The Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel tipped his hat to the Patriots’ field goal block

Tom VazquezSeptember 18, 2023

Morning sports update

McDaniel said he had “never seen this before” from Brenden Schooler’s unorthodox special teams play.

Brenden Schooler blocks the Dolphins’ field goal during the Week 2 game against the Patriots. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel’s reaction to the Patriots’ field goal block: Although the game ended in a loss for the Patriots, a bright spot came from an unexpected quarter on Sunday.

New England special teams shooter Brenden Schooler took advantage of a running start before blocking a Dolphins field goal attempt in the third quarter. He sprinted parallel to the line of scrimmage and timed the snap perfectly before running around to make a play.

After the game, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel admitted that despite the pivotal turnaround against Miami, he admired the design and execution of Bill Belichick’s team.

“It was a really cool schematic adjustment by the Patriots.” McDaniel admitted. “Hats off to them.”

McDaniel explained that Miami had to adjust its field goal timing to avoid further damage to Schooler.

“It’s always eye-opening when someone is able to make a big play like that for themselves. You know, Danny [Crossman] “was there and knew we had to adjust the snap count,” McDaniel said. “They tried to do the same thing on the last field goal that we missed.

“He had no impact on that game because we made the appropriate adjustments,” McDaniel said of Schooler on the eventual field goal. “But it was a great design.”

As a coach known for innovation himself, McDaniel recognized the nature of the pre-snap movement.

“They basically used one of the moves we use all the time on offense and [on] Field goal block,” the Dolphins coach explained. “I’ve never seen that before. So that was a great job by them.”

useful information: The Patriots are 0-2 for the first time since 2001. In Week 3 of the 2001 season, New England picked up its first win in a 44-13 victory over Peyton Manning’s Colts. Who was the Patriots’ leading receiver that day?

(Answer below).

Note: He was also the team’s leading rusher, finishing the 2001 season with a career-high 1,157 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground.

Results and schedule:

The Patriots lost to the Dolphins 24:17. New England, currently 0-2, will face the Jets on Sunday in New York at 1 p.m

The Red Sox also lost on Sunday after Matt Chapman’s walk-off triple gave them a 3-2 victory over the Blue Jays.

And the Connecticut Sun dropped Game 2 of the playoff opening round to the Minnesota Lynx. 82-75. The best-of-five series is now tied 1-1 heading into Game 3 on Wednesday.

More from Boston.com:

Bill Belichick’s flag throw: The Patriots coach had a humorous way of announcing a challenge during Sunday night’s game.

On this day: In 1996, Roger Clemens set his own major league record by striking out 20 batters in a single. He helped the Red Sox defeat the Tigers. 4:0.