Miami

Dolphins Open Season With Win Over Patriots

The Dolphins started their 2014 season in a big way with a win over the New England Patriots on Sunday

The Miami Dolphins scored 23 unanswered points in the second half of Sunday to win their season opener against the New England Patriots 33-20.

The game started well for Miami when Chris McCain blocked a punt attempt in under two minutes of the game starting. Less than two minutes later, Ryan Tannehill found Lamar Miller for a touchdown pass and Miami found themselves up by seven.

The Patriots would answer back fast and continue however as they went on a 17-0 run of their own to go up 17-7 midway into the second quarter. After New England added a late field goal, it took a 20-10 lead into the locker room at half-time.

When the second half opened, Tannehill was given the ball first and the Dolphins down the field on a 66-yard drive that culminated in a field goal to cut the margin to only a single touchdown. That would only be the beginning of the furious run by Miami.

Tom Brady was sacked by Cameron Wake a little over a minute later and that led to a fumble that was recovered by Miami. Deep into Patriot territory, Tannehill quickly turned that into another touchdown pass when he found Mike Wallace.

After a three and out by New England, the Dolphins would move down the field on a 50-yard drive and take the lead when Caleb Sturgis nailed a 22-yard field goal. It was the first lead by Miami since its early touchdown.

The fourth quarter featured several punts on both sides until Knowshon Moreno ran into the endzone to put Miami up by ten with only 3:36 left to play. Moreno had a big day as he tallied 134 yards on 24 carries along with the aforementioned touchdown run.

Miami would go on to add an extra three points later in the fourth on another field goal from Sturgis which was good from 27 yards. Sturgis was 4-4 on his FG attempts with the longest coming from 38 yards.

Tannehill threw an interception in addition to his two touchdown passes and was sacked only once. His 18-32 day for 178 yards resulted in a 79.9 rating. The quarterback also fumbled once but recovered it. In all, Miami fumbled three times and lost two of them.

The defense held Brady to a lackluster 29-55 day with only one touchdown pass. Brady was also sacked four times with two coming from Wake an additional one each from Olivier Vernon and McCain.

The Dolphins will travel to Buffalo for a 1:00 p.m. game next Sunday against the Bills.

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