FOXBORO, Mass. — Danny Amendola and Brandon Bolden (briefly) caught up with old friends Sunday.
Outside those quick meetings, though, the Miami Dolphins wide receiver and running back didn’t exactly enjoy their return to Gillette Stadium.
“They’re a good team. We didn’t play well enough to beat them. So, that’s it,” Amendola said after the Patriots, who employed him for five seasons from 2013 to 2017, crushed the previously-unbeaten Dolphins 38-7 in his first visit since leaving New England this past offseason.
Amendola, who finished with just two catches on three targets for 21 yards, was able to share a moment with old quarterback Tom Brady both before and after the game.
Bolden, who spent his first six seasons with the Patriots as a core special teamer before signing with Miami earlier this month, also was spotted catching up with former teammates pregame.
But neither player had nostalgia on the mind after losing by 31 points to their former team.
“It was a work day,” Bolden said. “In the moment you kind of don’t see friends; you see jersey numbers. At the end of the game, we had enough time to kind of speak to everybody. So then at that point, after the game was over, (we caught up).”
“I’m excited to be at every NFL stadium that I play in,” Amendola said when asked about returning to New England, “because I love playing football, and this is a great experience.”
The Dolphins still haven’t won in Foxboro since the 2008 season. But neither Amendola nor Bolden pointed to anything specific about the challenges of winning on the road against the Patriots.
“The field’s the same width. 100 yards long, you know what I’m saying?” Amendola said. “We’ve got to come in here and play good football whistle-to-whistle. That’s what matters most. Doesn’t matter where you’re playing.
“Noise is a factor on the road; everybody knows that. Whistle-to-whistle, we’ve got to play better football.”
Bolden took things a step further.
“I didn’t find it difficult to play here at all,” Bolden added. “I’ve lost games here and I’ve won games here. To answer that question, we go into every game trying to win, and we just didn’t win (Sunday).”
