With a wobble, Brady and Patriots head into the playoffs

Right now, that is definitely not the case. And on Sunday, Brady himself was hobbling around with an injured ankle. But more upsetting to the Patriots was the possibility that his injury could affect him when they return to play Cincinnati, Houston or Kansas City on January 16.

Brady looked like this as he exited his postgame news conference Sunday, giving all of New England palpitations.

But the drive stalled, and Stephen Gostkowski had a rare miss – he pushed a 46-yarder right – and the score remained tied.

The Patriots have a first-round bye in the playoffs, leaving Brady two weeks to recover. New England was second in the AFC – only to the New York Jets – and fourth in the National Football League (the Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers were No. 1 and No. 2) in red zone offense.

In the second half he came out throwing, and running back James White turned a short pass into a 68-yard gain to set up New England’s touchdown. The Dolphins controlled the clock for 31 minutes and five seconds, converted on 8-of-17 opportunities on third down – which has been a problem area all season – and played a very clean game (no turnovers). Jackson doubled his carries from his first game back, to 14 for just 35 yards and a 2.5 average. But the Patriots can use this time to work on the little communications errors that can go a long way in protecting Tom Brady and opening up rushing lanes. This was the 64th consecutive start for Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill….

“I think every year is different, just like every game is different”.

Bill [Belichick] does an unbelievable job in bringing in young coaches and teaching them how he wants them to coach the game. If one didn’t know any better it seemed the Patriots were playing conservative and to stay healthy, rather to win. They punted it away to Miami who yet again drove into New England territory only to stall and punt it away.

In the first half, the split between the 21 rush attempts and the 5 passes, how much of that was based on what they were showing you defensively with the heavy emphasis towards the running game?

“It’s kind of like in the Tour de France where you have a lead pack”, said Jay Kornegay, who runs the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.

The Dolphins took over at their own 18 yard line but promptly completed an 11-yard pass. Tannehill went over the middle to find Landry for 18 yards and then deep down the sideline for Parker on the subsequent play.

WR Jarvis Landry had one of the best receiving seasons in franchise history with a franchise-record 110 receptions for 1,157 yards and fopur touchdowns. The Dolphins came in allowing 388.2 per game, good for sixth-worst in the NFL. Brandon LaFell, Scott Chandler, Keyshawn Martin and Chris Harper have all had forgettable stretches. As the number-three seed, the Bengals will host the number-six Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round, and backup quarterback AJ McCarron will start that game if Dalton is unable to go. However, they got news about the thing that matters most to their playoff success. Just keeping working on the things you need to improve on…. Safety Devin McCourty returned from his ankle injury and was back in action, as well as wide receiver Danny Amendola.