Game Rewind: The Patriots lost to the Dolphins 27-20 in what could simply be categorized as a bad loss. Tom Brady and company were out of rhythm offensively and the team as a whole seemed disinterested at times. It is hard to believe with a Bill Belichick coached team but maybe, just maybe they looked ahead to the Steelers a little bit.

Here are five thoughts on the game.

1. The Defense Came Back to Earth: Remember how dominate the Patriots defense was for an eight week stretch? Yeah, that momentum came to a screeching halt Monday night. The Dolphins kept the Patriots defense off-balance with a good blend of run and pass. It helps that Jay Cutler played arguably his best game in the last three years. Cutler threw for 263 yards and 3 touchdown passes. Obviously the injuries to the front seven are starting to catch up with the Patriots but they have to play better moving forward.

2. Brady Was Off. AGAIN!! Make it two bad games in a row for the GOAT. Am I worried? No but if he struggles again this week, it might time to get nervous. Brady has been so good for so long that when he plays a bad game, it sends shock waves across the NFL. His last two performances have surprised Patriots fans and people around the league alike.

3. The Dolphins Defense Rose to the Occasion: Kudos to Dolphins defensive coordinator Matt Burke who did a great job of blizting the Patriots and playing a lot of Cover 2 man behind it. Burke only brought four and five man pressure but they were effective. The Dolphins did a great job of disrupting the timing of the Patriots underneath routes forcing the Patriots to have to throw the ball down the field more.

4. No Gronk, No Chance: The Patriots can survive without Julien Edelman. Rob Gronkowski however is a different story. Part of the reason the Patriots were out of sync was the fact that they couldn’t work the middle of the field. Gronkowski commands attention and when he is not on the field, defenses can play more balanced coverages and take away the underneath stuff the Patriots like to throw. They can also pressure Tom Brady more which impacts the timing of the Patriots offense as we saw the other night.

5. Poor Tackling: The Patriots made running back Kenyan Drake look like Gale Sayers on Monday night. No offense to Drake, he is good but the fact of the matter is, the Patriots missed a lot of tackles in space and gave up a lot of long runs,. They cannot do that this week against Pittsburgh or they’ll get blown out.