ESPN NFL

The New England Patriots shouldn't have looked as though they were trying to decipher Sanskrit with a French-to-cuneiform dictionary.

Yet the Patriots were completely lost against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, losing 38-13 at home.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick on Monday bemoaned his team's response to the Dolphins' direct-snap, single-wing offense that allowed running back Ronnie Brown to run for four touchdowns and throw for another.

Belichick suggested the Patriots should have been prepared.

They'd recently spent time defending it at practice.

"We worked against it last week," Belichick told reporters at his day-after news conference. "That's the formation the Jets used last week with Leon Washington, and he's thrown out of it and run out of it. We worked on it a week ago."

Belichick was asked if he expects to see that type of offense more often since the Dolphins applied it with great success.

"I don't know," Belichick said. "I think we better be ready to defend it. When you are on defense all you can do is react to what the offense does. You don't control the ball. You don't control their plays. You don't control their personnel. You don't really control anything.

"You have to adjust to what they give you. If they give you three backs in the backfield, no backs in the backfield, 9-foot line splits, quarterback goes in motion ... Whatever they do, that's what you're on defense for."