New England Patriots: Why the loss in Miami could be crippling

There are plenty of brutal ways to lose a football game. The New England Patriots found one of the worst during another nightmare in Miami.

That stadium has given the AFC kingpins fits for years. New England had lost two of their past three games going into this one. Still, they had their experience and their edge to lean on. For 59 minutes of the game, they looked like their usual selves. They scored points, got some key stops and held the lead in the waning seconds. All they needed was one more stop to get out of there and go home. The setup was ideal too.

The Dolphins weren’t even in range to try a Hail Mary for the end zone. That meant they had to throw the ball and hope they might get a lucky bounce or three. That never happens in today’s NFL. Especially not to the mighty Patriots, right? Well, there’s a first time for everything. Facing a do-or-die play from their own 31-yard line with seven seconds left, Miami decided to give it a go. Then things got crazy.

A catch by Kenny Still led to a lateral to DeVante Parker who then lateraled to Kenyan Drake. From there it was a mix of his own speed and quickness combined with a timely missed angle by Rob Gronkowski in coverage that led to the craziest touchdown seen in years.

#Patriots held a 33-28 lead despite missing a FG and an extra point and the #Dolphins pulled the most ridiculous play to win the game with 7 seconds left.https://t.co/KOKbmqkpdf
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 9, 2018

Miami loss has the worst timing for the Patriots playoff plans

More from NFL Mocks

While the victory kept the Dolphins alive in their own playoff pursuits, the loss to New England is potentially devastating. While it’s no question that they will be in the postseason, one of their time-honored tactics of making the AFC go through Foxborough is now on life support. They’ve dropped to 9-4 on the season while the Kansas City Chiefs survived in overtime against Baltimore, pushing their record to 11-2.

That means all the Chiefs have to do to lock up home field for the playoffs is win two of their final three. Why is this such a big deal? Just look to the history. Since 2001, Tom Brady is 27-10 in playoff games. Impressive yes? Here’s a problem. A total of 22 of those games were played at home. The Patriots are actually quite pedestrian on the road with their Hall of Fame quarterback, going 3-4 lifetimes over that span. They’re zero for their last three in road playoff games.

The good news is that shouldn’t be a factor until the AFC championship, provided they still lock up a 1st round bye and the Chiefs advance from their own spot in the divisional round. Even so, history says the Patriots are in a territory where they haven’t done nearly as well as they have in most of their other Super Bowl seasons.

Home/NFL Hot Takes