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FOXBORO - It's often a chess match between coaches and their coordinators on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage.

The Miami Dolphins bring a host of trick plays to the table every time they play, and it takes a little innovation on the part of an opponent to keep things in check so the gimmick plays don't open things for more traditional play calls.

The Patriots, who earned a 27-17 victory over their AFC East foes Sunday at Gillette Stadium, played around a little with their defensive line to make up for the loss of defensive end Jarvis Green to knee surgery.

One look that caught the swashbuckling Dolphins by surprise was lining up beefy nose tackle Vince Wilfork as a defensive end, with Green's replacement, Mike Wright, playing inside Wilfork.

The stat numbers for the shift weren't overwhelming - Wilfork was credited with three tackles and Wright none. But the adjustment was part of a total package that didn't fall prey to unconventional thinking on the other side of the line. "The big guy was there playing five technique over the tackle today 75 (Wilfork) was, all of a sudden, lined up a little but different and they did different things," Miami coach Tony Sparano said. "But they have a philosophy and they are going to do what they are going to do."

What the Patriots tried to do, despite having to adjust almost on the fly to the addition of option looks to the Miami offense, was to play aggressively but smartly - to not be fooled by the different looks, as they had been in the first game between the teams last season.

"Last year, we panicked," said safety Brandon Meriweather. "We didn't say focused and we were all over the place. This year, we were more like a veteran team. We stayed calm, we listened to the coaches and we let the coaches coach and the players play."

"They have the Wildcat and it wasn't like we didn't know it was coming," said linebacker Adalius Thomas, who sniffed out a potential end-around option pass and dropped Chad Henne for an 11-yard loss. "We just prepared for it, but they added a new wrinkle to it like every team is going to do. Just like last year when the first time we saw the Wildcat was against us and the first time we saw the option play was against us as well. They always have something special for us."

Thomas also returned what appeared to be a fumble by Henne 59 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, but a review of the play turned it into an incompletion.

"You always play to the end of the play because you don't see what happened," he said. "All I knew was that the ball was on the ground so I picked it up and did what comes natural. It's not often that a defensive player gets the ball in his hands, so when you do, you want to take advantage of it and get the points on the board and help the team win."

Tully Banta-Cain, who got consistent pressure on Henne when the gimmick plays weren't in effect, said a key was trusting the points brought up in practice and not thinking outside them.

"The key is that you don't want to be out there thinking too much," he said. "You just want to play fast. That's why I say it just comes back to playing fundamentals and just playing what they give you and not chasing ghosts."

While a lot of attention is paid to Ronnie Brown's role in the Wildcat, and Pat White's new role as an option quarterback, the bulk of the snaps still fell to Henne - and he came away from the game respecting how the Patriots were not fooled by the foolishness.

"I thought we executed pretty well," he said. "Sometimes they got to us and brought some more pressure and made me get the ball out a little quicker. At times, I thought we executed pretty well, kept the drive alive and moved the ball on them. "They are definitely a physical team I mean, the guys up front got some penetration on our offensive lineman and pressured me," he added. "And they have some veteran guys back there in the secondary that are pretty savvy and they can break on the ball pretty quickly. Overall, they are a good defense, and you have to give them credit on the way they executed today."