MIAMI -- Charlie Weis should send a thank-you note to Sammy Knight and Brock Williams. Because until those Miami safeties let Troy Brown slip behind them to catch the 82-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady in overtime Sunday, the Patriots' offensive coordinator was on the hook.
What an awful day of play-calling. You want it in chronological order or from end to beginning?
Let's start at the end.
Before regulation drained away, the Pats moved from their 35 to the Miami 45 with a 20-yard completion from Brady to Deion Branch. Weis followed that up with a draw to Kevin Faulk that gained 2 yards. Weis followed that with a second-down toss to Kevin Faulk that lost 7 yards.
When Branch hit the ground following his 20-yard reception there was 1:35 left. By the time the Pats were into third down, there were 18 seconds left. You see, there's this rule in the NFL that the clock keeps running if you get tackled inbounds. If you throw the ball incomplete, though, the clock stops.
Why, in the name of all that's sensible, would any offensive coordinator at any level think a toss was a good idea with less than a minute left in the game and no timeouts? Even if Faulk breaks out for a 10-yard run, the clock still runs. That is a wasted possession and -- given that it was a bonus possession, thanks to Richard Seymour's blocked field goal -- it should have been treated with even greater care.
Want a few more head-scratchers?
With the Pats trailing just before halftime, 10-3, Brady hit Brown for 19 yards on a seam pass down to the 2. On first-and-goal, Weis decided it was a good time to hand off to rookie defensive lineman Dan Klecko. Bear in mind, Brady and Faulk had already fumbled in the first half and those drops turned into all 10 of the Dolphins' points. So you hand it to Dan Klecko? Of course, Weis could always point out that Klecko probably hadn't fumbled since high school. Of course, he's only carried the football once since high school, but what the heck.
Two plays later, Weis sent offensive tackle Tom Ashworth out in a pass route. Now let's be clear, Ashworth is not the second coming of Raymond Berry when it comes to route-running. He and tight end Fred Baxter slammed into each other, Ashworth wiping out a Miami linebacker in the process. The pass interference he was whistled for wiped out a Christian Fauria touchdown.
Here's one for the suggestion box: Let the tackles block, the defensive linemen tackle and the running backs run with the ball. Especially when you're in against the best red-zone team in the league.
It was an end-to-end down day for Weis. On the first drive, the Pats put themselves in a nice second-and-1 situation. A perfect chance to pick up a first down, keep a drive alive and move the ball down the field. Weis called for a pass. Incomplete. Mike Cloud got stuffed on third down. So much for building momentum. On the next drive, scrimmaging from the Miami 46 on second-and-11, they handed off to Faulk, who picked up 3 yards. No rhyme. No reason. No wonder Weis once had the playcalling duties pulled from him.
In the third quarter, the Pats came out in a formation with Branch isolated on the left with Dolphins corner Sam Madison. There would be no deep help on the play and Madison was biting on the short routes. The ball was snapped, Branch broke off a little in-route and Madison was with him like a shadow, giving no thought of an out-and-up. The ball went to the other side of the field. Right then, that formation should have been filed away and used again in an out-and-up. It wasn't. And that's not good.
Weis has good days and excellent stretches. Forget '01, the work he did after the Pats dipped to 4-5 last season was outstanding, considering there was no Daniel Graham, no Branch, a limping Brown, a porous offensive line and seemingly no options. That was Weis at his best. Sunday was Weis at his worst. The Patriots are surviving his work.
Actually, instead of sending a thank-you note to Williams and Knight, maybe Weis should have hand-delivered it to the Dolphins locker room. You never know, maybe the Dolphins would have given him a game ball.
A confidence builder
Since the Patriots have won five of six (and it would have been 6-of-6 if not for some ill-fated Brady throws against Washington) it's worth asking if this team is peaking too early. Can they keep up this level of resiliency, crispness and intensity?
"Funny you mention that," said tight end Christian Fauria, "I got worried about us peaking early, too, but the way the schedule is set up with two games (this week vs. Cleveland then at Denver on a Monday night), then a bye week and a seven-week push, I think we're setting ourselves up pretty well. Especially when we get guys back and we'll be even better on defense."
How does a win like Sunday's affect this team's mindset?
"It's huge," Fauria said. "It's such a confidence builder in terms of our psyche and people not giving us a chance to win down here. The way the season started, to be at this point, I think it's huge. If we really want to prove to ourselves and to everyone else that we can be in the big game at the end of the year, this is one of the games we have to win. Now we put it on our resume, stick it in the win column and move on, but I can't express how nice it feels. Afterwards, it was the craziest locker room I've ever seen, like a Super Bowl win. It was crazy. But we don't want to overlook a team like Cleveland. I know people will start saying this week that we're doing pretty well and we don't want to get caught sleeping."
