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FOXBORO - They survived the Wildcat. They took options away from the option. They brought back the long pass play. And they shut up Joey Porter.

Not a bad day for the 6-2 New England Patriots. A "typical AFC East day," Patriots' coach Bill Belichick said.

"A tough game that came right down to the wire," he said after Sunday's 27-17 win over the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium. "Miami made some plays, we made a few more, and it was good to win that one."

The Dolphins suffered their first loss in four divisional games despite unveiling new wrinkles in their already jam-packed bag of tricks.

The newest was something more likely to be seen on the football fields of the South Coast Conference or other high school leagues, the quarterback-based option. With rookie Pat White of West Virginia inserted as the QB for the throwback play, Miami had some initial success and scored a quick touchdown as the Patriots struggled to adjust to it. But the adjustment didn't take long, and before the end of the day, the quarterback option was just another failed novelty. Beyond that, Chad Henne (19-34, 219 yards) was hard-pressed to carry the day.

"We just didn't play the option very well," Belichick said of the initial results. "We worked on it and then it happened probably a little faster than we practiced it, and once we got it adjusted, I thought they did a good job. We just had a couple of missed adjustments, and White played well."

White finished with 45 rushing yards on six carries, and the most success came on the second-quarter possession on which the formation was first unveiled.

Starting at their own 20 after Stephen Gostkowski's quarter-opening 30-yard field goal, the Dolphins opened with their other offensive gimmick, the direct snap to running back Ronnie Brown for a 2-yard gain. In went White, who rolled around left end for a 33-yard gain, followed by a 4-yarder on an up-the-middle sprint.

Brown's next Wildcat play turned into a handoff to Ricky Williams and a 12-yard gain to the Patriots' 29, and one play later, White handed off to Williams for a 15-yard sweep right and a 10-10 tie.

The Dolphins also went gimmick crazy on the first possession of the second half, running 16 plays (five Wildcat, three option) to cover 66 yards and take a 17-16 lead on Brown's 1-yard rollout pass to tight end Joey Haynos.

"The option stuff today was solely on (quarterbacks coach) David Lee and (tight ends coach) George DeLeone," Miami coach Tony Sparano said. "And they had conviction about it and stood up for it and did a nice job that way. And that's one of the reasons I think this staff is so good. I don't have a bunch of 'yes men' in the room. Sometimes they have to fight me on it, but they did a good job this week and they won."

They won the battle with their coach, but old-fashioned football won the day for the Patriots.

Three plays after the Brown-Haynos connection, Tom Brady (25-37, 332 yards, one TD, one interception) threw a 10-yard pass from his own 29 to Randy Moss on the right sideline, with Miami rookie cornerback Vontae Davis in hot pursuit. Moss delivered a classic stiff-arm to Davis' helmet, and another, and all of a sudden the 12th-year veteran receiver had the separation he needed to complete a 71-yard touchdown play.

Adding frosting to that cake, Brady threw a fade to Moss on the left side of the end zone for the two-point conversion, putting the Patriots up 24-17 with 3:15 left in the quarter. The Dolphins never got any closer than the Patriots' 42 for the rest of the game. "He's so fast," Brady said of Moss. "I got it to him with a little bit of space, they were in man coverage and we ran some crossing routes and he caught it and took it a distance. It's always nice for a quarterback when you see the back of 81 sprinting down the field once he gets by them. There're not too many guys that can catch him."

Beyond that play, and a 1-yard touchdown by Laurence Maroney (20 carries, 82 yards) on the second Patriot possession (set up by a 36-yard pass to Moss), there was a lot of frustration evident in the Patriots' offense. Four field goals by Stephen Gostkowski (30, 38 and 34 in the first half, and 40 on their last possession) saved the day for a lot of failed ventures into the Miami red zone.

"Yeah, we could have been better in the red area today," Brady said. "That would have helped. It comes down to execution before halftime we had some opportunities there, didn't execute. Another one they stopped us on a sack. So you've got to get the ball in the end zone. If you do, you don't kick those field goals and it's a much different game in the end."

Gostkowski also played a huge role in shutting down Miami's dangerous return game, booming three kickoffs into the end zone (two that counted, one negated by penalty) and otherwise getting the ball high enough to allow the coverage to converge upon Ted Ginn Jr. before he had a chance to break a kick return.

Brady's best weapons clearly came to play - Wes Welker nine catches for 84 yards, Moss six for 147 - and his offensive line kept his uniform clean (two barely-damaging sacks for 9 yards) despite the loss of starting center Dan Koppen to a knee injury in the second quarter. Dan Connolly spelled the former BC standout quite well.

"It's not the easiest thing to do when you lose your center," Brady said, "but (Connolly) stepped in and did a great job. He's another real tough guy who's really prepared and took advantage of his opportunity."

Pressuring Brady was a huge failing by the Dolphins. Jason Taylor had three tackles and one quarterback hit, while the ever-mouthy Joey Porter, who complained all week long about how Brady was getting preferential treatment from the refs, barely got close enough to sniff the QB's after-shave. Porter had no tackles and barely glanced off Brady's uniform once - and not surprisingly, both he and his clothes magically disappeared from the visiting locker room without comment.

"The tackles were matched up on them a lot, but we also had the tight ends on them some, we had the backs chip in," Belichick said. "We got hit a couple times, but that was more when we held the ball and the coverage was there as opposed to just breakdowns in the protection."

"This doesn't have anything to do with Joey Porter," Sparano said. "It really doesn't. There are a lot of guys out there that were rushing the passer today and not many of them that got close. Against a guy like Tom Brady, you can't come out here and just blitz the guy. You can't. This ain't his first rodeo."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.