Patriots running back Laurence Maroney finds a huge hole and breaks off a 51-yard run at the end of the first quarter yesterday at Gillette Stadium.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

FOXBORO — If a thing of beauty is a joy to behold, we give you the New England Patriots’ first half against the Miami Dolphins yesterday.

Not the second half.

In the end, those 30 opening minutes of beauty were all New England needed to become the first team in NFL history to win the first 15 games of a season. But darned if those final 30 weren’t so easy to watch.

The Patriots’ 28-7 win over the Dolphins, which also gave them their first divisional sweep in franchise history, had the makings of a sensational rout in the early going, as quarterback Tom Brady and the New England offense chopped up Miami’s defense via the air and ground.

In staking their way to a 28-0 halftime advantage, the Patriots racked up 304 yards of total offense.

With tight ends Benjamin Watson (ankle) and Kyle Brady (foot) on the sidelines for this one, New England went with a lot of three- and four-receiver sets, and even put five wideouts on the field on a few occasions.

Brady did not hand the ball off on the Pats’ first possession, completing passes to Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk and Jabar Gaffney before looking to Randy Moss.

On third-and-3 from the Dolphins’ 11, Moss was lined up in the slot and inexplicably, only linebacker Derrick Pope was lined up in coverage on him. Not surprisingly, Moss blew by Pope and was all alone in the end zone for his 20th touchdown of the season.

New England didn’t get far on its second drive, but the third and fourth possessions were all about Laurence Maroney.

On the first play of the Pats’ third drive, at the end of the first quarter, Maroney got good blocks from Heath Evans and Russ Hochstein, who started at right guard, and followed the fantastic blocking of Moss downfield for a 51-yard pickup.

“He was doing an excellent job blocking for me and the defensive back kept backing up,” Maroney said of Moss. “As long as Randy Moss keeps chasing him, I’m just going to run behind him.”

Four plays and a defensive pass interference call later, Moss had his second touchdown, beating Miami corner Will Allen.

Maroney’s run stood as a career best for the second-year back for all of 10 minutes.

On third-and-1 from the New England 41 and with the Patriots in a max-protect formation with three “tight ends” — in this case Stephen Spach and offensive linemen Wesley Britt and Ryan O’Callaghan — and a fullback, Evans, Maroney got the ball, followed Evans to the hole on the left side created by Britt and Matt Light, and went untouched into the end zone 59 yards away.

In two plays, Maroney had his third 100-yard game of the season. He finished the day with 14 carries for 156 yards, an average of 11.1 yards per.

New England finished out the half with another quick-strike touchdown. This time, a perfect third-down sideline throw to Gaffney gave New England first down just inside Miami territory.

Brady laced a pass to Gaffney, this time on the opposite sideline, and safety Lance Schulters stepped in front of the pass, looking like he was going to have an interception. But the ball went right through his hands and into the waiting mitts of Gaffney, who turned upfield and cruised into the end zone for his fourth touchdown in the last five games.

Gaffney was at a loss in explaining what happened, as was Schulters.

“I thought I had a pick. I don’t know how I missed that ball,” he said. “It was in my hands. It hit me. It felt like it was right there. I don’t know what happened. I gave them a touchdown.”

The Pats didn’t need Schulters’ gift given the final score, but with just 96 second-half yards of offense, it came in handy.

Brady was intercepted on each of New England’s first two drives of the second half, both times looking for Moss downfield, and both times when Moss was double- and triple-covered. It appeared that Brady was forcing the ball in to the receiver, who was one touchdown away from tying Jerry Rice’s single-season record of 22.

With three first-half touchdown throws, Brady was sitting at 48 for the season, one away from matching Peyton Manning’s record 49 in 2004.

Bill Belichick insisted New England was just running its offense, and Gaffney said usually when Brady puts the ball up for Moss, he comes down with it.

“We talked all week about trying to get up on those safeties and trying to give Randy an opportunity down the middle,” Brady said. “It works out pretty well when he catches them; when he doesn’t, it doesn’t look so good.”

New England also made sure to give Miami credit for having a hand in their second-half offensive issues as well.

But those failed long plays — beautiful when they work, not so much when they don’t — were a lot like New England’s offense yesterday when looked at in two halves.

smanza@projo.com