The Dolphins undoubtedly noticed Butler was out there and they definitely had their doubts about the youngster as they picked on him early and often.

Davone Bess abused Butler on a 13-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter that cut the Patriots' lead to 14-7. On Miami's winning drive, Greg Camarillo eluded Butler on a 13-yard reception on fourth down.

"That's definitely big," Miami quarterback Chad Henne said afterward. "That put us in field goal situation and also ran some of the time off. We had another series to run the clock down and to let the Patriots use their timeouts. Overall, it was a good play for us not to give them so much time on the clock."

Belichick pointed out yesterday Butler wasn't the first or the last player to allow a touchdown or miss a tackle. The important thing is to forget about it and move on.

"Yeah, I think that's part of the position," Belichick said. "Every quarterback has thrown interceptions. Every receiver has dropped balls. Every (defensive back) has had a pass completed on them or a touchdown pass. Every linebacker has missed tackles. Every lineman has missed a block. No matter how great they are, I think we can find that with everybody.

"I think that's part of being mentally tough and resilient, is playing through plays that don't go your way at every position. Every kicker has missed a kick. Every punter has dropped a snap. That's part of being a competitor. We all have to do that. It doesn't always go right every time for all of us."

And it wasn't all bad for Butler. He was credited with eight tackles, one behind team leader Jerod Mayo, and batted away two passes.

Butler, drafted 41st overall with the third of the Patriots' four second-round choices, also became the seventh Patriot to return a kick this season. He only averaged 17 yards on the two he fielded.

Despite the setbacks Sunday, the Patriots believe Butler is headed in right direction.

"I think Darius is a kid that's worked hard," Belichick said. "He comes to work every day, pays attention. He's a smart guy. We've asked him to do a number of different things and he's worked hard at those, both defensively and in the kicking game.

"Some things are good. Some things need to be improved, like all the rest of us."

Returning woes

In addition to Butler, Matthew Slater and Wes Welker also returned kicks against the Dolphins.

Slater didn't fare much better than Butler, averaging 19 yards on a pair. Welker got the call after Miami took the lead at game's end and had a 27-yard return.

All in all, not a good showing.

"We certainly weren't productive on our kickoff returns," Belichick said. "Some of it was blocking and execution and timing things, but we just didn't do a good job. Really, it's an area that we need to improve in all the way across the board.

"I'm not saying it's the returner - it's execution, timing, finishing blocks. I thought we were close earlier in the year and then the last three weeks it hasn't been as good as we would like for it to be."

The Patriots are averaging 23.4 yards per return. That's good for 11th in the league although nine teams are less than a yard behind them.

They are one of 20 teams to not have returned a kick for a touchdown.

Still going for it

The Patriots are not first when it comes to fourth-down attempts, it only seems that way.

The Patriots have gone for it 16 times on fourth down, which ties them for sixth most in the league. It should be noted the teams ahead of them - Kansas City (23), St. Louis (21), Tampa Bay (18), and Washington and Detroit (17 each) - are a combined 10-50 and generally playing from behind and acting from desperation.

The latest attempt at converting on fourth down came late in the first half Sunday, the Patriots bypassing a chip-shot of a field goal by Stephen Gostkowski that could have added to their 14-7 lead.

Instead, they handed off to Sammy Morris, who was lined up at fullback and pushed back in his effort to gain the necessary 1 yard. With Wes Welker and Randy Moss watching from the sideline and the Patriots in a power package, pretty much everyone in Land Shark Stadium knew what was coming.

"Felt like it was going to be a run," Miami coach Tony Sparano said. "At that time we were pretty committed. Paul (Pasqualoni, defensive coordinator] made a good call there and Paul Soliai made a pretty nice play. (There were) a lot of guys around the Football, which was good.

"It's a good, good Football team out there. You stop them for a yard in that kind of situation, it's a pretty good result."

The Patriots have converted 50 percent of their fourth-down attempts, tying them with six teams for 11th place.

Going for it obviously doesn't work out for the best all the time. Belichick, as he's been saying for the last few weeks, reiterated yesterday that those decisions are always believed to be the best at the time.

"There are a lot of factors; I could list 100 of them," he said. "Some more important than others at that time, but it's what you feel gives your team the best chance to win based on all the factors at that juncture. That's the way it is with every decision - fourth down, third down, second down, first down.

"The coaching staff, head coach, the assistant coaches, the players, everybody's doing what they think is best at that time. Sometimes it works out (and) sometimes it doesn't, but the intent it to always do what you think is best."

Extra Points

Reports are linking deposed Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis with the Chicago Bears, who could be in the market for an offensive coordinator. "I wouldn't want to speak for Charlie," Belichick said. "Right now, my focus and concentration is on Carolina. That's all I'm really thinking about." ... Tom Brady became the 31st player in league history to pass for 30,000 yards. He's at 30,084 for his career. ... Randy Moss now has 28 career touchdown receptions of 50-plus yards. That's second all-time behind Jerry Rice (36). ... Moss and Welker both went over 1,000 yards receiving for the third straight season.