slides: What to Watch For: Patriots vs. Dolphins

Sunday, January 03, 2016

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

Patriots look to wrap up number one seed

The New England Patriots (12-3) visit the (5-10) Miami Dolphins on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the final game of the regular season. The Patriots come in having lost 3 of their last 5 while the Dolphins are 2 and 7 of their last 9 games.

See the What to Watch For Slideshow Below

"I think you can really see the way this team has evolved over the last few weeks since Coach [Dan] Campbell has taken over. Played very physically, very strong up front, which they have been, but I think the emphasis of physical defense, controlling the line of scrimmage, attacking the line of scrimmage I think they've done a great job of that. They lead the league in negative rushing plays," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick earlier this week.

The Patriots beat the Dolphins 36-7 earlier this season at Gillette Stadium.

Home Field Advantage on the Line

The Patriots need to win this game in order to lock up the number one seed in the AFC and have home field throughout the playoffs.

"I think it's better to win this game than to lose this game because you obviously love to always play at home because of communication and so forth. Whoever wins in the playoffs is the team that plays the best on that day, not whether home or away. It's going to be who plays the best. I think this game is really important for us because, you know, it's a great goal for us to be the number one seed," said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady earlier this week.

It should be noted that a Patriots loss and a Denver loss at home to the San Diego Chargers would also give the Patriots the number one seed.

No matter what happens, the Patriots have a first round bye.

See What to Watch For in the Slideshow Below

Related Slideshow: What to Watch For: Patriots vs. Dolphins

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Steven Jackson

Bill Belichick has talked all week about building off of what Steven Jackson was able to do last week, adding more plays and reps.

Last week, Jackson's first game as a Patriot, he had 7 carries for 15 yards.

After a full week of practice, let's see what his numbers look like this week.

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Keshawn Martin

In last week's loss to the Jets, receiver Keshawn Martin was an important part to the Patriots offense.

Martin was targeted 11 times and pulled in 7 catches for 68 yards.

With the Patriots offense once again missing numerous weapons (Edelman already ruled out), lets see if Brady goes back to him again this week.

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Chandler Jones is OUT

After not practicing on Friday, Chandler Jones has been ruled out for Sunday's game with a toe injury that he has been playing through over the last few weeks.

This means responsibility to pressure Tannehill will fall on Jabaal Sheard, Alan Branch, Rob Ninkovich (listed as questionable), Alan Branch and others.

In the last meeting, the Patriot sacked Tannehill 5 times, 2 of which belonged to Jones.