Coming off their bye week, the Patriots returned home to face the Dolphins for the first time in the season. On the third play of the game, Brady attempted a deep pass to Moss; it was intercepted by rookie cornerback Vontae Davis at the Dolphins' 7-yard line and returned 15 yards. Six plays later, the Dolphins moved into Patriots territory on a 21-yard catch by tight end Joey Haynos from Chad Henne; after the catch, McGowan forced Haynos to fumble, but the ball went out of bounds at the spot of the catch, the Patriots' 39-yard line. On the next play, Henne appeared to have been strip-sacked by Banta-Cain, with linebacker Adalius Thomas returning it 59 yards for a touchdown. However, the Dolphins challenged that Henne's arm was moving forward and it was an incomplete pass and the play was reversed. Three plays later, a Dan Carpenter 52-yard field goal gave the Dolphins a 3-0 lead. The Patriots began their next drive at their own 37-yard line after offensive lineman Dan Connolly returned a short kickoff 16 yards. A few plays later, Brady connected with Moss on a 36-yard pass to the Dolphins' 1-yard line; Maroney then ran for a 1-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 7-3 lead. On the ensuing possession, Henne found his other tight end, Anthony Fasano on a 20-yard strike to move into Patriots territory, but a "Wildcat" formation run by Ricky Williams for a loss and a sack by Chung moved the Dolphins out of field goal territory and forced a punt. The Patriots advanced to the Dolphins' 42-yard line on their next drive before punting on the final play of the first quarter. Following a Dolphins three-and-out, the Patriots began an 11-play, 49-yard drive that reached the Dolphins' 11-yard line on first down before a short pass, and incompletion, and sack led to a Gostkowski field goal; the 30-yarder put the Patriots ahead 10-3. The Dolphins introduced rookie quarterback Pat White on their next drive, employing him as part of an option offense that first had White run for a 33-yard gain and later in the drive had White option to Williams for a 15-yard touchdown run, tying the game. Following a 34-yard punt return by Tate, the Patriots quickly moved back into Dolphins territory on completions of 14 yards to Faulk and 23 yards to Watson. However, a Watson pass interference penalty on a 17-yard Faulk reception pushed the Patriots back to the Dolphins' 35-yard line. Gostkowski would later kick a 38-yard field goal to re-establish a Patriots lead at 13-10. On their next drive, the Dolphins would punt shortly after the two-minute warning, setting up a 10-play, 70-yard Patriots drive that ended the half with a 34-yard Gostkowski field goal after Brady was again sacked in the red zone. With possession and down 16-10 at the start of the third quarter, the Dolphins moved downfield on a 16-play drive that lasted more than ten minutes, eventually scoring on a 1-yard touchdown catch by Haynos from running back Ronnie Brown out of the "Wildcat," giving the Dolphins a 17-16 lead. Three plays later, Brady and Moss connected on a 71-yard touchdown pass and then again on the two-point conversion to re-take the lead at 24-17. The Dolphins would continue to employ both White and the "Wildcat" on their next drive, but it resulted in a Brandon Fields punt early in the fourth quarter. An exchange of punts consumed the next six minutes of the game, with the Dolphins choosing to use all three of their timeouts to gain back possession with 3:38 left. However, three straight incompletions and a penalty set up fourth down, when Henne again was unable to complete a pass from his own 27-yard line. The Patriots re-gained possession and ran the ball three times before Gostkowski kicked a 40-yard field goal to extend the Patriots' lead to 27-17. The game would end four plays later on a 23-yard Greg Camarillo reception to the Patriots' 23-yard line. The win bettered the Patriots record to 6-2 entering their matchup with the 8-0 Colts.

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