[Editor’s note:  Former Broncos G.M. Ted Sundquist looks at Sunday’s key Week Twelve game between the Fins and the Pats.] 

Change is inevitable. Sometimes it just has to wait. The Miami Dolphins have been making some noise this season in the AFC East and sat tied with New England (6-4), one game behind the New York Jets. The Dolphins had shocked the Patriots earlier this year and were looking to take the outright tiebreaker with a second victory over their division rivals.

Not so fast.

The Patriots played as if they’re not quite ready to relinquish the control they’ve had over the rest of the division, and they put a 48-28 reminder of that on Miami. Winning is a learning process and this was the first meaningful game the Dolphins had played in some time.

In the pregame report I spoke about the poise and discipline that the ’08 Miami Dolphins had been playing with. Gone were the costly turnovers and killer penalties which plagued them for most of last season. When you play smart and composed good things usually happen.

The Dolphins were tied for 3rd with the fewest penalties and had built a +7 turnover ratio. KEY #1 was to continue the trend. Veteran teams will take advantage of self-inflicted wounds and New England saw Miami rack up 8 penalties for 60 yards, probably the worst two coming at the end with a strong lack of composure on the part of OLB Joey Porter (unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike). New England would add an interception in the fourth quarter and turned it into a 30 yard field goal for 41-28 lead.

KEY #2 for the Dolphins would be controlling the newfound running game of the Patriots. Over the past four weeks New England had averaged 126.75 yards on the ground, generating “big play” runs and efficiently moving the ball on 1st down. The Patriots were 6th in the League in 4+ yard rushes and had used this to turn out 25 drives of 10+ plays.

The problem was that Miami wasn’t allowing opponents to run on their defense, especially on 1st down. Despite the injuries that had torn apart their original backfield, New England used the three-headed monster of Kevin Faulk, Sammy Morris and rookie RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis for a combined 108 yards.

New England didn’t attack the Dolphins on 1st down with the rush, rather turning to the 15 of 22, 131 yard & 1TD passing performance (all on 1st down) of QB Matt Cassel. Cassel was his own best friend with excellent efficiency to start a series and staying out of 2nd/3rd & long situations. The Dolphins did their best to bring the heat (2 sacks & 8 hurries) but Cassel stood to the pressure and used his running game in other situations.

As mentioned above New England looks to throw as much as anyone in the League on first down and the Dolphins were finding it difficult to limit opposing QB’s as measured by a 94.4 rating on the same down. KEY #3 was the short range receiving production from RB Kevin Faulk and TE Ben Watson.

Miami had struggled to hold down conversions with 3rd & medium and New England might have to look to the outlets with defensive focus on WR’s Randy Moss and Wes Welker.

The Patriots did throw on first down and were quite successful. Faulk hauled in 6 receptions for 52 yards, Watson had a single catch for 16 and RB Sammy Morris added 2 for 14 yards. Three of the nine would turn first downs for the Patriots. But Miami wasn’t able to lock down on the talented Patriots duo of Moss & Welker, either. The two combined for 16 catches, 245 yards and Moss picked up 3 TD’s. Dominating would be a good description as Cassel threw for 415 yards and tallied a 114.0 rating.

Some of New England’s overall “woes” can be traced to trouble in the red zone. The defense hasn’t shown consistency of any sort throughout most of the season when opponents have penetrated deep in their territory.

Miami had gone 4 of 4 in their first meeting and KEY #4 was linked to improvement in red zone efficiency. The Patriots continued to struggle, and the Dolphins again went 4 of 4. Miami used a nice balance of run/pass inside the twenty to rack up “big plays” of 9, 10, 7 & 13 yards.

Miami’s offensive line actually stepped up their effectiveness once down near the end zone and kept the ball moving on a defense that otherwise limited Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams to 58 yards on 16 carries, 27 of which was actually chewed up in the red zone. It wasn’t their efficiency but rather their number of visits that limited the Dolphins.

KEY #5 centered on the Patriots exploiting a weak Dolphins punt coverage unit. New England had averaged almost 12 yards per return and had started 18 drives on their opponent’s side of the 50. I felt against a team that had already given up two scores via the return and was netting less than 35 yards per attempt, the Patriots might have a shot at creating some short field situations for their offense. It never materialized with only 2 returns for 20 yards, a long of 12. Miami’s P Brandon Fields stepped up with a 43.0 average on 4 punts, 38.0 net, 1 fair catch and 2 pinning New England inside the 20.