The fourth NFL matchup between former Alabama quarterbacks and teammates Mac Jones and Tua Tagovailoa came down to a Strange ending on Sunday night.

After trailing 17-3 entering the fourth quarter, the New England Patriots had Miami’s lead down to 24-17 facing a fourth-and-4 snap at the Dolphins 33-yard line with one minute to play.

Jones threw a short pass to tight end Mike Gesicki. Seeing that he would not be able to get away from Miami’s Bradley Chubb to reach the first-down marker, the tight end lateralled the football to guard Cole Strange.

The 300-pound offensive lineman plowed ahead for what was ruled a first down on the field. But video review determined Strange had come up just short of the necessary yardage, turning over the football to the Dolphins on downs.

“It just didn’t go our way,” Jones said.

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With the Miami victory, Tagovailoa became the first quarterback to win five games against New England coach Bill Belichick without losing.

“I think our team is 5-0 against Bill Belichick,” Tagovailoa said. “It’s never a ‘me’ thing. And I don’t think we ever look at it like, ‘Oh, we beat them once, we beat them twice, we beat them five times in a row.’ Every time we face coach Belichick’s team, it’s always a challenge and we know we’re going to get their best. It’s hard to play against a team like that, especially here on the road in Foxborough. We’re going to take them however they come.”

In the Dolphins’ 36-34 season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Chargers last week, Tagovailoa threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns.

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Against the Patriots on Sunday night, Tagovailoa completed 21-of-30 passes for 249 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran four times for 3 yards.

Tagovailoa’s touchdown came on a 2-yard pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill as Miami took a 17-3 lead with 11 seconds left in the first half.

In the second half, Tagovailoa completed 6-of-10 passes for 68 with no touchdowns and one interception.

“They’re not going to give up too many explosives,” said Tagovailoa, who had nine passes that gained more than 20 yards last week and four on Sunday night. “They really want you to work for yardage, and it’s definitely a take-what-they-give-you kind of defense. …

“You can see one thing, and if you hit an explosive on that, you can expect something to change in that instance. How they defended one of our plays toward the ending of the game wasn’t how they defended it the first three, four times.”

Raheem Mostert’s 43-yard touchdown run with 8:45 to play gave Miami a two-touchdown cushion again after Jones had connected with tight end Hunter Henry for a New England touchdown with 11:21 remaining. Mostert ran for 121 yards on 18 carries.

The Patriots responded with nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to seven points again with 5:25 to play. Jones completed 6-of-7 passes for 48 yards on the drive, including a 14-yard gain on a third-and-7 snap.

After Miami’s Jason Sanders missed a 55-yard field-goal attempt following a fumble on a third-and-1 snap by Tagovailoa, New England started its final drive at its 45-yard line with 2:14 to play.

Two completions put the Patriots on the Miami 39. But a sack left even a 14-yard completion to Gesicki on third down 4 yards short of a new set of downs, setting up the odd ending for New England’s offense.

Last week, the Patriots opened the season with a 25-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In that game, New England was stopped on downs at the Philadelphia 17, 48 and 20 in the fourth quarter.

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“It just wasn’t our day,” Jones said after Sunday night’s game. “It hasn’t been our day for the last two weeks, so we just got to learn from it and get better. …

“In the long run, I think it’s going to help us at some point during the season when we all play together, so I think, obviously, it sucks, but when you’re close, you just have to do more.”

Jones completed 31-of-42 passes for 231 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 25 yards on five carries on Sunday night.

New England has an 0-2 record for the first time since the 2001 season. Tom Brady took over as the Patriots’ starting quarterback in the third game that season, which ended with New England beating the St. Louis Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI.

The Patriots face another AFC East rival in their next game when New England visits the New York Jets on Sept. 24.

After going 2-0 on the road to open the season, the Dolphins will play the Denver Broncos on Sept. 24 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.