FOXBORO — Between the 20-yard lines, the Patriots had no problems moving the ball up and down the field in their 27-17 victory over the Dolphins yesterday at Gillette Stadium.

They amassed 432 yards of total offense, with Tom Brady completing 25 of 37 passes for 332 yards and a touchdown with one interception, surpassing the 300-yard passing mark for a franchise-record 27th time in his career.

“We were trying to hit him and we didn’t,” Miami linebacker Reggie Torbor said of Brady. “We tried different things but we didn’t execute. … You hit Brady and he can’t throw the ball. You let him stand back there and that is what happens.”

Brady’s favorite target, Randy Moss, caught 6 passes for 147 yards and one touchdown, passing Henry Ellard (13,766) and Cris Carter and (13,899) and moving into seventh place on the NFL’s all-time receiving list. He finished the game with 13,913 career yards and 140 career touchdowns, moving into a second-place tie with Terrell Owens on the NFL’s all-time list in that category.

Running back Laurence Maroney, meanwhile, bullied his way to 82 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

“Those guys made plays and we didn’t,” Miami safety Yeremiah Bell said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Everything went pretty smoothly for the Patriots’ offense until they got inside the red zone, where the Patriots scored a touchdown just one time on four trips.

“The biggest problem for us was in the red area,” Belichick said. “We got the ball down there four times and ended up with just kicking field goals. … Miami has a good red-area defense and they held us to field goals. … We have to do a better job of getting the ball in the end zone, but give them credit. They’re have a good red-area defense too. … We certainly hit our fair share of plays, but down in the red area we didn’t, and that’s why we didn’t have [a lot] of points.”

The Patriots’ only touchdown conversion in the red zone was an easy one. A 36-yard pass from Brady to Moss made it first-and-goal and Miami’s 1-yard line. Maroney punched it in on the very next play to give the Pats a 7-3 lead.

The next three times inside the red zone, the Patriots did not convert.

“We could have been better in the red area today,” Brady said. “That would have helped. It comes down to execution. … You’ve got to get the ball in the end zone. If you do, then we don’t kick those field goals and it’s a much different game at the end so it’s something that we’ve been working on all year. Some weeks, it has looked pretty good but today we could have done a better job and we need to do a better job.”

The Pats had a first-and-10 at the Miami 11-yard line and Brady completed a 4-yard pass to Sam Aiken. But after throwing an incomplete pass to a double-covered Moss, Brady was sacked for a 5-yard loss by Miami defensive end Randy Starks and the Pats had to settle for a 30-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal that gave the Patriots a 10-3 lead with 9:05 remaining in the second quarter.

On their next drive, the Patriots got the ball all the way down to the Miami 20 before settling for a Gostkowski 38-yard field goal. On the drive after that, their final one of the first half, the Patriots had first-and-10 at the Dolphins’ 12, but Brady threw two incomplete passes and was sacked by linebacker Cameron Wake. Gostkowski pushed the Pats’ advantage to 16-10 with a 34-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.

On the Patriots’ final possession inside the Dolphins 20, guard Stephen Neal was called for a false-start penalty on fourth-and-1 at the Miami 18. Instead of going for the first down like they planned, the Pats settled for a 40-yard Gostkowski field goal that made it 27-17 with 1:14 remaining in the game.

“It’s frustrating,” Patriots offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer said of the Pats’ struggles inside the red zone. “We definitely need to do better.”