The New England Patriots finished their 2021 regular season on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Miami Dolphins 33-24 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida in what turned out to be a meaningless game for the Pats. With the loss and the rest of the results from Sunday, New England ends up as the AFC #6 seed and will travel to Buffalo to face the #3 seed and AFC East Champion Bills on Saturday night. The Pats could of won the East with a win and a Bills loss, but neither happened after Buffalo also beat the NY Jets 27-10.
New England (10-7) fell in a pair of 17 point deficit to Miami and was never able to recover. Tua Tagovailoa threw a first quarter touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle, Mac Jones was intercepted by Xavien Howard for a 37 yard pick six, and the Dolphins also kicked a field goal in the first 15 minutes to make it 17-0. Brandon Bolden had the only Patriots touchdown of the first half with a 15 yard scoring run to make it 17-7 at the half. The guests did cut it to 17-10 when Nick Folk hit a field goal early in the third quarter, but a Duke Johnson one yard TD run and a fumble by Jones that was recovered by Miami led to a field goal to push the lead back to 27-10. New England tried to rally in the fourth slicing it to 27-24 on a Bolden 18 yard TD reception from Jones, and a Damien Harris short one yard scoring run with 2:57 left. The Pats did force a Dolphins punt very late and were backed up at their own two yard line with three seconds remaining. Jakobi Myers tried to lateral after a short catch, but it was fumbled and Miami recovered in the endzone for a touchdown that ended the game.
Jones finished 20-30 passing for 261 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Bolden and Harris led the run game with a combined 83 yards and two touchdowns. Hunter Henry had five receptions for 86 yards, while Meyers had four for 70 yards in the loss. Adrian Phillips and Ja’Whuan Bentley each had nine tackles. Johnson was the offensive leader for Miami in the win with 117 yards rushing on the day, as the Dolphins finish their season at 9-8. On Monday in a surprising move, Miami fired their head coach Brian Flores (24-25 record) after three seasons. New England now gears up for a third showdown with rival Buffalo on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. The Pats and Bills split the regular season meetings, with both teams winning on the road.
