10-Year Phiniversary: Dolphins Introduce Wildcat to Trounce Patriots

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The New England Patriots were without Tom Brady after a season-ending injury in a 2008 season-opening victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, but more of the same was expected as the Miami Dolphins visited Foxborough on Sept. 21, 2008.

Although Brady was gone, New England had won 21 straight regular season games. The visiting Dolphins on the other hand were just 1-20 in its previous 21 games. On this day 10 years ago however, Miami introduce the "wildcat" and smashed the Patriots 38-13 to spark a 10-win turnaround and an AFC division title run.

Most know what the wildcat is 10 years later, but in 2008, it was a fairly new experiment, especially in the NFL. Rather than snapping the ball to the quarterback, running back Ronnie Brown took a number of shotgun snaps for Miami. On that day, Brown did just about everything for the Dolphins except drive the bus home, although he did drive the Patriots mad.

Brown would end up finishing the day with 113 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Brown also completed his only pass attempt for a 19-yard score to tight end Anthony Fasano.

After a slow start, Brown got the scoring started with 2:29 to play in the first quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run. His second score came midway through the second quarter from 15 yards out to make it 14-3. After a second field goal from New England's Stephen Gostowski cut the lead to 14-6, Brown scored on a 5-yard run in the final minute of the first half to give the Dolphins a 21-6 advantage at the break.

The aforementioned touchdown pass from Brown came with less than six minutes to play in the third quarter, but was followed by New England's only touchdown of the day as quarterback Matt Cassel hit Jabar Gaffney for the 5-yard score.

The final quarter began with the Patriots down just two scores, but Brown wasted no time delivering the knockout punch. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Brown put the final nail in the New England coffin by rushing for a 62-yard touchdown and over a New England defender in the process. Dan Carpenter capped the scoring with a field goal for Miami.
Brown's big day at New England in 2008 is probably the fondest memory for Dolphins fans when it came to the former No. 2 overall pick, but the 25-point beatdown of New England was hardly a 1-man show. Ricky Williams narrowly missed hitting the century mark rushing, going for 98 yards on 16 carries.

Miami quarterback Chad Pennington was also stellar, going 17-for-20 passing for 226 yards. Fasano led all pass-catchers with 66 yards receiving. The victory would be the first for Tony Sparano as Miami head coach.

The Miami defense was outstanding as well, holding New England to 215 yards while forcing two turnovers. Linebacker Joey Porter had four sacks for the Dolphins while defensive tackle Randy Starks came down with an interception.

After a 1-15 finish in 2007 and an 0-2 start to 2008, the Dolphins would win 11 of their final 14 games to tie for the greatest turnaround in NFL history. The win over New England in Foxborough would serve as the tiebreaker as the Dolphins claimed the division title and waltzed into the playoffs. That victory happened on this day 10 years ago.  

Mike Ferguson is the founder of Days of Dolphins Past. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson.