And then the Patriots were crushed by a team that had lost 20 of 21.
Worse, they were thrashed by a team that was assembled by Bill Parcells. They repeatedly were tricked by direct snaps to running back Ronnie Brown, who ran for four touchdowns and threw for another (there was an unconfirmed report the Dolphins tailback took a call from the Commander in Chief, who told him, "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job").
How bad was it? New England fans were booing their team before halftime. A lot of them made tracks for the CBS Scene (perhaps you've heard of it?) before the start of the fourth quarter.
"Not too much to say here," droned coach Bill Belichick. "They certainly did a lot better than we did. They outplayed us. They outcoached us. They obviously deserved to win. They were the better team."
It's an unthinkable statement in the world we recently knew. The Dolphins were supposed to be the worst team in football. They were outscored, 51-10, in the first three quarters of their first two games. Yesterday, Miami led, 28-13, after three.
In New England.
Against the team that nine months ago had a case for being the best football team of all time.
The hideous loss and the immediate future of the franchise is going to be placed on the square shoulders of young Matt Cassel, a.k.a. the Man Who Replaced Tom Brady. This is totally unfair, of course, but that's just the way it goes.
Cassel completed 19 of 31 passes for a paltry 131 yards. He was sacked three times, coughed up a fumble, and was intercepted once. He could have been picked off four times if not for a penalty and a couple of drops by defensive backs. Fans booed with gusto after a couple of Cassel's second-half misses. Belichick replaced him with rookie Kevin O'Connell with six minutes left. Cassel's quarterback rating, if you believe in such things, was 68.1. That's like getting a 260 on your math SATs.
