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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- A week after expressing immense pleasure regarding his team's 33-8 win over the Raiders in Mexico City, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was less content with Sunday afternoon's 35-17 dismissal of the Dolphins (4-7) at Gillette Stadium. Sure, the victory extended New England's winning streak to seven straight and once again emphasized the divide between the Patriots (9-2) and the rest of the "competition" in the AFC East.
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Sure, it included 30-plus points from the offense for the third straight week while the New England defense held the opposition to 17 or fewer points for the seventh consecutive contest.
Sure, it came thanks to a balanced offense that saw Tom Brady throw four touchdown passes while Dion Lewis led a rushing attack that churned out a season-high 38 carries for 196 yards.
And it featured a defense that broke out for seven sacks, picked off Miami's Matt Moore twice and held the visitors to just 18 percent third-down conversions as well as 1-for-3 on red-zone trips.
Still, with the postseason drawing nearer by the week, Belichick continues to want more from his defending Super Bowl champions even as they pick up momentum heading toward January.
When the coach stepped to the podium following the victory over Miami, he seemed to vacillate between praise and criticism for his team's latest performance.
"I thought our team did a lot of good things out there (against the Dolphins), but at the same time we left a lot of plays out on the field," Belichick said, beginning his own good cop/bad cop routine. "We had some lapses in our play that we need to eliminate, but it was good to see the production we had in the running game, finish drives in the red area, had a couple of big plays in the kicking game. Defensively, hit the passer, turned the ball over. We gave up 10 points on defense, so usually that's pretty good in this league.
"We lost the ball on offense, could've tackled better, could've defended a couple of plays in the passing game better defensively. We'll turn the page here. Turn the page and get on to Buffalo. We'll just move on here and start getting ready for Buffalo."
Belichick often preaches that the NFL season doesn't really begin until after Thanksgiving. Now that the schedule has reached that point and New England has one post-turkey victory under its belt, Brady makes it pretty clear that his current Patriots team will be expected to improve down the stretch just like so many of its predecessors have done.
"I think we just keep working hard and keep putting every day -- every minute, every hour is important. I think we stress meetings and walk-throughs and then ultimately go out on the practice field and try to execute at a high level. It's a lot of effort and there's no backing off," Brady said. "This is the time of year where a lot of teams let distractions get the best of them.
"We made enough plays. It was good to win a division game at home. So 9-2 and just keep grinding. Isn't it fun?"
It certainly is when you are playing the way the Patriots are these days, even if Belichick isn't always willing to admit it.
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Tight end Rob Gronkowski had a couple fun celebrations following Patriots touchdowns in Sunday's win over Miami. After one of the tight end's two touchdowns on the day, teammates cleared off a spot on the Gillette Stadium turf for one of Gronkowski's trademark Gronk Spikes. Later, after Brandin Cooks scored a short touchdown of his own, the speedy receiver jumped on Gronkowski's back to ride him like a horse.
Coming days after Bill Belichick emphatically declared that his team didn't spend any time thinking about choreographed or pre-planned touchdown celebrations that are now allowed by the NFL's loosened celebration rules, Gronkowski thought better of talking about his entertaining antics after the victory.
"That was not planned or anything," Gronkowski said unconvincingly of the action with Cooks. "We got yelled at. We're not allowed to talk about celebrations. That's what we got told. But, I kind of want to talk about it, but I kind of don't because I'll get in trouble, so I don't know what to do. So, it just happened on the spot. It wasn't planned. We'll just keep it there."
Sounds like Gronkowski, who leads the Patriots with seven touchdown catches on the season, is going to get "yelled at" again this week.
NOTES: WR Chris Hogan (shoulder) missed his third straight game as he's yet to return to the practice field since suffering the injury in the pre-bye Week 8 win over the Chargers. ... C David Andrews (illness) missed his second straight game after missing practice each of the last two weeks to the issue that crept up during workouts in Colorado Springs prior to the Week 11 game against the Raiders in Mexico City. ... TE Martellus Bennett (shoulder/hamstring) missed his first game since returning to the Patriots after missing practice last Thursday and Friday. ... CB Eric Rowe (groin) missed his seventh straight game and eighth contest overall despite having returned to the practice field on a limited basis for the last two-plus weeks of work. ... WR Matthew Slater (hamstring) missed his second straight game and sixth game overall with the injury that dates back to the early practices of training camp. ... RB Mike Gillislee was a healthy scratch against Miami, the third straight week that he's been the odd man out at the running back position. ... S Nate Ebner left the first quarter of Sunday's win over the Dolphins with a knee injury and did not return. Ebner was injured while running for a 14-yard gain on a fake punt on the opening drive, immediately retreating to the locker room with what NFL Network reports is a season-ending injury. ... LB Trevor Reilly immediately went to the locker room after apparently getting knocked out on a big collision while covering the opening kickoff of the second half against Miami. Reilly did not return and is being monitored for a concussion. ... DE Trey Flowers left the fourth-quarter of the win over Miami with what was announced as a rib injury. He did speak with reporters afterward and the injury is not believed to be serious. ... LB Kyle Van Noy left the second half of Sunday's win with a calf injury and did not return. ... RT LaAdrian Waddle left the fourth quarter of Sunday's victory over the Dolphins with an ankle injury, something he has dealt with off and on for weeks.
REPORT CARD VS. DOLPHINS
--PASSING OFFENSE: B -- You know you are rolling when Tom Brady throws four touchdowns and notches a 114.1 passer rating and it's a good, but not great, day. Brady did throw his first interception in a month and was under pressure early and often, sacked once and hit eight times. Brandin Cooks (six catches, 83 yards, TD) and Rob Gronkowski (five catches, 82 yards two TDs) were on the receiving end of the bulk of the production.
--RUSHING OFFENSE: A-minus -- Dion Lewis has taken over the lead back role and is running with it, notching his first career 100-yard game with 15 attempts for 112 yards, including chunk gains of 22 and 25 yards. Overall, the backs and banged-up offensive line churned out season highs with 38 carries for 196 yards (5.2 average) and one touchdown. It was by far the group's best performance of the season, even if there were a couple failed short-yardage attempts.
--PASS DEFENSE: A-minus -- New England's secondary and pass rush took a big step forward against Miami. The coverage didn't allow a completion longer than 20 yards until late in the fourth quarter, holding Matt Moore to just 215 yards while picking off a pair of passes. Playing with a lead, the Patriots recorded seven total sacks spread around five players, including six in the second half and four in the fourth quarter, two apiece for DE Trey Flowers and LB Elandon Roberts.
--RUSH DEFENSE: B -- Thanks to an early lead and Miami losing two of its three running backs to injury, New England only had to defend 19 Dolphins rushing attempts. Getting DT Malcom Brown back from injury helped hold Miami to just 67 yards and a 3.5-yard average, although the front did allow both Kenyan Drake and Damien Williams to hit for gains longer than 10 yards. Miami was just never able to establish consistent gains on the ground as New England held an opponent below 100 yards and 4.2 yards per carry for the first time in five weeks, despite dealing with multiple injuries at linebacker.
--SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus -- Nate Ebner picked up 14 yards around right end on fourth-and-8 from his own 27 with a fake punt to extend New England's opening drive on the way to a touchdown. Otherwise, it was a lackluster day in the kicking game. Ryan Allen had just a 34-yard net on three punts, with one downed inside the 20 and another that could/should have been. Danny Amendola muffed a punt and was fortunate that officials ruled a New England recovery. New England's kickoff team also struggled, allowing Miami to start its drives at the 24 or better on all six of its return chances.
--COACHING: B -- Head coach Bill Belichick and his staff overcame injuries throughout the day and guided plenty of backups into key roles on the way to an impressive win. The New England staff called for and executed a key fake punt on the opening drive. Offensively, coordinator Josh McDaniels had a nice balance of run and pass, though the screen game continued to be called upon with nearly no production to speak of. Defensively, coordinator Matt Patricia dialed up the pass rush and blitzes late to close the door on Miami. It was a solid all-around performance that also included keeping the Patriots from getting caught up in some chippy play by the Dolphins.
