FOXBORO — The game-winning play began innocuously enough.
With just under five minutes left in the third quarter, the Patriots trailed 17-16. Miami had just ground out a spirit-sapping drive, a 10:09 sequence that took 16 plays and consumed 66 yards and ended in a 1-yard Wildcat touchdown pass from Ronnie Brown to Joey Haynos. Now, New England had to answer, or face heading into the fourth quarter of a key division game trailing in its own place.
The Patriots had the ball at their own 29-yard-line, and were in a third-and-1. Randy Moss was split wide right, but as quarterback Tom Brady called out the signals, Moss slowly came in motion to the left. As the ball was snapped, Brady went into a three-step drop and saw Moss in man coverage with rookie cornerback Vontae Davis over the middle.
Brady hit Moss in stride, and he was gone.
Well, not exactly gone. The receiver had a step on Davis, but a crushing stiff-arm gave him the separation he needed to take it the distance for the touchdown that would eventually be the difference. While it will go into the books as a 71-yard touchdown, Moss ended up taking it the final 61 yards for the score, high-stepping a portion of the way to avoid fallen defensive backs on the way to the end zone.
It was the game-winning touchdown in the 27-17 contest (check out the full game recap here) that put New England squarely in command of the AFC East with half a season in the books.
“Everyone did what they had to do, and 71 yards later, it was a touchdown,” said Moss, who finished with six catches for 147 yards and a touchdown. “You really have to commend all 11 guys, because I’ve said once before, if you’ve got 11 guys working together, anything is possible. That’s what we tried to do there is just execute on offense and everybody did everything right on that play, and you saw the results.”
“That’s like getting stabbed in the heart right there,” Patriots guard Logan Mankins said of New England’s answer, which took three plays and went for 80 yards in just 1:36. “You grind it out for like 10 minutes and finally score, and then in like a minute and a half we come right back.”
While the touchdown was impressive, it was the way Moss reached the end zone that was interesting. Usually known as a traditional deep threat who stretches the field, this time he made a big play with his feet and his hands. He made a great reception on the run almost underneath, then used the stiff-arm to get some distance between himself and the blocker. He high-stepped to maintain the distance between himself and the defender and then pull away from the defenders. The whole sequence was a reminder that Moss can be the whole package in a receiver.
“Being able to stiff-arm that guy and then get his legs up, he’s a savvy player and knows when players are around,” teammate Wes Welker said. “And he was able to turn that into a big play for us where we needed an answer, and he really came through on that.”
“It’s always nice for a quarterback when you see the back of 81 sprinting down the field once he gets by them,” said Brady, who went 25-for-37 for 332 yards with one touchdown and one interception on the day. “There are not too many guys that can catch him.”
Here are nine other things we learned Sunday at Gillette Stadium:
THE PATRIOTS OFFENSIVE LINE IS CAPABLE OF MAKING JOEY PORTER AND JASON TAYLOR DISAPPEAR
There was an occasional rogue rusher who busted through and made life difficult for Brady, but the Patriots offensive line did an excellent job of keeping the Miami pass rush at bay on Sunday. The New England quarterback had plenty of time to operate, and the only time he turned the ball over was because of an excellent defensive play by Vontae Davis.
Brady was sacked twice (Randy Starks and Cameron Wake got him once each), but the
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