Across USA, cheers. In New England, shocked silence

In viewing areas across America, from sports bars to living rooms, explosive cheers rang out.

Throughout New England, shocked silence.

Whether the way the PatriotsDolphins game ended is worthy of being dubbed the South Beach Stunner or South Beach Bummer depends on your perspective.

Maybe stick with “Boise,” which is what coach Adam Gase called this bit of razzle dazzle.

Or Stick with “The Drake Escape” if you will, as Miami’s Kenyan Drake finished off a 69-yard reception-and-lateral marvel to lift the Dolphins past the Patriots 34-33. It’s the latest in the line of unforgettable plays that not only draw nicknames, but live in both celebration and infamy — again, depending on your perspective.

Drake’s view was simple: a miracle.

“Until I got in the end zone. I mean honestly, I’m sitting before you all and I still don’t believe it,” he said during interviews after the improbable conclusion sent New England to its fifth loss in the last six visits to South Florida.

“I just saw it was Gronk (Rob Gronkowski) in front of me and I was just like ‘Look, I’ve got somewhere to be.’ So I had to get in the end zone.”

The fact that the Patriots’ superb tight end was playing safety on the desperation play was about as bizarre as the play itself — the longest to win a game with no time remaining since the NFL-AFL merger was finalized in 1970. Sure, it made sense for the 6-foot-7 Gronk, with his long reach, powerful body and sticky hands, to be in for a “Hail Mary” pass into the end zone. But Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill wasn’t likely to throw the ball 70 yards.

So the hulking Gronk was no match for the speedy Drake, not even after the Dolphins running back had sped most of the 52 yards he carried the ball after receiving a lateral from DeVante Parker. Who had taken a lateral from Kenny Still after Tannehill’s short completion.

Guess Bill Belichick got outsmarted by Gase on this one. One of the Patriots coach’s former star safeties, Rodney Harrison, questioned the strategy on NBC’s halftime show Sunday night, astonished that Devin McCourty — nearly as good a player as Harrison was — stood on the sideline.

“Every time we practice it, it’s for the Hail Mary,” said Gronkowski who admitted he tripped chasing Drake. “You’ve got to be ready for anything. It’s football. Just the way it ended, I mean, it sucked. I mean, I’ve never really been a part of anything like that.

“I feel like it’s going to test our character big time, how we bounce back from something like that. I’ve just got to make that tackle.”

Barry Wilner