The Patriots followed perhaps their worst half of football with inspired play late, scoring 27 straight points in the second half and hanging on to defeat the Dolphins, 27-24, at Gillette Stadium Saturday.

The Patriots were able to do very little offensively through the first two quarters, punting on all but on of their drives, but a stronger Tom Brady and some mishaps from Dolphins quarterback Matt Moore helped the team turn things around in the second half. The Pats, who trailed 17-0 at halftime, had a 27-17 lead at the two-minute warning, but a pass from Moore to Devon Bess brought the Dolphins back within there with 1:48 remaining in the contest. The Pats were able to keep the ball the rest of the game.

With the win, the Patriots, who had already sewn up the AFC East title, clinched a first-round bye. They will finish the season next week against the Bills.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE PATRIOTS

- Brady had Tim Tebow-like numbers in the first half (6-for-19), but was surgical in the second half for the Patriots. He had a pair of rushing touchdowns (marking the second straight week in which he rushed for a score) and 21-of-27 throwing with a touchdown pass to Deion Branch.

- The Patriots had difficulty getting the ball into Miami territory offensively in the first half, but Moore made their job easier for them when he fumbled a snap in the third quarter that was recovered by Vince Wilfork. The Pats got the ball at the Miami 33-yard line. After catches by Wes Welker and Aaron Hernandez moved the Pats closer, Brady capped the drive by hitting Branch in the back of the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown. The play was reviewed to determine whether Branch stepped on the end line, but the play stood. Brady was 5-for-5 on the drive.

- Moore’s turnover and Wilfork’s recovery may have woken the Patriots’ defense up, as Brandon Deaderick sacked the Dolphins’ quarterback for a nine-yard loss on the first play of the following Dolphins’ drive. Reggie Bush had a nice run on 2nd-and-19, but Rob Ninkovich was able to force another Moore fumble on 3rd-and-11. Mike Pouncey recovered, but the Dolphins had to punt from so deep in their own zone that a seven-yard return from Kevin Faulk set the Pats up at the Miami 41. The Pats would score on that drive as well, and the defense continued to play well in the second half. Jerod Mayo came up with his first sack of the season in the fourth quarter.

- Dane Fletcher had some success going right up the middle at Moore. It was his pressure that rattled Moore enough to fumble the ball on the handoff to Reggie Bush on the Dolphins’ second drive of the day, and he shot through again in the fourth quarter, chasing Moore deep and forcing the Miami quarterback to throw it away and nearly take an intentional grounding penalty.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE PATRIOTS

- It was definitely an up-and-down day for Devin McCourty. He had some bright spots covering Brandon Marshall after he was beaten by Brian Hartline for a 39-yard play in the first quarter, but treachery generally surrounded the Pats’ second-year cornerback in the first half Saturday.

Marshall beat him in single coverage early in the second quarter for a 47-yard play, and the Dolphins scored two plays later to extend their lead to 10-0. On the following drive, McCourty committed an ill-advised defensive pass interference penalty. It was a play in Moore was pressured deep in Miami territory and let the ball sail, so even if Hartline were Inspector Gadget, he still would have had trouble reaching the ball. Even so, McCourty roughed him up around the waist as he was jumping before the ball got there (or didn’t get there).

McCourty nearly made a great play to intercept the ball in the end zone later in the drive, but Marshall did a good job of breaking it up. The drive resulted in a Dolphins touchdown to Charles Clay.

There was some good on the day for McCourty. Following a lost challenge by the Pats (see below), Moore went back to Hartline to for what would have been a touchdown. Moore under-threw the ball, and McCourty picked it easily for his first interception of the season. Like the rest of the Pats, McCourty was plain old bad in the first half, but he came up big when the Pats needed to turn it around.

- The makeshift offensive line put together by the Patriots with Matt Light out struggled with the pressure the Dolphins applied. With Logan Mankins at left tackle and Donald Thomas at left guard, Miami took advantage of any discomfort that may have existed on the Pats’ offensive line, sacking Brady three times in the first half and hurrying him six times.

- Mankins left the game in the first half with a knee injury and did not return to the game. Not a good sign for a team that already has injuries on the offensive line to the likes of Matt Light and Sebastian Vollmer.

- Speaking of difficulty on offense, the Patriots were terrible on offense in the first half. They punted on their first six drives, never making it past the 50-yard line before punting it each time. Their last drive of the first half was the only one in which they didn’t punt, but but it ended with Stephen Gostkowski missing a 51-yard field goal wide left.

- Bill Belichick lost a challenge for the first time this season. The New England coach challenged the spot of the ball on a completion to Hartline in the third quarter, hoping to force the Dolphins to punt on fourth down rather than give them a fresh set of downs. It all worked out in the end, as McCourty picked Moore on the following play.