Patriots Week 17: 4 Things to know about the Dolphins

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1. Ramifications of Dolphins losing

Yes, the Dolphins have been eliminated from the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to play for in this game.

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In addition to spoiling the Patriots’ hopes at home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Dolphins will be motivated on Sunday to avoid their worst regular season record since that disastrous 1-15 season back in 2007. Should the Dolphins lose in Week 17, they would finish at 5-11.

Of course, the intervening time since 2007 hasn’t been a field of roses. Besides the 2008 turnaround in which they were 11-5, the Dolphins haven’t had winning record. They finished 6-10 in 2011, 7-9 three times (2009, 2010, 2012) and 8-8 in each of the past two seasons.

That being said, a 5-11 record is pretty bad, something that the Dolphins definitely want to avoid.

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Stay tuned on Musket Fire as we bring you thoughts and analysis for the upcoming AFC East showdown.