5 takeaways from the Patriots’ dominant win over the Dolphins
COMMENTARY
FOXBOROUGH — There was never much doubt about this one.
The New England Patriots drove down the field for a touchdown on their opening drive. The Miami Dolphins fumbled the football out of the back of the end zone for a safety on their first drive. After that, the Patriots ran away with a 36-7 victory over the Dolphins on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium.
With the win, the Patriots now have a commanding lead in the AFC East, having beaten each of their three division rivals. The regular season seems like little more than a formality at this point. Barring a meltdown of epic proportions, the Patriots are a shoe-in for the division title, and they appear to be headed for a first-round bye in the AFC playoff bracket.
Here are some of the other big takeaways from the Patriots win.
1. Dion Lewis is back and healthy: The Patriots sorely missed running back Dion Lewis in Week 7 against the New York Jets, and it didn’t take more than a few minutes for them to find out how much of a difference he could make.
Lewis was making defenders miss all day, whether by dodging them or running right through them. His first three touches of the night went for 17, 19 and 18 yards, with a nasty spin move and some tough-nosed running to get extra yards after contact.
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As a receiver, Lewis also caught a 16-yard touchdown pass with 24 seconds left in the first half that put the Patriots up by 19 heading into the locker room.
The Patriots are never going to be a running team with Tom Brady at quarterback, but they will always have a place for a back like Lewis in their offense. He perfectly fills the third-down role that was vacated by Shane Vereen this offseason.
2. Chandler Jones is proving to be a dynamic pass-rusher: With Jabaal Sheard out of the lineup, the pass rushing burden has fallen on defensive ends Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich. Jones, in particular, is taking advantage of his increased workload.
The Patriots’ 2012 first-round pick had six sacks in 10 games last year, but already has 8.5 sacks through seven games in 2015. He finished Thursday night with two sacks. He currently leads the NFL, and is on pace to finish with 19 sacks this season.
If he finished with that high of a sack total, Jones might finally enter the discussion of the NFL’s best pass-rushing defensive ends.
3. Criticisms of the run defense might have been premature: Early in the season, the Patriots’ defense gave up rushing yards in bunches. Over the past couple of weeks, though, they’re proving that their run defense can hold its own.
The Patriots gave up 100 rushing yards or more in four of the first five games of the season. Against the Jets, the Patriots yielded just 89 yards on 29 carries. Through the first half on Thursday night, the Dolphins had just nine yards on eight carries.
The Dolphins somewhat found their stride in the second half, and picked up a one-yard rushing touchdown to close within 12 points of the Patriots in the third quarter.
4. Stephen Gostkowski is money: The Patriots brought back kicker Stephen Gostkowski on the franchise tag before signing him to a four-year, $17.2 million contract this offseason. That decision looks wiser every day.
Gostkowski has been automatic this season, and hit his 26th consecutive field goal on Thursday night, setting a new Patriots’ record in the process.
He has a while before he’s a threat to the NFL record of 42 straight field goals set by Indianapolis Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt from 2002-2004, but Gostkowski has already proven that he’s one of the most reliable and consistent kickers in the NFL today.
5. Tom Brady continues his assault on the record books: It just wouldn’t be a Patriots game without a whole lot of updates on where Tom Brady stands in the pantheon of NFL quarterbacks.
With 26 completions on 38 attempts (68.4 percent) for 356 yards and four touchdowns, Brady had his 24th career game with 4 or more touchdown passes, which is third-most all time. He had his 69th game with 300 or more passing yards, which is also third-most all-time. Brady’s performance was so strong, it paved the way for the first regular-season action for Jimmy Garoppolo.
Brady is on fire, and the Patriots are undefeated as a result.
Photos: The best scenes from Patriots-Dolphins
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