Patriots have late TD reversed on replay and fall to Dolphins for fourth straight loss

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots were perhaps a toe tap away from beating the Miami Dolphins.

Instead, the Patriots lost 15-10 to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday after rookie wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk’s leaping bid at a game-winning touchdown catch with 1:02 remaining was overturned after replay.

The Patriots committed 12 penalties and allowed 193 rushing yards to a Miami team that came in averaging 97.8 yards on the ground through the first four games. New England is tied for the worst record in the NFL at 1-4 and has dropped four straight since winning at Cincinnati in the season opener.

“I think there’s no question we’re tough, but we have to be better from an execution standpoint,” coach Jerod Mayo said. “I would also say as the game wore on, our fundamentals began to slip.”

So did New England’s judgment, which was questionable at best on the game’s final play. Out of timeouts with the ball at the Miami 36-yard line, quarterback Jacoby Brissett completed a 25-yard pass to tight end Hunter Henry. The Patriots never got another chance to run a play as the game clock expired before Brissett could get off another play.

“We’ve got to play better. There’s no magic thing that we need to do. We’ve just got to play better. We’ve got to execute better. We’ve got to play with good fundamentals better. We’ve got to do all the little things better,” Brissett said after failing to pass for 200 yards for the fifth straight game. “When we go back and watch this film, it’s not about this person, that person, this play, that play. We’ve just got to play better as a unit.”

Mayo said the correct call was made on the decision to take away Polk’s touchdown. It was a tough one for Patriots fans, who then had to watch Henry get flagged for a false start before fourth down from the Miami 12.

“We preach all the time about pre-snap and post-snap penalties. It just wasn’t a good day,” Mayo said.

Of the dozen penalties, the one that proved the most critical came on the drive that enabled the Dolphins to pull ahead on Alec Ingold’s three-yard touchdown run with 4:27 remaining. Miami’s offense remained on the field after New England linebacker Christian Elliss was called for pass interference on third-and-13.

“We’ve just got to do a better job as a whole with penalties in general, whether it’s holding or a pass interference or anything,” Mayo said. “Look, I don’t think the referees are just out to get anyone in particular. I just think we’ve got to play smarter.”