a terrific game.

Tim Bowens only got 1 tackle, but it was a sack of Bledsoe that he shared with Jason Taylor. Otherwise, he was tough in the middle, as usual.

Brock Marion had 1 tackle and 1 interception on a pass that came off the receiver's fingertips. He also had 3 kickoff returns for 76 yards, with his longest being a 34 yarder.

Kenny Mixon did play some in the game, getting one tackle as he substituted for Rich Owens.

Lorenzo Bromell did not share in the sacks this week, but he did bat down a pass at the line of scrimmage and helped put pressure on Bledsoe throughout most of the game.

Patrick Surtain knocked down a pass and also had a special teams tackle, although he was flagged for holding on a 53 yard punt return by Nate Jacquet and that penalty killed the return.

Nate Jacquet only had 3 punt returns for 8 total yards. However, he had a 53 yard return called back because of a holding penalty.

OJ Brigance, Larry Izzo, Ray Hill, Dwight Hollier, Ed Perry and Greg Jeffries all contributed on special teams, getting one or more tackles apiece.

Olindo Mare' had 2 field goals and didn't miss any, but his kickoffs were not as deep as they have been.

Tom Hutton was his usual inconsistent self when punting.

INJURIES:

OJ McDuffie sprained a toe during the game and missed at least half the offensive snaps. He is questionable for the Dallas game, but should be back for the Colts game.

My Comments:

The Dolphins played about as well as could be expected under the circumstances and I was very pleased with their performance. They put the Patriots away by depriving them of their most potent weapon - Drew Bledsoe.

While I have a few small concerns about some of the things that happened, overall it was a very satisfying game and a terrific victory for the team.

I don't think it could have been much better.

Related Info:

• NFL.com: Gamebook
• Sun-Sentinel: Game 10 wrapup
• Dolphins Endzone: Coaches Corner
• The Sporting News: NFL - Miami QB Huard breaks nose
• Sun-Sentinel: Q&A with JJ
• Dolphins Endzone: Player's Postgame Audio
• Boston Globe Online: Postgame responses are predictable
• Boston Globe Online: Many left steaming after another lackluster effort
• Boston Globe Online: It's become easy for all to see that Bledsoe's being hung out to dry
• Boston Globe Online: Excellent tape job helps Miami defense
• Boston Globe Online: Drawing conclusions on game plan
• Dolphin Digest: Dolphins Patriots Notebook
• Palm Beack Post: Call him Triple J and hitch him up for four quarters
• Palm Beack Post: Defense gets all worked up
• Palm Beack Post: QB breaks nose, gets win; now for Marino's return
• Boston Globe Online: Picked apart
• CBS SportsLine: Dolphins 27, Patriots 17
• Miami Herald: QB goes out, defense zeroes in to dispose of Pats
• Sun-Sentinel: Bledsoe's Miami nightmare continues
• Sun-Sentinel: Dolphins grades
• Sun-Sentinel: Zolak's dream comes true
• Sun-Sentinel: Defensive line has a field day
• Sun-Sentinel: Coach Johnson's post-game comments