Dolphins stymie Brady in upset
They pick off two of his passes and keep the Patriots from clinching AFC East.
MIAMI 27 NEW ENGLAND 20
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Tom Brady had two passes intercepted by Xavien Howard and was held without a third-down conversion Monday night, and the Miami Dolphins ended the New England Patriots’ winning streak at eight games with a 27-20 victory.
The Dolphins were 11point underdogs at home, but they kept the Patriots from clinching their ninth consecutive AFC East title.
“It was a bad night,” Brady said. “We’ve had a lot of good nights this year. This was a bad night.”
Brady completed 24 of 43 passes for 233 yards and one touchdown. Miami sacked him twice and hit him five times, and held the Patriots (10-3) to 25 yards rushing. New England was 0 for 11 on third down.
“Our focus every game is to hit the quarterback as hard as we can and make him uncomfortable,” defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. “I think we did a pretty good job of it.”
Jay Cutler threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Jarvis Landry. Kenyan Drake had 114 yards rushing and 79 yards receiving.
A Brady touchdown pass cut New England’s deficit to 10 points with 13 minutes left, but the Patriots’ next three possessions netted five yards. After a New England field goal, Miami (6-7) sealed the victory by recovering an onside kick with 53 seconds to go.
“This gives us a boost,” Cutler said. “Winning is what keeps you in this game. The locker room after a game, there’s nothing like it.”
Miami tried to turn the game into a laugher in the third quarter when Landry caught a touchdown pass, set the ball down in the end zone and pumped it repeatedly, an apparent reference to the Patriots’ “Deflategate” scandal.
“It’s all about taking the air out of the ball,” Landry said.
The Dolphins ended the Patriots’ road winning streak at 14 games, secondbest behind San Francisco’s 18 in a row from 1988 to 1990.
New England tight end Rob Gronkowski sat out because of a one-game suspension for a late hit to the head of an opponent.