The Patriots [team stats] figured out how to overcome their struggling defense last night. Run the ball and use special teams as if they were a special ops unit.

When it seemed like the Miami Dolphins [team stats] offense could move as freely as it liked, except when linebacker Rob Ninkovich stepped in to stop it with two interceptions and a sack, it really didn’t matter because the Patriots ran the ball more often than they threw it and left the rest to a special teams unit that played as if it was led by William Wallace in “Braveheart.”

Coaches spend hours trying to convince both their team and the world that the men who run under kicks and into pile-ups are as important as the most glamorous of quarterbacks or the most feared of linebackers. Last night the proof was on the scoreboard - a 41-14 Pats rout - and in the long face of Miami coach Tony Sparano.
“We had a tidal wave hit us tonight with the negative plays,” Sparano said. “It was a mess. Embarassing.”

Not to the Patriots, who are 3-1 this morning and tied for the AFC East lead with the New York Jets [team stats] not because Tom Brady [stats] went wild or Randy Moss broke free or even because of Ninkovich’s plays.

They’re 3-1 because Brandon Tate returned a kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown behind a punishing block from Sammy Morris; because Patrick Chung used flashy pink gloves to block a punt and a field goal; because Kyle Arrington picked up the latter and returned it for a back-breaking 35-yard fourth-quarter touchdown; because kicker Stephen Gostkowski not only delivered two early field goals after Ninkovich interceptions but also a series of booming kickoffs so deep they landed in Broward County.

Add that together and it produced the thumping of the now desperate Dolphins, who have lost two division games in a row at home to the AFC East leaders. It is too early to say the division became a two-horse race last night, but it’s completely accurate to say it was a special night dominated not by the general (Brady) or the Air Force (Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez) but by the grunts.

It was a night to celebrate Chung, who inserted his body between much larger men to slap down a Dan Carpenter field goal and a Brandon Fields punt.

He later added to his amazing night when he picked off Chad Henne (the QB’s third of the night) and returned the ball 51 yards for the touchdown that made it an almost ridiculous rout of a team that was supposed to be dangerous on offense and stout on defense. By the time the game ended it looked like the Dolphins were dangerous only to themselves on offense (despite racking up 400 yards), lousy on defense (despite giving up only 265 yards) and well below ordinary on special teams.

Yet this was not a night about the Patriots offense or its defense. It was a special night for special teams.

It was a night for Chung, not because he had an interception return for a touchdown but because he did the hardest of jobs exceedingly well, finding cracks in Miami’s bungling punt and field goal units and slapping footballs to the earth with a thud.

It was a night for the beleaguered Arrington, who was having problems early handling wide receiver Davone Bess in what began to look like a repeat of the scaldings the Patriots secondary had endured much of this season. But all that was forgiven and forgotten after he knifed in behind Chung’s field goal block and scooped the ball off the ground, returning it 35 yards for the touchdown that sent most Dolphins fans home early.

Finally, there was Gostkowski, who hit first-half field goals of 23 and 30 yards but more importantly kept making kickoffs look like they’d been hit by Mark McGwire during the steroid era with five touchbacks.

Add it all up and it was what the Patriots had hoped for but seldom found at Sun Life Stadium - a special night. A special teams night, actually.