Dolphins @ Patriots · Week 18

WEEK 18 · FINAL

THE READ

Dolphins beat Patriots, 26-17

26-17 to Dolphins, and it went about how it looked. Malik Willis threw for Dolphins — 20/33, 224 yards, 1 INT. De'Von Achane did the work on the ground for Dolphins — 17 carries, 106 yards, 1 TD. Will Kacmarek has not had a better afternoon this season. Total yards: Dolphins 444, Patriots 277.

The Wire · league beat

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Dolphins	+5.8	-0.8	+6.7	+11
Patriots	+3.1	-0.3	+3.5	+1

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Dolphins — AFC #3 · division · 12-5 Patriots — in the hunt · 9-8 Playoff picture →

IN THE BOOTH

Zoe Bell The contrarian

Miami's ground game—220 yards to New England's 109—did what a 9-point win needs to do: it controlled the game so completely that the Patriots never had a real chance to catch up, even with a defense that generated 3 sacks.

Kayla James The showman · replying

New England's 9-8 record keeps them alive in the hunt, but they needed this one and couldn't generate enough on a day when Miami's defense wouldn't break—the Phins are locked in as a division winner, and the Pats are running out of miracles.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Malik Willis

Dolphins

20/33, 224 yards, 1 INT

De'Von Achane

Dolphins

17 carries, 106 yards, 1 TD

Terry McLaurin

Patriots

7 catches, 100 yards, 1 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

⭐ Will Kacmarek has not had a better afternoon this season.

📈 Terry McLaurin is in form: 79 receiving yards a game over his last three, against a season average of 57.

WHAT DECIDED IT

Total yards Dolphins 444, Patriots 277 Dolphins

On the ground Dolphins 220, Patriots 109 Dolphins

Through the air Dolphins 224, Patriots 168 Dolphins

Pressure Patriots 3 sacks, Dolphins 1 Patriots

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 18 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Balanced Pass 49% · Rush 51% · 26.9 scored, 20.3 allowed

7.2 yds/att 61.2% completions 5.9 yds/carry 345.0 yds/game 1.1 giveaways/game 5.8% sack rate last 5: 4-1

Primary weapon: Caleb Douglas WR — 25% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY MODERATE

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 54 · Conservative Balance 99 Ball security 71 Back usage 37% QB runs 7.2/game

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 76 WR 78 TE 72 RB 84 OL 82 DL 80 LB 80 DB 76

Best: De'Von Achane HB 93 Fastest: De'Von Achane HB 96 SPD 1 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

Connor

Patriots · his last 8 games

Balanced One back

Pass / run58% / 42% Points for / against29.6 — 25.6 Margin+4.0 Giveaways a game1.8 Sacks taken5.7% of dropbacks Lead backTreVeyon Henderson · 14.4/g Top targetKyle Williams · 28% QB carries3.0 a game

Peckin

Dolphins · his last 8 games

Runs it Protects it Runs the quarterback

Pass / run52% / 48% Points for / against28.6 — 19.2 Margin+9.4 Giveaways a game0.5 Sacks taken7.6% of dropbacks Lead backDe'Von Achane · 14.8/g Top targetCaleb Douglas · 24% QB carries6.6 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES Peckin against Connor — the men, not the teams

Peckin leads it 2-0. Peckin has won 2 straight.

2 meetings avg 19.5 — 13.5 biggest: 9 pts to Peckin

S1 · week 18 Peckin 26 — 17 Connor PECKIN

S1 · week 8 Peckin 13 — 10 Connor PECKIN

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Dolphins receivers vs Patriots secondary 78 v 88 PATRIOTS

Patriots receivers vs Dolphins secondary 88 v 76 PATRIOTS

Dolphins line vs Patriots front 82 v 82 EVEN

Patriots line vs Dolphins front 79 v 80 EVEN

Dolphins backs vs Patriots run defence 84 v 81 DOLPHINS

Patriots backs vs Dolphins run defence 84 v 80 PATRIOTS

Dolphins passer vs Patriots secondary 76 v 88 PATRIOTS

Patriots passer vs Dolphins secondary 96 v 76 PATRIOTS

TOP PERFORMERS

Malik Willis QB Dolphins 224 pass yds

Drake Maye QB Patriots 168 pass yds

De'Von Achane HB Dolphins 106 rush yds

Terry McLaurin WR Patriots 100 rec yds

Ollie Gordon II HB Dolphins 69 rush yds

Will Kacmarek TE Dolphins 67 rec yds

Tutu Atwell WR Dolphins 60 rec yds

TreVeyon Henderson HB Patriots 58 rush yds

Chris Bell WR Dolphins 55 rec yds

Carlton Davis III CB Patriots 1 INTs

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

DOLPHINS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Malik Willis QB	20/33	224	0	1	3	25	68.2

PATRIOTS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Drake Maye QB	16/33	168	2	0	1	35	83.9

DOLPHINS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
De'Von Achane HB	17	106	6.2	1	3	23	21
Ollie Gordon II HB	9	69	7.7	1	2	40	42
Malik Willis QB	11	34	3.1	0	0	0	7
Jaylen Wright HB	2	11	5.5	0	0	0	6
Tutu Atwell WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

PATRIOTS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	BTK	YAC	LNG
TreVeyon Henderson HB	10	58	5.8	3	24	17
Drake Maye QB	4	48	12	3	38	41
Rhamondre Stevenson HB	2	3	1.5	0	0	6
A.J. Brown WR	0	0	0	1	0	0
Terry McLaurin WR	0	0	0	1	0	0

DOLPHINS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	YAC	DRP	LNG
Will Kacmarek TE	5	67	13.4	8	1	25
Tutu Atwell WR	4	60	15	13	0	24
Chris Bell WR	5	55	11	8	1	15
Caleb Douglas WR	2	18	9	7	0	13
Greg Dulcich TE	2	17	8.5	3	0	14
Kevin Coleman Jr. WR	1	4	4	0	0	4
De'Von Achane HB	1	3	3	2	0	3

PATRIOTS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Terry McLaurin WR	7	100	14.3	1	45	35
A.J. Brown WR	3	21	7	1	7	8
CJ Dippre TE	1	17	17	0	5	17
Hunter Henry TE	3	16	5.3	0	4	12
TreVeyon Henderson HB	1	10	10	0	7	10
Reggie Gilliam FB	1	4	4	0	3	4

DOLPHINS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	PD	CMP ALW
JuJu Brents CB	4	0	0	0
Jordyn Brooks MIKE	4	0	0	2
Chris Johnson CB	4	0	1	2
Zach Sieler DT	3	1	0	0
Michael Taaffe FS	3	0	0	2
Darrell Baker Jr CB	1	0	0	1
Kenneth Grant DT	1	0	0	0
Lonnie Johnson Jr FS	1	0	0	0
Trey Moore REDG	1	0	0	0
Chop Robinson LEDG	1	0	0	1
Jacob Rodriguez MIKE	1	0	1	1

PATRIOTS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	CMP ALW
Christian Elliss WILL	9	1	0	0	3
Carlton Davis III CB	8	0	1	1	7
Robert Spillane MIKE	6	0	0	1	3
Christian Gonzalez CB	5	0	0	0	1
Kevin Byard III FS	4	0	0	0	3
Milton Williams DT	4	0	0	0	0
Dru Phillips CB	4	0.5	0	0	1
Gabe Jacas LEDG	3	1	0	0	1
Harold Landry III REDG	3	0	0	0	0
Joshua Farmer DT	2	0.5	0	0	0
Marcus Jones CB	2	0	0	0	0
Chad Muma SAM	1	0	0	0	0
Craig Woodson SS	1	0	0	1	1

DOLPHINS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Riley Patterson K	4/4	2/2	46

PATRIOTS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Andres Borregales K	1/1	2/2	27

RECENT FORM

Dolphins

W 41–34 vs Bills WK 17

L 20–23 vs Chargers WK 16

W 28–23 vs Packers WK 15

Patriots

W 36–15 vs Broncos WK 17

W 52–16 vs Jets WK 16

L 14–36 vs Chiefs WK 15

TEAM STATS

Dolphins		Patriots
444	TOTAL YARDS	277
224	PASSING YARDS	168
220	RUSHING YARDS	109
3	SACKS ALLOWED	1
1	SACKS MADE	3
1	GIVEAWAYS	0
0	TAKEAWAYS	1

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

2 DOLPHINS — 0 PATRIOTS

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