Dolphins' Loss Clinches AFC East Title for Patriots

The New England Patriots (11-2) won their seventh consecutive AFC East title, thanks to the Miami Dolphins' 31-24 loss to the New York Giants on Monday night. 

Since Tom Brady became the starter in 2001 under head coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots have captured 13 division titles in a 15-year span. The two exceptions came in 2002—when the defending champions went 9-7 and missed the playoffs—and 2008—the season Brady suffered a season-ending ACL tear. The Patriots finished 11-5 behind backup Matt Cassel, but failed to qualify for the postseason.

The dark days of the franchise are long over for the Patriots, who won just five division championships in the team's first 51 seasons (1960-2000). 

The NFL's most prolific franchise of the 21st century, the Patriots have dominated division opponents—posting a 71-19 record in the regular-season against AFC East teams since the start of the 2001 season.

Brady was proud to learn that his team had been crowned the AFC East champions yet again.

"I didn't know until this morning," Brady said. "That's pretty cool. It is a great achievement for our team. I didn't know that was possible last night or else I probably would have stayed up and watched a little bit longer. Obviously there was some tie-breaker that we came up with or something. That's great. That's what you start with, winning your division. We talk about that every year. We've done a good job in our division thus far, being 4-0. We'll have a chance the last two weeks of the year to finish strong, after this Titan game."

Tom Brady Accepts Blame for Patriots' Loss: 'About as bad as you can do for a QB'

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did not mince words when asked about his performance in his team's shocking 35-28 loss to the visiting Philadelphia Eagles. The future Hall of Famer threw two interceptions in the defeat, one of which was returned 99 yards for a touchdown by the Eagles' Malcolm Jenkins.

“The first interception was bad quarterbacking,” Brady said. “The team trusts you to put the ball in your hands and make good decisions with it, and that was a terrible decision. So it’s unfortunate because those cost you the game, and I’ve got to do a better job.” 

It was a rough afternoon for Tom Brady, who threw two picks in New England's second straight loss. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

With the score knotted at 14 and 7:42 remaining in the third quarter, Brady tried to force a pass to receiver Danny Amendola at the goal line on third-and-5 that Jenkins returned to the house.

“It was just a dumb play,” Brady said of his pick-six pass. “There was really not much chance of a completion, so I should’ve just probably thrown it out of the back of the end zone or found someone else to throw it to. We would’ve kicked three points...That's about as bad as you can do for a quarterback."

Brady threw another interception later in the quarter. He completed just 29-of-56 passes with a season-low 71.4 passer rating.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick claimed the Patriots did not executive properly in any phases of the game, including defense and special teams.

“Just overall, we obviously didn’t do anything well enough (Sunday),” Belichick said. “Didn’t do enough on offense, turned the ball over, gave up two third-down touchdowns on defense, didn’t play well in the kicking game. Just really didn’t do anything well enough to really win.”

The second consecutive loss for the Patriots (10-2) dropped them to the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoff picture as the Denver Broncos (10-2) moved into the No. 2 seed. The Cincinnati Bengals (10-2) vaulted to the conference's top seed.