Miami Dolphins season ends in victory knock Patriots out of second seed
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins did the impossible. They went into Foxboro and beat the New England Patriots and giving the Chiefs the 2nd seed in the playoffs.
It was supposed to be a route. The Miami Dolphins have not won at New England in ten years. The Patriots haven’t played in the first round of the playoffs since 2008 when they lost to the Ravens and lost the division to the Dolphins without Tom Brady.
Today, the Miami Dolphins completed their 2019 season and are making the Patriots play next week.
The Dolphins took an early lead on a field goal and at one point led 10 to 0 in the second half but the two teams went to the locker room tied. The Patriots figured to take control of the second half but the Dolphins defense was relentless and the offense kept moving the chains and eating the clock.
Last week the Dolphins needed overtime to beat the Bengals and this week they only need a couple of minutes. Taking the ball for the last time Ryan Fitzpatrick drove the field and with 29 seconds left in the game hit Mike Gesicki for the go-ahead touchdown. The best sound of the game came when the refs raised their hands as the Gilette Stadium fell completely silent sans the scattered Dolphins fans.
With the win, the Dolphins improve to five wins on the season and will likely drop out of the top five of the draft but no one cares about draft picks today.
While Fitzpatrick was sharp, DeVante Parker continued his stellar year while schooling the one player that some believe should be the defensive player of the year, Stephon Gilmore. Parker caught eight passes on 11 targets for over 130 yards. Gilmore simply couldn’t keep up.
When Parker wasn’t making plays, Isaiah Ford was. In critical moments of the game, Ford came up with big plays for first downs finishing with seven receptions for 54 yards.
Today was a long road for the Miami Dolphins. A culmination of 16 weeks of games that started out so poorly that the Dolphins were looking at the possibility of being one of the worst teams in NFL history.
Making today so much better, however, is the fact that it was New England, at home, with playoff seeding on the line. With the Patriots now out of the number two spot and the Chiefs winning, the Patriots will face off against the sixth seed which could be the Tennessee Titans and Ryan Tannehill.
No matter, the Dolphins took care of business and put a big exclamation on their season.