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FOXBORO - On a day when the greats of the Patriots' past were honored, it would have been preferable if the current Patriots didn't attempt to recreate the franchise's "bad ol' days" on the football field as well as in their nearby museum.

Their 38-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins was more reminiscent of seasons like 1981 (2-14) and 1990 (1-15) than it was of the run of 21 straight regular-season victories that ended in ignominy Sunday.

Considering how poorly the Patriots' defense played, it might have been nice if Hall of Fame members Andre Tippett, Steve Nelson, Mike Haynes and Nick Buoniconti could be magically restored to their prime and thrust into the lineup Sunday. But even that might not have been enough on a day when the Patriots' coaching staff was as thoroughly outcoached as it has been at any time in the last seven-plus seasons.

The most obvious sign of a coaching deficit came in the form of a specific play that the Dolphins ran six times, putting running back Ronnie Brown at quarterback in shotgun formation and sending Ricky Williams in motion along the line of scrimmage to create a three-headed option from which Brown could run, hand off or pass.

The play produced five carries for 100 yards, three rushing touchdowns and one passing score - and it was never smoked out by the Patriots, not even after it had been run four times before halftime. "Right before the half, they threw a lot of wrinkles in there - quick throws, dink and dunk passes, quick passes to the outside and so on, and outside running plays," Patriots' defensive end Ty Warren said. "When they ran the ball they did a lot of stretch plays where they'd run straight to the sideline.

"We were just trying to get all that corrected, and our different personnel groupings that we put in there were just trying to mix and match the alignments and where we need to get lined up," he said.

But somehow, the defensive staff never figured out how to counter Brown in shotgun formation.

"We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off," said Richard Seymour, the other defensive end. "We really didn't know what to do. We didn't even make the plays when we had him wrapped up, bottled up sometimes. They did whatever they had to do to win."

"We just weren't making the plays," added tackle Jarvis Green. "We went into the locker room and came out ready to adjust and got everything together that we needed to do make the plays and we didn't make the plays. They still outplayed us."

Even without the gimmickry, Green said, Brown and Williams would form a dangerous backfield tandem. Sunday, they combined for 211 of Miami's 216 rushing yards.

"Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are great running backs," Green said. "Those are the best guys that they have to carry the ball and to have that option - whether to give it to Ricky, or to give it to Ronnie - we just didn't make the plays. Inside, we were still getting basic blocks in between the tackles."

It's not often that the Patriots get caught with their figurative pants down in their game-planning. But as cornerback Ellis Hobbs said, it's going to happen sooner or later.

"Going into the game, we knew there would be some element that we would see that we haven't seen before," he said. "You can only game plan and practice so much for everything. Everything else you have to adjust to. As a whole, we didn't do a good job adjusting to pretty much anything. They kept us on our heels and did a good job of executing their plays on offense."

That left some members of the defensive unit wishing that they didn't have the bye in the schedule this coming Sunday. "When you have a day like that, it's very disappointing," Seymour said. "Competitively speaking, it stinks because we have the bye. You want to get back out there and redeem yourself."

"It's very disappointing but we just have to get better," added safety Rodney Harrison, who tied rookie linebacker Jerod Mayo for game-high tackle honors with 12. "It's just one bump in the road, and I tell the guys that we just need to learn from it and come to work tomorrow with a positive attitude."