The Dolphins were just 30 minutes away from pulling off a Christmas miracle in Foxborough. Tom Brady and the Patriots (12-3) came roaring back in the second half on Christmas Eve, erasing the Dolphins’ (5-10) 17-0 halftime lead as they would hold on to win the game 27-24.

The victory clinched the Patriots one of the top two seeds and a first round postseason bye following the Colts dramatic win over the Texans on Thursday night. “It’s good to clinch,” said receiver Deion Branch, “but not by the way we played. It’s not the way you want to do it.” Miami gave Pats fans quite a scare during the course of the first 30 minutes. The Dolphins defense, which had allowed only 14.7 points per game during their recent 5-2 stretch, sacked Brady three times while keeping New England’s high powered offense off the board.

Matt Moore and the Dolphins jumped at this rare opportunity and put together two impressive touchdown drives following a 47 yard field goal on the game’s opening possession. Just two plays after making a 47 yard catch downfield, Brandon Marshall caught a 19 yard touchdown to give Miami a 10-0 lead at the beginning of the second quarter. The drive went 82 yards on just 5 plays.

Interim head coach Todd Bowles remained aggressive. After forcing a quick 3 and out Miami added on another touchdown. A one yard touchdown pass to Charles Clay concluded an 11 play, 89 yard drive to put the Dolphins up 17-0 with 6:31 remaining in the half. Two long pass interference penalties aided the Dolphins along the way.

New England went into the locker room stunned after missing a 51 yard field goal attempt with only a few seconds left on the clock. A 17-0 score was the largest home halftime deficit for a Patriots team since trailing 18-0 to the Jets all the way back in 1999. The Dolphins were poised to give the Pats only their second home loss in 35 games – until Moore’s giveaways gave New England new life. “Our guys fought,” said Bowles, “but we didn’t finish.”

A fumbled snap by Moore early in the 3^rd was recovered by the Patriots’ Vince Wilfork at the Miami 38 following a 45 yard New England field goal to cut the lead to 17-3. Brady took advantage. He went a perfect 5-5 on the drive and finished off with a two yard scrambling touchdown pass to Deion Branch, making it a one possession game at 17-10.

The Pats then had a short field to work with after forcing a punt deep in Miami territory. Brady led his troops 41 yards downfield and tied the game with a one yard quarterback sneak with 2:17 remaining in the third. Although things were falling apart for the Dolphins, they were still in great position to take the lead to start the 4^th quarter.

Moore brought them down to the New England 44, but was intercepted by Devin McCourty down at the 2 on a ball that was held up in the air by the wind. Moore’s two turnovers proved costly despite going 17-33 for 294 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The Pats would eventually convert the pick into a 42 yard field goal to take their first lead at 20-17 with 8:55 left to go. A 59 yard drive and another quarterback sneak touchdown for Brady on their next possession pretty much sealed the deal with 2:56 remaining.

Miami could not stop Brady in the second half after shutting him down in the first. He finished 27-46 with 304 yards and 3 total touchdowns. “We had (Brady’s) number in the first half, but in the second half he came out and made a lot of plays,” said Dolphins linebacker Karlos Dansby. “He is a coach on the field.”

A late touchdown by Davone Bess made it a 27-24 game, but the Patriots converted a critical 3^rd down, ran the clock out, and secured the victory. New England has now won 7 in a row with just one game remaining before beginning yet another postseason run.

And while the Dolphins let this one slip away, there were some nice milestones reached in the meantime. Reggie Bush’s fourth straight 100 yard rushing game gave him over 1,000 yards on the year. Marshall also reached the 1,000 yard receiving mark, making this the first time in team history that Miami has had both a 1,000 yard rusher and 1,000 yard receiver in one year.
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The story catching everyone’s attention from Sunday’s Patriots Redskins showdown wasn’t tight end Rob Gronkowski breaking the NFL record for most touchdown receptions by a tight end. It wasn’t how the Patriots barely escaped Washington with a victory, or how the defense managed to do just enough to win the game despite surrendering 463 yards.

It was how Tom Brady and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien had a screaming match on the side line after Brady threw an interception. The Patriots were up by 7, and Brady tried to sneak one into Tiguan Underwood, but was picked off with just over 6 minutes to go in the game.

The Redskins got the ball and started marching down the field trying to send things to overtime as Brady and O’Brien were engaged in a screaming match. ”I threw a pretty bad interception, so he wasn’t happy about it,” said Brady, ”And there was probably a long line of coaches and players that were pretty (upset) at me after that, but Billy got to me first. He let me have it; I deserved it.”

Brady finished 22 of 37 for 357 yards three touchdowns and his first interception in over a month. He also passed Warren Moon for sixth on the all time touchdown list and crossed the 4000 yard mark for the fourth time in his illustrious career. Gronkowski had quite the day catching six passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns propelling him past Antonio Gates and Vernon Davis for most touchdowns by a tight end ever.

The Patriots hardly won an easy one, needing a penalty and a tipped pass to save the day. Santana Moss made a catch for the score, but it was negated by a pass interference call on Moss. On another play, Moss tipped a pass right into the hands of Jerod Mayo to seal the deal for the Patriots who have the worst defense in football.

Rex Grossman finished 19 of 32 for 252 yards with two touchdowns and the one interception. Roy Helu had another big day rushing for 126 yards on 27 carries. ”You kind of don’t want to give up those yards in the first place,” Patriots safety James Ihedigbo said. “But at the same time, we’re going to bow our necks once we get down there, and say, ‘Hey, they’re not getting in the end zone.’”

The Redskins had a great day despite missing both left and right tackles and tight end Fred Davis. The loss was bad, but the officiating really had the Redskins upset after the game. There was the flag on Moss late in the game, but another call where linebacker London Fletcher was flagged for hitting a sliding Brady with a forearm to the head. Replay showed that he clearly hit him in the chest. Coach Mike Shanahan said the call was “horrible.”

“We don’t get no calls around here, man,” Moss said. “You guys have been covering us for a long time. Y’all see what goes on out there. We blow our breath on one of the doggone guys over there and it’s a penalty. Our quarterback gets killed — and you just almost hit somebody that’s a quarterback and we get flagged. So a lot of stuff goes on. But I guess we’ve got to play against a team and the ref.”

New England continues their quest for the best seed in the AFC with a trip to Denver to face Tebow-mania and then back home to finish against the Dolphins and Bills. Washington, looking to finish the season strong heads to New York to try to play spoilers against the Giants, then home to play Minnesota and finish up their season at Philadelphia.

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All is where people thought it would be at this point in the season. The New England Patriots are 1^st in the AFC East and the New York Jets are chasing them for the divisional title as usual. Led by Tom Brady’s three touchdown passes, two which went to tight end Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots moved into sole possession of first place in the AFC East with a convincing victory over the Jets at MetLife stadium on Sunday Night.

Brady finished 26 of 39 with 329 yards and the three scores, the biggest which came after the Jets pulled within a score 23-16 early in the fourth quarter. Brady led the team on an 84 yard drive capped by an 8 yard touchdown catch by Deion Branch who burned nickel back Kyle Wilson.

The victory was sealed with linebacker Rob Ninkovich intercepted Mark Sanchez on the next possession and returned it 12 yards for the score. The game was for first place in the East, and the Patriots cruised, snapping their two game losing streak and the Jets three game winning streak, while sweeping the season series.

The Bills entered Sunday tied for first, but were blown out in Dallas earlier 44-7. For the Jets this marked their first home loss of the season entering the game 4-0 at home. Coach Rex Ryan insisted that his team had greatly improved since losing to the pats a month ago in New England, but tonight wasn’t indicative of that. The Jets still have a lot to do if they want to take over the AFC East.

All day the Jets secondary had no answer for Rob Gronkowski who finished with 8 catches and 113 yards and kicker Stephen Gostkowski was good on his three attempts. The Patriots, who ranked last in the league coming into the game in sacks, saw Andre Carter collect 4 ½ alone as the Patriots were in Mark Sanchez’s face all game.

Sanchez had a dreadful game. He finished 20 of 39 for 306 yards a touchdown and two interceptions. He was also sacked five times. A 7 yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress had the Jets right back in the game, but then Brady took over leading the Patriots down the field for a 13 play 84 yard drive using a no-huddle offense to keep the Jets off balance. The drive ate up half of the fourth quarter.

The key play came when Joe McKnight bobbled a muffed punt which set up a field goal. Isaiah Trufant had two chances to recover the punt, and Donald Strickland who let the ball squirt out of his hands, failed to recover the punt which eventually was recovered by Niko Koutouvides at the Jets 13.

The Patriots capitalized with another field goal to increase the lead. They got the ball right back when a Sanchez pass went off Shonn Greene’s hands and was deflected by Jerod Mayo into Ninkovich’s hands. The Jets played well early getting on the scoreboard with a safety when Jamaal Westerman got to Brady in the end zone forcing an intentional grounding.

The Jets took the ball and went down the field on a 7 play 65 yard drive capped by a 2 yard draw by Mark Sanchez to put them up 9-6. Though they got the score Sanchez made the mistake of calling a timeout instead of letting the clock run out. This gave Tom Brady plenty of time to drive down the field and answer with a touchdown right before the half.

Ryan, angry with Sanchez, told NBC at the half that the timeout call was the “stupidest play in NFL history.” The Jets opened the game with an impressive drive, but couldn’t punch it in and got no points when Nick Folk missed a 24 yard field goal wide left.

The Jets have a quick turnaround as they head to Denver to face Tim Tebow and the suddenly relevant Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football. The Patriots look to continue their good play as they head home to face former quarterback Matt Cassel and the Kansas City Chiefs who have lost two straight since winning four in a row.

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