Carpenter kicks home to surpass the Patriots 22-21. Posted by DieHardFans | at 2:24 AM

Over the last four weeks the New England Patriots have looked less like contenders and more like pretenders as they are making their way through the NFL campaign. On November 15, New England lost a game they should have won to the Indianapolis Colts due to a terrible decision made by head coach Bill Belichick and a display of ineptitude by the team’s defense in the last quarter.

The following week they had some consolation as they beat a lackluster New York Jets team as a payback for their loss earlier this season. Last Monday night they were run over by the New Orleans Saints and were pummeled by a score of 38-17. The Patriots this Sunday played in Miami’s Land Shark Stadium against division rivals the Dolphins. New England needed a win against the Dolphins not mathematically but psychologically; they needed to show themselves that they could bounce back from a beating they had gotten Monday night.

The Patriots would hold the lead the entire contest; except when it counted as the game became a final with the Dolphins getting a 22-21 come from behind victory. Kicker Dan Carpenter kicked a 41 yard field goal with 1:02 left to play giving the Dolphins their first lead of the game at 22-21. The Patriots had the time to make one more drive to comeback and grab the victory. Unfortunately for the Patriots that did not happen as their QB Tom Brady was intercepted by Dolphins linebacker at the Patriots 40 with 35 seconds to play. It was the first interception Crowder had made in the NFL and it could not have come at a more opportune time as it clinched the come from behind win for the Dolphins. If you just look at the statistical breakdown of this game the Patriots really had no business leading for most of the contest. Miami held onto the rock for 32:37 while New England had it for 5 minutes less at 27:23.

However in spite of those numbers, the Patriots would dominate the scoreboard for most of the contest and appeared that they would take this game quite easily until the latter stages of the game. The two quarterbacks were a study in contrast as Henne improved as the game went along and completed 29/52 pass attempts for a total of 335 yards; with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception where it seemed Brady peaked early on and then trailed off completing 19/29 for 352 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Miami is back to even as they are now 6-6 with the victory and they will be in Jacksonville next Sunday to take on the Jags. New England still leads the mediocre AFC East with a record of 7-5 and will play host next Sunday to Carolina.