MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Rob Gronkowski delivered one of his signature spikes after a touchdown grab, then saw Tom Brady sprinting toward where he stood in the end zone.
Brady head-butted his tight end, then whacked him in the helmet a couple times.
That was celebration. From there, most everything led to New England frustration.
Simply dominated in the second half, the Patriots wilted on a steamy in South Florida and wound up losing a season-opener for the first time in 11 years. Outgained 222-67 and outscored 23-0 after halftime, New England is in a most unusual spot ”“ looking up at everyone else in the AFC East ”“ after losing 33-20 to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
“All of us have to go out there and play a lot better than we played today,” Brady said. “You can’t play the way we played today and think we’ll win a game this season. There’s nothing positive to take from the things we were doing.”
Not from the last 30 minutes, for certain.
The last time New England got outscored by such a wide margin after halftime was against Pittsburgh on Nov. 30, 2008 ”“ 94 games ago.
“We need to do a better job than we did today,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Knowshon Moreno rushed for 134 yards and a big fourth-quarter touchdown for Miami, which got two passing touchdowns from Ryan Tannehill. Moreno now has 358 yards on the ground in his last two regular-season games against New England, the first being a 224-yard effort in Denver’s loss at the Patriots last season.
That one, he tried to forget. This one, he’ll savor.
“Did you see that man out there?” asked Dolphins center Samson Satele, one of five new starters on Miami’s offensive line. “He’s a crazy dude. You give him a little crease and away he goes.”
Down 20-10 at the half, Miami coach Joe Philbin said he went into the break with a simple message.
“The plays are there,” Philbin told his team.
The Dolphins repeatedly proved him right.
“We knew what was killing us,” Dolphins receiver Mike Wallace said. “Ourselves.”
Brady threw a touchdown pass to Gronkowski and Shane Vereen had a rushing touchdown for New England.
Rookie linebacker Chris McCain had a blocked punt on the game’s first series, setting up a Tannehill-to-Lamar Miller touchdown pass ”“ the first time Miami’s opening offensive sequence of a season resulted in a TD throw since Dan Marino and Mark Duper connected in 1992.
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