One of Bill Belichick’s favorite plays from the New England Patriots’ 35-17 win over the Miami Dolphins was probably one you didn’t notice.
On a reverse to Patriots running back Rex Burkhead, tight end Dwayne Allen had two choices: He either could take on defensive end Andre Branch or forego that block and move on to defensive back Reshad Jones instead. He chose the latter, and Belichick loved it.
“That’s a great job by Dwayne, Nick,” Belichick was quoted as saying to tight ends coach Nick Caley while mic’d up on “NFL Turning Point.” “That’s a great job passing up the end and getting the corner. That’s a great job.”
It helped spring a 22-yard gain.
Belichick greeted Allen as he was coming off the field and told him the block was a “great job.”
Belichick got into the play even further with former Patriots quarterback and current radio color commentator Scott Zolak on Patriots.com’s “Belichick Breakdown.”
“Really the key play on this is Dwayne Allen does a great job right here,” Belichick said. “The reverse goes to Burkhead, and Dwayne Allen has the defensive end there. He makes the decision right here as to whether he needs to block him or whether he can pass him up and go to the next level, which in this case is Reshad Jones coming to support the play.
“I think Dwayne really does a great job on this play. He passes up Branch, goes to Jones, kicks Jones out. Burkhead’s able to beat Branch into the seam there, and that really creates the running lane on the play. So, it’s kind of a two-for-one block here, but it’s a really good decision by Dwayne Allen, and Rex takes it with some good running and takes a 7-yard gain and turns it into 20.”
Watch Belichick’s full mic’d up segment in the video above.
