Despite this terrific catch by Randy Moss with just 00:01 left on the game clock the New England Patriots managed to lose the Week 11 AFC East matchup with the New York Jets in OT. And now over a week later it turns out that the Jets win may not be without controversy. That makes this weeks matchup in Miami all the much more important because at 4-4 in the conference and 2-2 in the division this is as close to a must win game as there is in Week 12. Right now if the season ended the Patriots would be going home.
Stat of the Week in the Patriots favor: They are 16-1 after a loss since 2003.
Stat of the Week not in the Patriots favor: They are 11-32 all-time in Miami and it includes losing streaks of 16 (1970-85), 6 (1989-94) and 5 games (1998-2002).
Al Riveron is today’s referee. He is in his first season as a NFL ref and hasn’t been without controversy. You may recall Riveron was the ref who made the horrible intentional grounding penalty for a safety on Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers a week or so ago in Minnesota.
If you missed it you can get all the info you need on the Patriots-Dolphins game by checking out the Official Sox & Dawgs Patriots-Dolphins Week 12 preview. It has the rosters, injury report, the game line, some tailgating information for recipes and drink’s and the broadcast information for the game.
So as we wait for the live blog to begin just before game time it’s time to hit you with some tidbits from the week.
The Patriots made a roster move Saturday afternoon placing LB Eric Alexander on the IR. And also on Saturday the team announced that RB LaMont Jordan and CB Mike Richardson were downgraded and are out for Sunday’s game as is LB Adalius Thomas who was listed as out on the Friday injury report.
Speaking of roster moves just about every NFL player has a story on how they made their first roster or survived a cut somewhere in their NFL career. Patriots special teams captain Larry Izzo is no different, The Herald’s “Joker” has Izzo’s story about making the Dolphins as an undrafted rookie.
Everyone seemed to write this week about how Matt Cassel who never played at USC is now playing in the NFL while his much heralded former Trojan teammates, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, are either injured or riding the pine. So you can take your pick from the AP’s Howard Uhlman’s piece, the story from the Globe’s Chris Gasper or the blog post from WEEI’s Mike Petraglia.
Uhlman also tells us Wes Welker and Sammy Morris were pulling for their Red Raiders on Saturday but unfortunely for them at Texas Tech they ran into a steamroller known as the Oklahoma Sooners.
ESPN’s Tim Graham wonders which team has more pressure on it today.
The Herald’s Karen Guregian has Vince Wilfork saying the defense is ready for whatever Miami decides to run.
Eric McHugh of the Patriot-Ledger in Quincy MA has his own Patriots-Dolphins preview and he has a look at how the Wildcat has worked for the Dolphins in each game that they used it.
The Globe’s Mike Reiss has a few minutes with…Patriots TE David Thomas.
CBS’s Dan Dierdorf who will call the game with Greg Gumbel on CBS today has some analysis on the game.
The Patriots Ladies will be having a coat drive on November 28th at Patriot Place.
