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Every Wednesday during the NFL season, Kru’s Control will offer readers a pre-port. A pre-port is a first cousin to a pre-diction, but it’s not just a guess about the score of Sunday’s Patriots game, it is a full-length report about the game—before it ever happens—as if it had already happened. Think of having a time traveler come back each week to let you know the story of the game several days before the game is ever played.
Score: Monsoon 48, Patriots 24, Dolphins 6. Let’s face it, yesterday the only real winners were those people who manufacture and sell those flimsy ponchos—although the Patriots will take the win, put it in their soggy pockets, and sit back and enjoy the bye week.
In spite of the fact that Dolphins should feel at home in the water, on this very wet Sunday in Foxborough, the Patriots sloshed to an easy victory over the fish from Miami who didn’t seem to like the idea of being cold as well as wet.
Harvard grad Ryan Fitzpatrick, who’s known to be great or terrible, took this Sunday to be, shall we say, extremely generous. As a quarterback who has never been shy about trying to toss the leather into the tightest of spots, gunslinger Fitzpatrick tried time and again to thread the needle. But, you see, when the ball is slippery and the wind howling, and when those tight spots are being patrolled by Stephon Gilmore and JC Jackson, interceptions have been known to happen. After throwing four in the first half, Fitzpatrick took a wet seat on the Dolphins bench for the second half, where he had a terrific view of the two additional INTs thrown by back-up Josh Rosen.
As opposed to Miami offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea, Josh McDaniels recognized pretty quickly that rain and wind did not constitute the best conditions to put it in the air. Moreover, utilizing the ground game gave Tom Brady the opportunity to hand the ball off to his stable of backs and stay out of harm’s way. Sony Michel seemed to like the wet track to the tune of 103 yards on a workman-like 20 carries, and Brandon Bolden played a strong secondary role, rolling to another 63 on eight carries.
Brady threw a grand total of 9 passes for just under 100 yards, but everyone seemed happy, especially Tom Terrific, who stood upright all afternoon, wet but with no mud on his back. And wasn’t it nice to see Jarrett Stidham throw his first NFL touchdown in the fourth quarter, to his favorite target Jakobi Meyers, for the icing on the cake.
Coming attractions: Julian Edelman will get to sit and nurse his multiple injuries. Marcus Cannon can get treatment on his ankle and Tom can ice his sore elbow. The brain trust will have the luxury of watching the first round of the playoffs on TV, all the while plotting and planning a myriad of surprises on both sides of the ball. It’s likely the Chiefs in two weeks, and shouldn’t that be fun.
