Dolphins-Patriots Week 17: The Five Biggest Plays

The Miami Dolphins dropped to 8-8 on the season with their 23-21 loss against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

We rank the five biggest, most important, plays of the game:

1. The Pick-Six

Yeah, kind of obvious, right? And it wasn't just because it's the play that gave New England the lead for good, but also because Teddy Bridgewater was lost for the game on the play. That obviously diminished the Dolphins' chances of being able to overcome the big play and their sudden deficit.

2. The Illegal Shift Penalty

The Dolphins had two possessions down 16-14 after the pick-six and they ended with an interception and a punt. And the first one was particularly damaging because the Dolphins had moved into the New England territory and the Skylar Thompson interception on third-and-14 maybe wouldn't have happened if not for a sloppy play by Tyreek Hill. Prior to that third-and-14, Thompson scrambled for 11 yards and an apparent first down to the Patriots 26-yard line, putting Miami in position to at least kick a field goal and regain the lead. But the play was wiped out because Hill never stopped got set after moving inside to a slot position. This was just sloppy on Hill's part.

3. The DPI on Keion Crossen

While the Dolphins scored a last-minute touchdown, it's debatable they would have done so had the Patriots not been in prevent mode with a nine-point cushion. So to suggest that if the Dolphins had held New England to a field goal on its final drive, they would have won might be stretching things, but what's undeniable is that New England's final touchdown pretty much sealed the outcome. And that touchdown came shortly after New England converted a third-and-5 from the Miami 27 when Keion Crossen was flagged for a very obvious DPI when he never turned around to look at the ball and ran into intended wide receiver Jakobi Meyers long before the pass arrived.

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4. Trent Sherfield's Drop

Right before the illegal shift penalty on Hill was another missed opportunity to get into field goal position when Trent Sherfield dropped a pass near the sideline on second-and-9. Sherfield was on one knee to try to make the catch at about the 31-yard line and making the easy catch would have put the Dolphins in a third-and-3 at the 31-yard line.

5. The Jakobi Meyers Touchdown

The 1-yard touchdown was troublesome on a couple of levels. First, it came on a third-and-goal when the defense failed to cover Meyers split wide to the left, with linebacker Duke Riley trying to rush over at the last second but being too late. The play came after a New England timeout while the Dolphins again were leaving a wide receiver all alone split out wide to the left. And that came shortly after the scoreboard showed the play clock running out of New England on Damien Harris' 4-yard run to the 1 on second down — that certainly looked like a missed delay of game call. That was out of the Dolphins' control, however, but there was no excuse for the two clear missed assignments.

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