In week 17, the Patriots guaranteed their place in the playoffs by throttling the Jacksonville Jaguars at home. Despite clinching a spot, the Patriots will not be taking it easy when they play the Miami Dolphins this Sunday. Bill Belichick will have his team ready to maintain momentum to close the regular season. A win against the Dolphins coupled with a miraculous loss by the Bills to the Jets could mean winning the AFC East division. There is even a slim chance for the Patriots to be the number one seed if the Bills, Chiefs, and Titans lose on Sunday. Yes, in the words of Kevin Garnett, “anything is possible”. In this article, we preview the game and make a score prediction.
1. The Dolphins-Miami will be looking to rebound from a shellacking by the Titans 34-3 to end their seven-game losing streak and their hopes of making it to the playoffs. Tua will be looking to finish the season strong after struggling last week. He managed only 205 yards and one interception with 5.4 yards per attempt. The Alabama product has been on a slide with only three touchdowns and four interceptions in the past three weeks. He will have to be careful in not turning the ball over against a Patriots defense that forced three turnovers against Trevor Lawrence last week. The key matchup in this game will be Jaylen Waddle and or Devontae Parker against JC Jackson who has eight interceptions this year. If there is a weakness with this Patriots team, it is in their run defense, and the Dolphins will need to capitalize through Duke Johnson.
2. The Patriots-the offense returned to its best in their domination of the Jaguars last week. The key to the unit’s success is running the football, and the team had 36 carries, 181 yards, and four touchdowns. The Dolphins’ defense struggled to contain the Titans’ run game by giving up 4.4 yards per rush and 108 yards per game. Mac Jones looked back to his best after recent struggles in the passing game with 227 yards and three touchdowns. The Dolphins defense did well to restrict Ryan Tannehill to 120 yards from the air, and they will be looking to repeat the feat against the Patriots. They are a danger to stop because they are 2nd in sacks and 1st in quarterback hits.
3. Head to Head- According to footballdb.com, the Dolphins lead the Patriots historically in their head-to-head matchup by a margin of 58-54. However, in the past two decades from the 2001 season, the Patriots lead their divisional rival by a margin of 26-17. The Patriots have struggled to beat Miami on the road and have won only 2 of their last 8 games in Miami. The Patriots lost last year’s matchup in Miami 22-12 and were beaten 17-16 at home in week 1 of the current season.
4. Stats- Mac Jones is one of two rookie quarterbacks in NFL history with at least ten wins, 20 touchdown passes, 3,500 yards, and a completion percentage of 67%. The other is Dak Prescott.
5. Score Predictions-The Patriots start this game on a mission based on the recent struggles highlighted in this article. They would have heard the critics who claim that a game at the end of the season in Florida is their kryptonite and usually ends in defeat. I think the Dolphins will fail to stop the run, and the Patriots will stay ahead by forcing Tua into turnovers.
Final Score Patriots 30-Dolphins 20