Our offseason series continues with a look at a week four game between New England and Miami." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhitePats Pulpita New England Patriots communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpPatriots NewsOpinion and AnalysisContribute!About the SiteTopicsPatriotsOddsShopStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhitePatriots News Opinion and Analysis Contribute! FanPostsFanShotsAbout the Site List of Patriots Twitter AccountsWrite For Pats Pulpit!New User Welcome and Commenting GuideCommunity GuidelinesMastheadTopics Patriots Off-Season CoveragePatriots Opinion/AnalysisPatriots NewsPatriots Draft CoverageSportfolio ManagementFiled under:Patriots AnalysisPatriots Film RoomHow it Happened: Week 4 — Tom Brady and James White help lift the Patriots over the DolphinsNew http://www.patriotslockerroom.com/authentic-tom-brady-jersey ,7commentsOur offseason series continues with a look at a week four game between New England and Miami.EDTShareTweetShareShareHow it Happened: Week 4 — Tom Brady and James White help lift the Patriots over the DolphinsDavid Butler II-USA TODAY SportsRemember Week 4, Patriots fan?After a victory in the season opener over the Houston Texans, the New England Patriots dropped back-to-back contests on the road. First in an AFC Championship Game rematch against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then on a Sunday night in Detroit against Matt Patricia and the Lions. While New England was losing two straight, the Miami Dolphins started their season with three straight victories, and looked to improve to 4-0 with a victory over the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Week 4.That’s right. The Patriots faced the prospect of going down three games in the AFC East back in Week 4. Thankfully for New England and their fans, the Patriots returned to form in that contest, topping the Dolphins 38-7. The home team raced out to an early lead and were up 24-0 at the halftime break, with the Miami offense struggling to get going and the Patriots’ showing an ability to run the ball with rookie running back Sony Michel.However, one of the biggest plays of the contest was a touchdown strike from Tom Brady to James White. In a season that led some to question whether Brady was still an elite quarterback, plays like this from the veteran passer demonstrate that despite what some want to believe, Brady is still among the best in the game. With under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter Brandon Bolden Jersey , the Patriots faced a 3rd and four on the Dolphins’ 14-yard line. The New England offense broke the huddle with 11 offensive personnel on the field, with Dwayne Allen (#83) as the single tight end. They lined up with Brady (#12) in the shotgun and two receivers to each side of the formation. Allen aligned in a wing to the right with Cordarelle Patterson (#84) just outside of him, in a tight alignment. Phillip Dorsett (#13) and Chris Hogan (#15) aligned in a slot formation on the left side of the offense. White (#28) aligned in the backfield to the left of the quarterback:Here is the route design New England implements on this play:Allen stays in to block on this play, while Patterson runs an Under route working from right to left. From the slot, Dorsett and Hogan run a Tosser concept, with both receivers running slant routes. White is not involved in the protection and has a free release on this play, and he runs a route breaking to the outside.Looking at the Miami defense gives us a glimpse of the information available to Brady before the snap. They align with a single-high safety, and with the cornerbacks down near the line of scrimmage. Xavien Howard (#25) is in press alignment over Dorsett on the left side of the offense. Given these alignments, the Patriots’ QB would be justified in thinking the Dolphins were in some variation of Cover 1, or potentially a Cover 3 variation.Miami did run a Cover 3 variant, dropping into a pattern match Cover 3:The matching portion of this coverage relates to the defender over Hogan. He stays on the Patriots’ receiver as he crosses the formation on his inside slant route. The rest of the defenders are tasked with dropping into the Cover 3 look.As the play unfolds, two critical developments take place that lead to the final result. First Womens Dont'a Hightower Jersey , Howard stays on Dorsett’s slant route well into the play, and this opens up the back corner of the end zone:Second, Trent Brown (#77) is beaten on an inside swim move by Robert Quinn (#94). Once the defensive end gets past the big left tackle, there is no one between him and Brady, since White has been given a free release out of the backfield and into his route.But this brings us to the brilliance of Brady. Even with Quinn bearing down on him with a free shot, he knows that White will break free in the back corner of the end zone against this coverage, especially with Howard being pulled out of position by Dorsett’s slant route. Additionally, Brady has to trust that the underneath defender will pull off White to cover Patterson as he comes across the field.Of course, that is exactly what happens. The veteran quarterback makes a perfect anticipation throw - releasing this when White is still on the six-yard line and yet to make his break - that leads to the score:For added emphasis, look at the state of play when Brady releases this pass:Anticipation throws are some of the more difficult things a quarterback is tasked to do, and some quarterbacks (even some good ones) struggle in this area. But the ability to pull the trigger before you see a receiver break open, trusting in your read of the play and the players around you http://www.patriotslockerroom.com/authentic-jonathan-jones-jersey , separates the great ones from the good ones.Tom Brady is a great one.Here’s one more look at this play, from the end zone angle:With the victory the Patriots evened their record at 2-2, and gave their fans a reason to breathe easy after what had been a difficult two weeks. In addition, the return of Julian Edelman loomed as yet one more reason to be positive about the passing offense. However, as long as this offense had #12 pulling the strings, and making anticipation throws like this one, they would remain a threat in the AFC and perhaps beyond. The NFL lacks the power to compel witnesses not connected to the league to cooperate with Personal Conduct Policy investigations. Sometimes, a witness not connected to the league wants to cooperate.That’s exactly what’s happening in the Antonio Brown case. His accuser, Britney Taylor, has indicated through her lawyers a willingness to talk.It could, in theory, happen quickly. The lawsuit is posted online. The lawyers’ names and phone numbers are in the document. The NFL could contact the lawyers right now and arrange a meeting with Britney Taylor.Then Rex Burkhead Jersey , after talking to Taylor, the NFL could commence the process of exploring other evidence that would potentially corroborate or refute her claims, before eventually talking to Brown.If, along the way, the Commissioner concludes that Brown “may have violated this Policy by committing” sexual assault or rape, the Commissioner may place Brown on paid leave. The Commissioner’s powers in this regard are very broad; he needs to conclude only that Brown “may” have committed a violation. The content of the lawsuit could be enough to allow Commissioner to include that a violation “may” have happened.As a practical matter, the decision will be driven at least in part by P.R. concerns. (Indeed, the entire Personal Conduct Policy is a P.R. tool.) The NFL may be frustrated at a certain level by the manner in which has coopted the early days of the NFL’s 100th season. The fact that someone from the league office already has leaked to the the fact that the NFL will give “serious consideration” to using this power means that it’s in play, and that the league wants people to realize that it’s in play.Regardless of how it plays out, time is of the essence. And the first step will be interviewing Britney Taylor. That could happen as soon as tomorrow — if the NFL wants it to.