New England Patriots vs Miami Dolphins: Game 14 Preview and Prediction
By Hal Bent
In Week 14, the New England Patriots will be facing off against the Miami Dolphins. Here is a complete preview of what to watch for.
The 10-2 New England Patriots are fresh off their 23-3 win over AFC East rivals the Buffalo Bills. It was an ugly game as both squads were sloppy, but the Bills were undisciplined, and made a number of mistakes on both sides of the ball allowing the Patriots to come out and score quickly in the second half and cruise to victory. Rob Gronkowski had a terrible post-play personal foul penalty which has left him suspended for this game.
The Bills and Patriots play again on Christmas Eve and it could be a grudge match (tell the in-laws right now not to make any plans until after 4:30pm when the game ends). The Bills are in the fight for the final Wild Card spot after winning three of their first four games and being 5-2 after beating the Raiders in week eight.
For Buffalo, they hate the Patriots. Who can blame them? Beyond the ugliness with Gronkowski, the Patriots have won the AFC East seemingly every season since Belichick-Brady arrived and head-to-head the Patriots have won 29 of their last 34 games against Buffalo. Of course, Miami probably hates the Patriots as well.
This week the Patriots are in Miami where the weather is much nicer than in Foxboro, MA. The Patriots played the Dolphins and piled up a season-high 196 yards rushing (all statistics courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com unless otherwise noted). The defense sacked Matt Moore seven times and although the Patriots were sloppy on offense and Tom Brady had an uncharacteristic bad interception, New England won quite easily.
There are a number of factors that will go into whether the Patriots will win the rematch on Monday night, whether the Dolphins will pull the upset, who needs to step up for New England on Monday, what one of the hidden factor could impact the game, and what will actually happen in the game.