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Ups & downs

By Mike Reiss, Globe Staff December 23, 2007 10:44 PM

A look at who's up and who's down from the Patriots' win over the Dolphins:

Up

  • Heath Evans -- Fullback opened up some impressive holes as a lead blocker, most notably paving the way for Laurence Maroney's 59-yard touchdown run.

  • Chris Hanson -- Punter has arguably his best day with the club, with five punts for a 50.2 average and 45.8 net, including an impressive 64-yarder in his own end zone.

  • Laurence Maroney -- Running back totals 156 yards on 14 carries, and one touchdown.

  • Mike Vrabel -- Outside linebacker finishes with two sacks, to up his season total to 11.5, the highest total by a Patriot since Andre Tippett had 12.5 in 1987.

    Down

  • Troy Brown -- Receiver muffs a second-quarter punt that is recovered by the Dolphins.

  • Pass protection -- Tom Brady is sacked three times -- right tackle Nick Kaczur in particular seemed to struggle -- and center Dan Koppen (holding) and Wesley Britt (holding) are flagged for penalties.

  • Run defense -- The Dolphins gain 108 yards on 22 carries (4.9 avg.).

  • Second-half offense -- A combination across the board, as the Patriots are shut out for the first time in a half this season.

    MONDAY LOOK-AHEAD: We'll plan on taking a look at the snaps played by offensive skill position players in the morning. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11:45 a.m.

  • 4 comments so far...
    1. Why isn't Brady on the "down" list for constantly throwing into triple coverage, turning the ball over three times and basically giving the Dolphins way too much opportunity to come back on us in the second half???

      Posted by PJM December 23, 07 11:14 PM
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    1. It seemed like the majority (or, actually, all) of the Dolphins' success on the ground came out of the shotgun formation with draw plays against the Patriots' nickel defense.

      Obviously, a defense playing the pass is going to be less stout against the run, though better individual tackling would have prevented the two Chatman runs of 10+ yards during Miami's second possession in the second half. Other than that, Chatman did more talking than actual productive running.

      There was the Booker draw for 22 yards later -- again, poor tackling -- but I thought, overall, the run defense performed decently, especially dominating in the first half (12 rushes for 30 yards) before the Pats jumped out to a big lead.

      But the tackling in open space, particularly from our resident AARP middle linebackers, remains inconsistent, at best.

      Posted by Brian December 24, 07 02:01 AM
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    1. Come on, Troy isn't down... He's muffed two punts in his career, give the guy a break. The reaction of the crowd to Brown was amazing, and Troy made up the mistake with two nice returns later on.

      Posted by Greg December 24, 07 11:03 AM
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    1. kaczur on the down side , how much time are they to give brady, most of the time brady brady could have lunch, this moss only has got to stop

      Posted by ronald lee December 24, 07 11:49 PM
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