Patriots rout Dolphins, lock up 2-seed in AFC Playoffs
New England will officially play host in the wild card round after the AFC’s top teams all took care of business on Sunday.
The Patriots took a little longer to pull away in Week 18 than they did in Week 17, but they pulled away nonetheless. New England has officially completed a 14-3 regular season after dismantling the Miami Dolphins by a 38-10 final at Gillette Stadium Sunday.
This was effectively a tale of two halves for the Patriots, which has become something of a familiar refrain down the stretch. But the Pats saved their best football for the more important time of the game, scoring 24 unanswered points from the end of the first half on, as the initially competitive Dolphins went cold. The running game powered the offense this time around, as they burned Miami for 243 yards on 34 carries. The bulk of the damage came with the ball in the hands of Rhamondre Stevenson, who rushed seven times for 131 yards and two touchdowns, and also caught two passes for 22 yards and a TD catch.
Quarterback Drake Maye was no slouch, as he played a turnover-free game while completing 77.8% of his passes for 191 yards and a score through the air, which was good for a 129.4 passer rating. He finishes the season compiling 13 games with a passer rating over 100, breaking a Patriots single-season record previously held by Tom Brady.
Early concerns arose for the Patriots defense, as the Dolphins scored a touchdown while amassing 122 total yards of offense on their first two drives of the game. They only managed a field goal on the scoreboard after that, and ended the game on five straight punts in the second half.
With the win, and a Broncos victory over the Chargers, the Patriots are now locked into the No. 2 seed in the AFC Playoffs. They will host 7-seeded Los Angeles in the wild card round next weekend, with dates and times to be announced.
