Patriots throttle Dolphins, capture 2nd seed in AFC
RHAMONDRE STEVENSON rushed for 131 yards and had three total touchdowns to lead the New England Patriots to a 38-10 rout of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The Patriots (14-3) settled for the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs after Denver secured the top seed — and a first-round bye — by defeating the Los Angeles Chargers (11-6) in its season finale on Sunday.
New England will host the seventh-seeded Chargers next weekend in the AFC wild-card round.
“We’ll get ready and get rolling and try to do what we do every week, which is prepare and figure out who we have available and what we feel like the keys are going to be and try to practice and be ready to go,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. “That’s all we’ve done all year, and that’s all we’ll be able to do this week in the playoffs.”
The Dolphins (7-10) fell short of the postseason and finished with a losing record for the second consecutive season.
Stevenson rushed for two touchdowns and had a scoring reception.
Rookie TreVeyon Henderson rushed for two touchdowns for New England, which amassed 243 yards on the ground to cap its sixth 14-win season in franchise history.
The Patriots won 14 games for the first time since 2016, and their 10-win turnaround from last season tied the 1999 Colts and 2008 Dolphins for the largest win-difference from one season to the next in NFL history.
“I think we’ve come a long way. I think it takes everybody,” Drake Maye said. “It took everybody in that locker room, took every coach. I think it starts now. This was one of the goals, home playoff games, and this is what we wanted. It’s win or go home, and the mentality, nothing changes from that standpoint, but I think we just stay playing like us. We’ve built this identity and play to it, and I think good things happen.”
Stevenson, who did his damage on the ground on just seven carries, broke a 56-yard run to the Dolphins’ 5-yard line on the game’s second play. Henderson scored on the next play.
Stevenson later scored on a 2-yard run to give New England a 14-0 lead with 55 seconds left in the first quarter.
Miami played without running back De’Von Achane, who sat out with a rib injury. The Dolphins rushed for just 63 yards.
Rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers made his third start and completed 16 of 23 passes for 137 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Ewers’ 2-yard touchdown pass to Malik Washington and a 52-yard field goal from Riley Patterson cut the Patriots’ lead to 14-10 just before halftime.
Trailing 17-10 early in the third, the Dolphins drove into the red zone, but Ewers was intercepted by Jaylinn Hawkins in the end zone with 11:38 left.
New England separated from that point on as Stevenson scored on the ensuing two drives, first on a 15-yard catch and run from Maye, and later on a 35-yard touchdown run. Maye completed 14 of 18 passes for 191 yards.
Henderson ended the scoring on a 2-yard run. — Reuters
