Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
Old habits die hard. Dan Dierdorf said Brian Hartline is not flashy, but a fundamentally sound player. He did praise Brian’s outstanding sideline catch.
the Patriots secondary, specifically Aqib Talib (not a misspelling!), simply couldn't cover Hartline. despite Dingleberrydorf's claims, Hartline effortlessly blew past the afflete's futile efforts and repeatedly was WIDE OPEN.
on at least three occasions, what would've been easy touchdowns were missed by bad overthrows from young Tannehill. on each of these occasions, Hartline was behind the defense by at least 5 yards, having left the clearly slower "phenomenal talents" in the dust. on at least two other occasions, passes were so severely under-thrown that Hartline literally had to stop and wait on the ball, allowing the over-matched afflete to "make a play" on the pass. he also drew at least one pass interference penalty.
while i'm happy the Patriots prevailed, it would've been nice to see Hartline put up yet another 200-plus-yard performance like he did earlier this year. with Tannehill's off day, the Dolphins clearly left one on the table.
Hartline played far more terrifically than his stats imply, even though his 5 catches for 84 yards were still solid.