The New England Patriots will be hosting the Miami Dolphins in Foxborough on Sunday for their second intradivisional game of the season. Miami heads into New England with their very post season future at stake, while for the Pats, this game comes down to homefield advantage in the playoffs and splitting their two matches, after they fell to the Dolphins on the first game of the season. This game, on the surface, means a lot more for the Dolphins than it does for New England, because in the tight AFC race for a playoff spot, a 7-6 Miami team has to win or contemplate watching the post season form home.
This is not that simple of a motivational issue to sort out as it would seem. While on the surface it would appear that the Dolphins have the incentive to take this game from New England, the Patriots have not only home field advantage during the playoffs at stake but there's also the issue of payback as a rallying cry, because it was the loss to the Dolphins on week one, that made reporters and fans start questioning everything from aging Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, to the depth and skill of their team. To add to the Dolphins challenges, this game will be played in mid December in New England where the fans will add a deafening element to the already challenged Miami Dolphins.
The fact that Miami's barely put together offensive line received a devastating blow when star left tackle Brandon Albert was lost for the year, will not make this quest easy for Miami, whose only reasonable chance to play in the post season are at stake on Sunday. The Patriots, on the other hand are reasonably healthy in comparison, and will be looking forward to a big performance from their star tight end Rob Gronkowski. Miami's depleted secondary and ailing linebacker corps must find a way to disrupt Gronk's timing at the line and still manage to tightly cover him after he breaks if they have any hopes of winning this game, while on defense, they need to go after Brady with the front 4 and being successful in harassing him.
The Dolphins' future as a Joe Philbin coached team hangs in the balance of this game with general manager Dennis Hickey and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor's job also potentially threatened by a loss, and that could be more motivation for coaches and players to take, not only the A game to New England this Sunday, but to play for for their careers because after many years of mediocrity the fan base and franchise owner have run out of patience. The Patriots however, will be too much for the Dolphins to have to overcome and expect New England to take this game by a final score of 24-28.