Patriots overcome wildcat to beat Dolphins 27-17

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots needed a comeback after the Miami Dolphins went ahead on a drive lasting more than 10 minutes in the third quarter.

It took Randy Moss and his teammates less than two minutes.

Moss scored on a 71-yard play after taking a short pass over the middle from Tom Brady and New England went on to a 27-17 win Sunday and a two-game lead in the AFC East.

"Long drives can be equalized by big plays and big plays can be equalized by long drives," New England coach Bill Belichick said. "That was a big one to hit."

Brady followed that touchdown pass with a 2-point conversion toss to Moss that made it 24-17 with 3:15 left in the third quarter. The Dolphins didn't get inside the Patriots' 40-yard line the rest of the way.

Moss sped to his touchdown after shoving cornerback Vontae Davis.

"Being able to stiff-arm that guy and then get his legs up, he's a savvy player and knows when players are around," Wes Welker said. "He was able to turn that into a big play for us when we needed an answer."

Moss had six catches for 147 yards, Welker had nine for 84 and Brady completed 25 of 37 passes for 332 yards, breaking Drew Bledsoe's club record with his 27th game of at least 300 yards passing.

The Patriots (6-2) lead the idle New York Jets (4-4) and Miami and Buffalo (both 3-5) in the AFC East. The win was especially important since Miami had been 3-0 in division games and New England only 1-1. Last season, both finished at 11-5 and had the same record in AFC East games, but the Dolphins made the playoffs with a better conference record, and the Patriots missed out.

"Those guys were undefeated in the division," Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo said. "We really needed this one."

Miami's two touchdowns, a 15-yard run by Ricky Williams and a 1-yard pass from Ronnie Brown to Joey Haynos, came on wildcat plays. Haynos' touchdown came on the first series of the second half, a 16-play, 66-yard drive that lasted more than 10 minutes. The Dolphins did much better with the wildcat than when they gained 36 yards on 21 wildcat plays in their previous two games, but New England's quick-strike ability took back the momentum.

"It was tough for us. The offense had just come off of a great drive," Miami linebacker Jason Taylor said, "but Randy Moss made a play ... what he's done for a million years."

After a 5-yard run by Maroney and a 4-yard completion to Wes Welker, Brady hit Moss. He shoved then ran away from Davis for his 140th touchdown receiving, tying Terrell Owens for second place behind Jerry Rice's 197.

"Everybody did what they had to do and 71 yards later it was a touchdown," Moss said.

Moss made another big catch against Davis when he hauled in a 36-yard completion with his right hand that moved the ball to the Miami 1-yard line. Laurence Maroney ran in on the next play for a 7-3 lead.

"That's Randy Moss," said Davis, who also intercepted Brady's pass toward Moss on the Patriots' first series. "He's going to make his plays and I just tried to limit him the best I could."

The Dolphins played without two injured defensive starters, linebacker Channing Crowder and nose tackle Jason Ferguson.

Patriots starting center Dan Koppen did not return after hurting his knee in the second quarter and was replaced by Dan Connolly. The team gave no update on Koppen's condition.

Miami's Ted Ginn Jr. was held to four kickoff returns for 97 yards plus two touchbacks after running back kickoffs for touchdowns of 100 and 101 yards a week earlier in a 30-25 win over the Jets.

Miami scored four touchdowns against the Patriots out of the wildcat in a 38-13 win last year but used just one wildcat play on its first three possessions Sunday. On its fourth series, it went with the alignment on five runs for 66 yards, the last the touchdown by Williams on a handoff from Pat White. That tied the game 10-10 with 6:11 left in the second quarter.

"It was much better today," Brown said of the wildcat, "but in crucial situations you have to make the big play."

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)