Miami to face Pittsburgh in wild card round
Sunday 1 January 2017 22:59, UK
Tom Brady inspired New England Patriots to a 35-14 victory over the Miami Dolphins, sealing the No 1 seed in the AFC and with it home field advantage through the play-offs.
Having been beaten in Denver last year, Bill Bellichick's Patriots headed to South Florida determined to ensure their Foxborough home would be their venue throughout the post season and despite an attempted comeback from the Dolphins, Brady steered the team to victory and left Miami in the sixth seeded spot.
A dominant first quarter set the tone for New England and when Miami fought back to get within a score, Julian Edelman's 77-yard touchdown, thanks to a Michael Floyd block, put the Patriots back in control of the game.
The visitors then closed out the win after forcing a Miami fumble, returning the ball to the redzone and seeing LeGarrette Blount run in yet another touchdown for the season.
In 140 characters - Patriots seal AFC top seed and home field play-off advantage after blistering start and then foil Dolphins attempted comeback to wrap up win
MVP - Tom Brady - Underlining his case to be the season MVP, Brady was at his brilliant best to complete 25 of his 33 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns. Having lost his last three trips to Miami, Brady wasn't about to make it four and led the Patriots to a dominant victory and a spectacular stat of the game (see below!)
Game-charger - Julian Edelman's 77-yard touchdown set up the victory but Devin McCourty's tackle to force a Dophins fumble inside the Patriots 20-yard line. Shane McClellin return the ball to the Dolphins 22-yard line to set up the crucial fourth touchdown of the game for the Patriots.
Stat of the Night - 28-2 - the highest single season touchdown to interception ratio in NFL history. Take a bow Mr Brady.
The Game
New England began the game with a dominant opening possession, Brady steering the team to a first drive that totalled more than seven and a half minutes and 75 yards and ended with the quarterback finding Martellus Bennett for a yard touchdown.
After Miami went three and out in their own opening drive that lasted just 90 seconds, New England went on the front foot again, claiming touchdown number two from new-boy Michael Floyd.
The wide-out was picked up after his release from Arizona and showed he could have a crucial role to play in the hunt for the Vince Lombardi trophy.
He was picked out by Brady for a 14-yard catch and drive, showing tremendous strength to force the ball into the endzone and set the Patriots on their way to win that gives them a perfect 8-0 record on the road this season.
A couple of Steven Gostkowski field goals kept the Patriots scoreboard ticking over and it wasn't until just before the half-time interval that the Dolphins managed to get themselves on the board, thanks to Jarvis Landry's touchdown.
And when Matt Moore found a wide-open Kenny Stills in the endzone, the Dolphins moved to within just six points of their AFC East rivals.
But any hope of a Miami comeback was halted with the TD of the game. Brady found enough space to pick out Edelman who made for the Miami endzone and helped by a timely Floyd block the wide receiver ran in to extend New England's advantage.
Adam Gase's men are made of stern stuff and having improved from 1-4 to make the play-offs this season, they continued to battle in the hope of improving their seeded position by one but it was not to be as the Patriots defence underlined their own improvement in recent weeks.
Moore picked out Damien Williams but Devin McCourty's challenge forced the fumble and with Shae McClellin returning the ball more than 60 yards it set up the final scoring drive of the game, ran in by Blount for the Patriots.
New England finish the season with a 14-2 record and Brady in the form of his career, while Miami as sixth seeds will now have to contemplate a trip to Heinz Field to take on Pittsburgh in next week's wild card round.
