Patriots - Dolphins, Who Has the Razor's Edge? Key Matchups

Steve Balestrieri

Dec 11, 2014 at 8:53am ET

Follow @SteveB7SFG

LaGarrette Blount should be a big part of the Patriots game plan this week as Miami has struggled recently defending the run. (USA TODAY Images)

The Patriots (10-3) rebounded from the loss at Green Bay with a come-from-behind 24-13 victory at San Diego. The offense struggled for large parts of the game but was able to put 21 unanswered points on the board including 10 in the fourth quarter to seal it.

The defense was very impressive allowing only 7 points to the Chargers offense. The pass rush kept QB Philip Rivers off-balance all evening registering four sacks and holding SD to just 216 total yards.

Sunday will be a “Hat and T-Shirt” game for the Patriots. If they beat Miami on Sunday, they will be AFC East Champions for the 12^th time in 14 years and the players will find a corresponding hat and shirt in their lockers at the end of the game.

The Dolphins (7-6) lost a prime opportunity to solidify a playoff position and dropped a pivotal home game to the Baltimore Ravens 28-13. Miami led 10-0 and was outscored 28-3 after the first quarter. The loss dropped the Dolphins back to 9^th in the AFC playoff race.

Now with injuries across the board, the Dolphins and Joe Philbin must look to run the table and finish at 10-6 to have a realistic shot at making the playoffs. No easy task as their consistency has been one of their problem areas.

Series History:
The Patriots and Dolphins will meet for the 99^th time in their 47 year history including three playoff games. Miami holds a 52-46 lead overall in these contests. New England holds the advantage at home, besting the Dolphins 31-17. Miami has won the last two games including a 33-20 opening day win.

One interesting footnote, Tom Brady against Miami at home is 11-1 all-time with the only loss coming in the 2005 finale where he was pulled at the end of the 1^st quarter.

Here is a look at some of the PatsFans.com  key matchups and who holds the “Razor’s Edge” in this week’s game.

Patriots RBs vs Dolphins Front Seven- Razor’s Edge Patriots
With the injuries on defense Miami has shown cracks on defense in the running game. In the past three weeks, Miami has allowed 661 yards on the ground. Denver ran for 201, the Jets for 277 and Baltimore for 183 in last week’s game.

This is where New England will target to get the offense going. Pounding the ball against the depleted linebacker core with LaGarrette Blount and Jonas Gray, the Patriots will try to wear down the defense and open up play action passing. Look for some of those extra OL alignments as they attempt to control the clock and slow down the Miami pass rush.

Patriots WRs vs Dolphins Secondary-Razor’s Edge Patriots
The success of the running game will have a great bearing on this matchup. If the Patriots can run the ball well, it sets up play-action passing and will open up the middle of the field with TE Rob Gronkowski. It also slows down the Miami pass rush which in the 2^nd half of the opener, dominated the Patriots OL.

This time around though with Brandon LaFell now an integrated member of the offense, he provides a big target opposite of Julian Edelman and has been the guy that Tom Brady likes to go to set things up.

The Patriots have three big red-zone targets in Gronkowski, LaFell and TE Tim Wright which should give Brady plenty of options as long as the protection holds up. Cameron Wake, Olivier Vernon and Jared Odrick will have to be accounted for in protection.

Dolphins RBs vs NE Front Seven- Razor’s Edge Dolphins
Lamar Miller has had a very good 2014 for Miami averaging 4.8 yards per carry and being the featured running back since Knowshon Moreno went down with an injury two months ago. Miami controlled the line of scrimmage in the first matchup and a good running game will open things up for the offense.

The Patriots defense has improved against the run. New-comer Alan Branch has teamed up with Vince Wilfork to give them a good tandem of big bodies that can penetrate and disrupt things in the backfield. Last week they got Sealver Siliga back from IR-Return and he made his presence felt immediately against the Chargers.

Miller will be a big focus of the defense this week. New England will want to make the Dolphins one-dimensional and then force the issue with getting after QB Ryan Tannehill.

Dolphins WRs vs NE Secondary- Razor’s Edge Patriots
Miami has nice weapons for Tannehill to throw to-, Mike Wallace, Brian Hartline, TE Charles Clay as well as rookie WR Jarvis Landry who leads Miami with 63 catches and has become Tannehill’s go-to guy the past few weeks.

The question is who the Patriots will matchup with each. Darrelle Revis who has been outstanding, drew Wallace in the opener, may again cover him or be slid over against the rookie Landry. Brandon Browner who missed the opener facing a suspension would then draw Wallace with over the top help or possibly slide over to cover Clay. It should be an interesting chess match. Miami hasn’t been a throw down the field team, keeping the passing game short, so that will have some bearing on the coverages as well.

Another big matchup here is Tannehill’s protection which has been shoddy as of late. Tannehill has been sacked 34 times this season. RT Dallas Thomas gave up four of the six sacks last week and may be replaced by veteran Jason Fox. The Patriots will attempt to take advantage there with Rob Ninkovich providing pressure from the edge. If that isn’t enough, they’ll show some more of the Double A-Gap pressure with Jamie Collins and Jonathan Casillas that was successful last week.

Special Teams- Razor’s Edge Patriots
The Patriots should have a slight advantage in the kicking game as Stephen Gostkowski has been very solid this season hitting on 29 of 31 field goals and AFC STs Player of the Week Ryan Allen is having a very good season with a 46.0 average on his punts.

Miami’s Caleb Sturgis has been somewhat inconsistent missing five of 31 field goal attempts. Brandon Fields has been very solid with a 46.9 punting average but the Dolphins coverage units haven’t been great. With Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola providing good returns lately, the Patriots get the edge. New England’s coverage units have been solid and should get a boost with ST player Chris White returning this week.

Prediction:
This is a tale of two different teams than the pair that met Week 1 in Miami; the Dolphins are a beat-up bunch and have been inconsistent which shows in the 7-6 record. The Patriots started slowly, but have been playing excellent football over the past two+ months.

The running game will be key here for both teams. Both need it to keep the pressure off of their OLs and QB. Here is where the Patriots should be able to assert themselves offensively. Running behind Blount, will open up play-action to Gronkowski and LaFell and the defense which has been stellar will slow down Miami’s passing game. It will be close into the second half, but New England pulls away with a score in the fourth quarter. Patriots 31-17

Patriots Player to Watch-  LaGarrette Blount
This is a game tailor made for Blount, facing a team that has been struggling against the run and with a beat-up group of linebackers and secondary. Blount should have a big game this week which will open up the passing game for Brady & Co.

More importantly, it will slow down the Miami pass rush which dominated the game in the second half in Miami back in September. When Blount gets thru the line at the point of attack with a head of steam, he’s very hard to bring down. He’s the player to watch this week from a New England perspective. Since coming back to New England, he’s been a big part of the offense. He’ll be even a bigger part this week.

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