The theme of the day? It came before the game, before the surprise to come, when undrafted Dolphins rookie Chris McCain jogged up to New England quarterback Tom Brady in warm-ups and held out his hand.
"I just want to say how honored I am to meet you," McCain said. "I've watched you from the time I was in elementary school through middle school, high school and college."
Brady shook his hand, wished McCain luck. But therein lies the story of the Dolphins' 33-20 dismantling of New England this opening game. The Dolphins indeed looked younger and hungrier.
And the Patriots? Dare you say it? Older? Slower? Nearly an hour after the finish, Brady looked all of 37, moving slowly across the quiet Patriots' locker room with so many welts on his back, and a bruise on his hand, he was told, "You look like you were in a boxing match."
"Yeah, well …" he said, shrugging.
Brady was sacked four times in a second half where the Patriots managed three first downs. That's not the telling part, either. The Dolphins did that down all three starting linebackers by the first quarter, meaning with suspended safety Reshad Jones they were down four starters.
"When we heard [Brady] yelling at his linemen, we knew we had them in trouble,'' defensive end Olivier Vernon said.
