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Patriots, Dolphins meet in Miami Monday
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 12/8/2017  at  8:46:00 PM
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NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (10-2)
at MIAMI DOLPHINS (5-7)

Hard Rock Stadium – Miami, FL
Kickoff: Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET
Line: New England -11.0, Total: 47.5

The Dolphins will be attempting to keep their playoff hopes alive with a home victory over the red-hot Patriots on Monday.

After a slow start to the season, New England is starting to look like the juggernaut that everybody has come to expect every year. The Patriots have won-and-covered in six straight games coming into this one, and they have been doing so by dominating on both sides of the ball. The Pats have scored 30 or more points in three of their past four games, but they have also held their opponents to 17 or fewer in eight straight games. If they keep playing this way then it’s hard to imagine anybody beating them. The Dolphins are, however, coming off of one of their more impressive showings of the season. They hosted the Broncos last week and ended up winning 35-9 as 1.5-point home underdogs. That snapped a five-game losing streak for Miami, so the Dolphins don’t necessarily have much wiggle room. They likely need to win the remainder of their games in order to make the postseason, so they’ll definitely be playing with some intensity here. New England has won the last three games in this head-to-head series, though. The Patriots also happen to be both 4-1 SU and ATS when facing the Dolphins over the past five seasons. And New England is a ridiculous 18-4 ATS after allowing 17 points or less in three straight games under head coach Bill Belichick.

The Patriots are rolling right now and a lot of that has to do with the way their defense is playing. New England looked like one of the worst teams in the league on that end earlier in the year, but that has changed drastically as of late. The Patriots have not been giving their opponents anything, so they should be able to give the Dolphins some trouble in this one. On offense, QB Tom Brady is still the best quarterback in football. He should be looking forward to facing a Dolphins defense that had allowed a total of 110 points in three games before a win over the Broncos last week. Brady also happens to be coming off of his worst game of the season, as he threw for just 258 yards with no touchdowns and one interception in a 23-3 win over Buffalo. That means that he’ll be even more ready for this game, as he doesn’t want to fall into bad habits this late in the year. What’s helping Brady right now is the fact that New England also happens to be running the ball well. The Patriots have a stable of productive backs, and any of them can easily step up and contribute on Monday.

The Dolphins are coming off of an excellent win over the Broncos, but things are going to be a lot tougher on Monday. The Patriots are clicking on all cylinders, so the Dolphins will need to play a perfect game in order to pull off this upset. That means that QB Jay Cutler can’t afford to make any bad mistakes in this contest. Cutler threw for two touchdowns in last week’s win over Denver, but he also threw two picks in that game. He has now thrown for six interceptions over the past three games that he’s played in. That number is unacceptable, and Cutler must take care of the ball at all costs on Monday. The thing that is hurting him is the fact that the Dolphins don’t really have a reliable running game right now. RB Kenyan Drake rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown against the Broncos, but Drake had rushed for only 20 yards on nine carries against the Patriots when the teams met on Nov. 26. The only guy that really made plays against New England was WR Jarvis Landry, who had eight catches for 70 yards in that one. But nothing will matter for Miami if the team can’t prevent Brady from throwing for four touchdowns again.


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