FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Gillette Stadium sat quieter than shaving cream on cheeks. The Miami Dolphins had taken 10:09 to buffalo their way into a 17-16 third-quarter lead against the Patriots. What oddsmakers rated as a Patriots runaway slowly had turned toward a possible second consecutive Dolphins win in the New England suburbs.

That's when Randy Moss exploded another reminder of why he'll be a throw-the-name-out Hall of Fame selection when he retires from being the most combustible receiver of his generation.

On the third play of the Patriots' next possession, Moss took a 10-yard crossing route, turned upfield, stiff-armed rookie cornerback Vontae Davis, then galloped down the left sideline for a 71-yard touchdown. Then, Moss caught the two-point conversion, to boot.

QUICK-STRIKE CAPABILITY

``That third quarter kind of had elements of the Indianapolis-Miami game, where Miami held the ball for a long time and the Colts came back and hit them on a couple of big plays,'' New England coach Bill Belichick said. ``Those plays can turn around in a hurry. Long drives can be equalized by big plays and big plays can be equalized by long drives. We just had a couple more of them than they did, but it was a big answer by our offense.''

There were six catches Sunday for Moss, but volume of receptions never has been as accurate a measure of Moss as yards and touchdowns. His 147 yards gave him 13,913 for his career, moving him past Henry Ellard and Cris Carter into seventh on the all-time list. The touchdown, his 140th, tied him with Terrell Owens for No. 2 all-time behind Jerry Rice and kept his receptions-per-touchdown to 6.37, best in NFL history.

``Well, Wes was on the other side and he took the safety to this side, so the good thing about it was we run decoy routes,'' Moss said. ``We got other people open and when good things happen, we all get a pat on the back.''

PLAYING LONE HAND

New England's other touchdown, a 1-yard run by Laurence Maroney, followed a 36-yard Moss catch against Davis that demonstrated his underrated craftiness more so than his vaunted speed.

Davis appeared to have Moss sealed to the right sideline as Tom Brady's throw reached the top of its arc. Moss gave Davis a push with his left hand, and the contact threw Davis off balance for half a stride, putting him just far away enough to be helpless as Moss snagged the ball with his right hand.

``From Day 1, as I've said before, he's the smartest receiver I've ever been around,'' Belichick said Friday. ``He not only knows what he's doing, he knows what everybody else is doing. He knows what the defense is doing and he usually knows what the quarterback is doing with the ball, based on all that information he compiles in a very short amount of time.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@