Former New England assistant Brian Flores and his Miami Dolphins got the last laugh on the Patriots and it knocked them out of a bye in the NFL playoffs.
The Dolphins were humiliated by Tom Brady & Co., 43-0, in Week 2 of the NFL season. They lost their first seven games of 2019. Flores kept his team together, however, and they got even with the Patriots, taking a 27-24 victory on Ryan Fitzpatrick’s 5-yard TD pass to Mike Gesicki with 24 seconds left.
The Patriots’ loss combined with the Chiefs’ win over the Chargers in Kansas City gave KC the second seed in the AFC and knocked the Patriots out of a bye and into a home game next weekend.
New England started the season at 8-0 but wound up finishing the season with three losses in their last five games.
The Patriots have not played in the first round of the playoffs since 2009. They will, however, be active next weekend.
This is not the first time the Patriots defeated a team by 40 points in a season only to lose to that same team when meeting it again. In 2010, New England thrashed the Jets, 45-3, in a regular-season meeting and fell to Gang Green, 28-21 in a Divisional round game later in the season.
