5 takeaways from the Patriots’ regular season finale against the Dolphins

The New England Patriots are heading back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Before that though the team had one last regular season box to check, at home on Sunday in the regular season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

While the Patriots already locked up a playoff spot and the division title, they still had playoff implications on Sunday. A win guaranteed them a top two seed, with a shot at the No. 1 seed and first round bye (which they didn't end up getting after the Denver Broncos beat the Los Angeles Chargers). A loss would have dropped the Patriots to the No. 3 seed.

Coming out of the gates the Patriots looked ready to respond to the moment. They jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, and it seemed like a replay of last week's win over the New York Jets was in store.

However the team stumbled in the second quarter. The Dolphins moved the ball up and down the field with ease, while the offense stalled out. That allowed Miami to get back with a score at 14-10.

Just before halftime the Patriots found a little bit of life, then stormed out of the locker room in the second half. Now playing to the stakes they rattled off 24 unanswered points, on their way to a 38-10 win. That locked them into the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture, and set them up to host the Los Angeles Chargers on Wild Card Weekend.

Before we turn the page to that one, let's close the book on the Patriots' regular season and regular season finale with our final takeaways of the regular season...

One of the biggest storylines going into this game was the return of two key players off IR - left tackle Will Campbell and defensive tackle Milton Williams. Both played a regular workload through three quarters before the Patriots sat their starters across the board once the game became a blowout.

Campbell was tabbed with just one pressure according to PFF's initial charting, and didn't commit a penalty. On first watch, he looked to pick up where he left off before his knee injury last month.

As for Williams, he had a couple of splash plays. In particular he had multiple run stuffs, adding a boost to a run defense that has visibly missed him for the five games he was out. He also recorded a sack. That being said, there's more to discuss with the run defense and the defense as a whole...

Multiple times this year there have been games where watching the Patriots' defense feels like pulling teeth, only to look back at the big picture and the end of the game and realize they kept the damage to a minimum. Add this game to the list.

Early on the Dolpins were getting the ball up-and-down the field. A fourth down stop and an errant Quinn Ewers throw that turned in to a Jaylinn Hawkins interception kept points off the board, but three of the Dolpins' first six drives were over 50 yards long. Miami converted three of its first four third downs, and a few drives later picked up a 3rd & 17 off a catch-and-run checkdown while it was still a one-score game.

Tackling remained an issue, and the run defense ran hot and cold. Things were better with Williams breaking into the backfield and disrupting plays at times, but there were still multiple instances of backs carrying defenders and extending runs at the second level. At halftime, the Patriots had allowed 10 points and were surrendering 4.8 yards per play.

Yet when the Patriots needed to clamp down they clamped down. What felt like a stressful performance by the defense at first ended up amounting to just a couple of drives. Miami finished the game with those 10 points, 180 total yards of offense, and was 5-of-13 on third downs. The Patriots forced two turnovers and had four sacks.

In the playoffs, the Patriots won't always be able to count on steadying after slow starts. For one last time in the regular season though, they dug their heels in and held firm after a rough beginning.

Meanwhile on offense, the Patriots' run game got going and got going in a big way. In total the Patriots ran for 243 yards on 34 carries, at a whopping 7.1 yards per play. It's their second time rushing for more than 240 yards in a game this season, after having no such games since 2020 and only two such games in the last 10 years (the last time they did it multiple times in a season was back-to-back weeks in 2012). It was just the fourth time in franchise history they've averaged at least seven yards per carry in a game with at least 30 carries (previously done in 1961, 1976, and 2008).

Leading the way for the run game was Rhamondre Stevenson, who over the last month of the season has arguably been playing the best football of his career since returning from a toe injury. Stevenson had what will likely go down as a career day. He carried the ball seven times for 131 yards, and scored two touchdowns. On top of that, he caught two passes for 22 yards and another score.

Stevenson's combination of contact balance, power, and burst in the open field continues to give defenses fits. He's looking like more of a mismatch player Josh McDaniels can use as a chess piece in the playoffs.It

It wasn't just Stevenson either. TreVeyon Henderson ran the ball 13 times for 53 yards, and had two touchdowns of his own. While it didn't go for a score he had another nice cutback run on a play that initially looked stuffed, that picked up a first down and moved the Patriots into the red zone in the third quarter.

Coming into the season, the combination of Stevenson and Henderson was supposed to be a two-headed monster that would make the Patriots' running game a true threat. Between injuries and Henderson going through some early rookie growing pains they weren't able to show what they could do at full force for most of the season, but look to be hitting their collective stride heading into the postseason.

Having the run game going like it was, the Patriots didn't need to throw the ball much. Drake Maye attempted just 18 passes, going 14-for-18 for 191 yards with the touchdown to Stevenson.

When Maye did throw the ball though he helped his pass catchers out in more ways than one. Eight of his 18 targets went to Stefon Diggs and Hunter Henry, who both cashed incentives with their performances.

With three catches for 43 yards Diggs crossed the 1,000-yard mark, triggering a $500,000 bonus. That also made Diggs the first Patriots receiver to go over 1,000 yards in a season since Julian Edelman in 2019.

For a team that has tried so many times in so many ways to get answers at the top of the depth chart at that position for the last half decade and come up short each time, go figure it's the 31-year-old coming off of a torn ACL that finally checks that box. It's a testament to the work Diggs and the Patriots medical training staff have put in since he signed back in March. The Patriots will still need him to play this way in the playoffs, as a coverage-dictating receiver.

Meanwhile, Henry caught five passes for 56 yards. His fifth and final catch was his 60th of the year, triggering a $250,000 bonus (that's after he got $250,000 for reaching 55 catches last week).

On defense the Patriots had a player cash in an incentive as well. K'Lavon Chaisson recorded his seventh sack of the season, which coupled with a playing time bonus he'd already hit triggered a $500,000 bonus. His 7.5 sacks on the year are a new career high for the 26-year-old.

This was a day of extremes for the Patriots' field goal unit. It started on a down note, as Borregales had a 38-yard attempt blocked in the first half - the first blocked kick of his career. This came after a miss last week.

Borregales and the field goal unit bounced back though when given another chance just a few minutes later. Despite favorable field position the Patriots held the Dolphins to a field goal after that blocked kick, then got the ball back with 28 seconds to go and no timeouts before the end of the half. Maye hit a couple of sideline completions and mixed in a scramble (on which he smartly got out of bounds) setting up a 59-yard field goal attempt.

Given another chance just quickly after the block the rookie kicker delivered. He connected on the 59-yarder towards the lighthouse end of the stadium, re-setting the Patriots' lead to 17-10 and giving the team a boost going into the break.

"I think there was a little lull there in the second quarter, but I really appreciate the way that the defense responded after the block to force them to make a long kick, and then the way the offense was able to go back and get Andy into field goal range, and fantastic kick by him," head coach Mike Vrabel highlighted after the game. "I tried to ask them to replicate those last two series and that intensity and that execution as we went into the second half."

The 59-yarder is the longest in Borregales' career going back to his time in college, where his previous long was a 56-yarder as a senior (he also hit a 55-yarder as a freshman). It's also the longest field goal in a regular or postseason game in the history of Gillette Stadium, surpassing 58-yarder that Stephen Gostkowski hit in 2017 (Gostkowski did once hit a 60-yarder in a preseason game in 2014).

When the Patriots drafted Borregales in the spring, one of the questions was how the Miami Hurricane would translate his game in cold weather - something that he'll need to do successfully to kick in New England, especially in the playoffs. In one of his first cold games in New England, that kind of kick is especially encouraging (with the blocked kick looking more like an issue in protection than a misplay by Borregales).