Patriots Ups & Downs: Who stood out in the season finale?

The New England Patriots finished the 2025 regular season with a 38-10 blowout of the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium Sunday, but the game wasn't as close to perfect as the final score may indicate. Here are the final UP and DOWN grades for the Pats before the start of the playoffs...

Drake Maye did his part through the air, but the running game set the tone and keyed the offense in this game, and Stevenson was that tone-setter. He ripped off a 56-yard run on just the Pats' second play from scrimmage, en route to the first of three total touchdowns, one of which was off a 35-yard rumble. He showed great contact balance on a few runs where the blocking wasn't perfect, most notably turning a potential loss of yardage into a 20-yard gain on a third-and-1 play.

Stevenson not only seems recovered from his recent fumbling problems, but he's again flashing the ability he showed in his 1,000-yard season in 2022. If he can shake off tacklers and make people miss like he did Sunday, he can be a weapon for Maye -- and especially help him make up for the occasional shaky blocking.

The Patriots have at times had total coverage breakdowns, especially in the red zone, and it cropped up again on Sunday. Rookie safety Craig Woodson, who otherwise enjoyed a solid rookie season in which he played nearly 100% of defensive snaps, looked to get burned on the Dolphins' second-quarter touchdown.

If the Patriots get tripped up in the playoffs, it's quite possible that communication issues in the secondary will play a role. The Chargers would be wise to look into how they can create confusion in the defensive backfield and pick on the rookie, and the Pats really need to tighten up their coverage in the red zone.

Gibbens isn't as strong, skilled, or instinctive as teammate Robert Spillane, but he's proven himself a worthy fill-in at his spot while he's been out. He finished off an initial hit by Christian Gonzalez (more on him below) to force a fumble, which at the time was a huge play in a tightening game. He later nearly made a leaping interception.

The Patriots will be much better off once they get Spillane back in the lineup, but Gibbens has made enough plays to continue playing a big workload in January.

It's not Munford's fault that his coaches put him in position to be the key block on a fourth-down play. But that's what Josh McDaniels decided to do, calling a handoff to Munford's side, and to the surprise of few, Munford got beat and the Dolphins got the turnover on downs.

Munford is admittedly being singled out, but his usage and performance underlined a flimsy tackle group

Gonzalez was only targeted once without allowing a catch, but more notably, he made the initial hit that allowed Gibbens to finish off the forced fumble. Mike Vrabel seems to have been pushing Gonzalez to play a more physical style this season, and it's shown up many times over the course of the season.

Sunday should be a good teaching tool for the young cornerback for how his physicality can make a serious impact, but at the end of the day his strength is coverage, and he was strong in that department as well.

Davis had an up-and-down first season for the Patriots, sometimes in the same game. This was a down day for the veteran corner, who allowed three catches on four targets, two of which went for a first down. He also committed a pass interference penalty that could've proven costly if Dolphins quarterback Quinn Ewers didn't ultimately throw an interception in the end zone.

The Patriots can't afford to have Davis racking up DPI flags in the playoffs. He'll need to find a way to play physical coverage, his strength as a player, without getting in trouble with the zebras.

Borregales gets an UP despite having a field goal blocked, because he went right back out and redeemed himself by drilling a 59-yard field goal at the end of the first half. The play felt important at the time, as the Patriots were only up seven at halftime after a shaky first couple of quarters. Borregales set a new career-best with that kick, and was able to head into the playoffs on a high note.

Next Patriots Ups & Downs will come after they play the Chargers in the wild card round Sunday night in Foxboro.