MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) Drake Maye was without two top receivers and a running back Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.
No problem for the New England Patriots quarterback.
Star AJ Brown (knee/ankle), Mack Hollins (calf) and running back TreVeyon Henderson (illness) have all been sidelined. Still, Maye threw two touchdown passes and rushed for scores as the Patriots came back to beat the Dolphins 24-19.
“(If) you want to be a great quarterback in the National Football League, there’s not a lot of excuses,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said of Maye’s performance. “You go out there and find ways to win for your football team. That’s who he is and that’s what he wants to continue to be.”
Maye completed 16 of 20 passes for 199 yards and the Patriots (5-3) overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to take a 17-13 lead early in the fourth, then held on after a late Miami rally.
DeMario Douglas caught a pass and weaved through the Dolphins secondary for a 48-yard touchdown that put the Patriots up two scores early in the fourth.
The Patriots didn’t have a clean operation in the first half, but they took advantage of the young Dolphins’ mistakes in the second, outscoring Miami 21-0 until Malik Willis threw a 35-yard touchdown to rookie Kevin Coleman Jr. with two minutes remaining.
After an unsuccessful two-point try by Miami, Rhamondre Stevenson recovered Bradley Pinion’s onside kick and New England kept the ball from there.
Stevenson had 19 carries for 82 yards and Douglas caught three passes for 76 yards.
“We knew once we got settled in and did a few practices together,” Maye said, “we had a chance to put some points on the board.”
A week after leading Miami (1-6) to its first win of the season, Willis completed 21 of 32 passes for 211 yards. He threw two touchdowns and had an interception while being sacked five times.
The Patriots got within three when Maye threw a pass to Kyle Williams for a 43-yard touchdown that was initially ruled incomplete after Williams’ knee appeared to give out on the ball. Vrabel demonstratively threw the red flag of challenge and officials overturned the call for a touchdown after replays showed Williams crossed the goal line before losing possession of the ball.
“I was a lot more confident than the officials the first time they called it,” Vrabel said.
Miami scored three points on the next drive, its momentum halted after Ollie Gordon assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after saying something to a defender following a 5-yard run. Coach Jeff Hafley pulled Gordon from the game for one play, and the second-year running back appeared visibly upset when Willis spoke to him on the sideline.
“Ollie is a competitor and he cares a lot about the game,” Willis said. “And I was just letting him know that in this situation, he was… wrong. I mean, it’s the honest truth. And it would be wrong if I didn’t tell him the truth.”
On New England’s next drive, Maye faked a throw to Stevenson and threw it for the 2-yard score with 59 seconds left in the third – his fifth straight game with at least three total touchdowns.
Willis led the Dolphins on an 11-play, 70-yard drive in two minutes that Malik Washington capped with a 1-yard touchdown run to put Miami ahead 13-3 at halftime.
Washington had briefly left the game after taking a hard hit from Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss earlier in the practice. Elliss was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the hit, and Washington, after a brief trip to the blue middle tent, returned five plays later to catch his first receiving touchdown of the season.
“I thought it was probably the best half we played all year in the first half in certain phases,” Hafley said. “But we didn’t have that much of a lead before halftime. And there was great energy and we came out and I think we held them to three and out. And then those are the occasions where you have to learn to put people away.”
Zane Gonzalez, in his second game since re-signing with Miami, made field goals of 31 and 52 yards, the latter hitting the left upright and crossing. He missed a 43-yard attempt in the fourth.
Patriots: TE Hunter Henry (foot) left in the second quarter and did not return. … Linebacker Gabe Jacas (knee) left on third down and did not return.
Dolphins: Malik Herring, the edge rusher, left on second with a spar but on third.
Patriots: Host Green Bay next Sunday.
Dolphins: Host Detroit next Sunday.
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