Patriots' Resilience, Home Dominance Makes Them Most Dangerous Playoff Team

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Good luck to anyone who has to travel to Gillette Stadium in the playoffs. You're probably going to need it.

The New England Patriots continue to assert their home dominance, as evidenced by their resounding, division-clinching 41-13 victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. It was a game where the Patriots proved both just how overpowering and resilient they can be.

"We knew what was on the line," said linebacker Jonathan Casillas. "That's a good team we were playing against, a team we lost to the last two times, and they're always a tough out. They gave us some fits in the first half, and in the second half, we came correct. We had a game plan and we stuck to it."

It looked like the Patriots might have to win ugly in the first half, with an interception by quarterback Tom Brady and few big plays in the passing game. They were nursing a one-point lead at halftime, but it very easily could have been the Dolphins who were leading the Patriots after the first half.

The ugly duckling turned into a swan at halftime, and the Patriots were unstoppable for the final 30 minutes of the game.

A 27-point scoring flurry put the game well out of reach for the Dolphins. They rushed for 20 yards in the first half and more than quadrupled that total with 88 rushing yards in the second half. They had seven first downs in the first half and exceeded that total 10 minutes into the second half. 

One play at a time, the Patriots asserted their dominance in this game and in the division as a whole. 

"We just knew we could play better," said tight end Rob Gronkowski. "We were terrible in the first half as a whole, and myself. We just had to go out there and execute and play together as an offense. The defense was doing a great job, and we just had to go out there and make plays, and we did the second half."

And this is not the first time this season that the Patriots have played poorly in the first half only to come out guns blazing in the final 30 minutes of regulation. In fact, this is the second straight time that their defense has shut their opponent out in the second half of a game, and they have only yielded six second-half points in their past four games.

That unit, in the eloquent words of safety Devin McCourty, was "pissed" in the locker room at halftime, following the 32-yard touchdown catch by Dolphins wide receiver Mike Wallace to cap off the first half. The Patriots' situational football otherwise was impeccable. The Dolphins converted only three of their 16 third-down tries (18.8 percent) and did not score a touchdown on any of their three trips into the red zone.

"I felt that was just bad situational football, for us to give up that play at the (end of the) half," he said. "Other than that, I thought we did a good job of getting off the field on third down and making them kick field goals in the red area. We've just got to do a better job of knowing, that with 11 seconds left, they've got to take a shot to the end zone.

"But when you give up a play like that, you come in at halftime, we're still up 14-13, but everybody on the defense is pissed. I thought we took that emotion and carried it into the second half and played better. We played a better 30-minute game in that second half. We've just got to continue to do that and put it all together next week." 

Location	Home	Away
Points scored/game	36.4	26.7
Points allowed/game	26.7	23.3

One more thing they can do next week is pick up another road win, where they have not played their best football this season or for the past few seasons. Since 2012, the Patriots are 21-2 at home and 14-9 on the road. They won't prove much by beating the 3-11 New York Jets, but a win is no less important next week than it was this week en route to the No. 1 overall seed.

Judging by the way the Patriots have played in the confines of Gillette Stadium as opposed to how they've played when they get on the bus and leave Foxborough, home-field advantage could be the difference between a trip to the Super Bowl and another year coming up one game short.

Winning the division is a good first step, but it's just the first of a few. And even if it's become part of the yearly routine, the Patriots still aren't taking it for granted.

"I don't think you ever take winning for granted," quarterback Tom Brady said after the game. "I certainly don't because I know how hard it is to win. I think we appreciate it. I also know that we have big goals every year for our team, so this is the one that is the first one to get."

The Patriots won the first of three "hat-and-T-shirt" games, where they have an opportunity to win a new hat and T-shirt denoting their accomplishment. The players were sporting the first set of new gear in the locker room after the win on Sunday.

The next two: the AFC championship and the Super Bowl. With two more wins to close out the season, the Patriots can greatly improve their chances at collecting the whole set.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.

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