The New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 38-10, in the regular season finale. New England finishes the regular season with a 14-3 record and now looks ahead to postseason play.
The 2025 regular season is officially in the books for the New England Patriots.
On Sunday, New England hosted the Miami Dolphins in the season finale and capped off a 14-win year with an emphatic 38-10 victory.
At 14-3, the Patriots have secured a fourteen-win regular season for the sixth time in franchise history (2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2016, and 2025). That’s the highest mark in NFL history.
Coming into Sunday’s contest against the Dolphins, the game story was akin to last week’s against the Jets. Injuries were a concern for both teams, but this time, Miami’s absences were at the forefront.
RB De’Von Achane, WR Jaylen Waddle, S Minkah Fitzpatrick, and TE Darren Waller were all out for the game, among other key contributors for Miami. Their absence was especially notable throughout the course of the game.
On the Patriots’ side, they received good news coming into the game. OT Will Campbell and DT Milton Williams were officially activated to the team’s 53-man roster on Saturday — a big lift for both sides of the ball.
Out for the Patriots on Sunday were LB Robert Spillane, LB Harold Landry, DL Khyiris Tonga, and G Jared Wilson. Each also missed last week’s game against the Jets. Spillane was a participant at Patriots practice on Friday for the first time in four weeks as he ramps back up for the postseason.
Like last week, those absences would make little difference for the Patriots — but this time, there was a different star of the show.
HOW IT WENT: FIRST HALF
Drake Maye and the New England offense picked up right where they left off against the Jets, but on Sunday, it was the ground game that led the way.
New England opened the game with possession and went 70 yards in three plays — all runs — to take an extremely early 7-0 lead. Rhamondre Stevenson ripped off a season-high 57-yard run that set the Patriots up inside the five-yard line, and Henderson capped off the drive with a touchdown run on the very next snap.
With many of his top rushing and receiving options inactive for Sunday, much of Miami’s game plan was placed on the shoulders of seventh-round rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers.
A difficult proposition against a Vrabel-led Patriots defense, but early on, Ewers seemed up to the task.
Ewers led an efficient opening drive for the Dolphins that reached the Patriots’ 10-yard line, where Miami put the ball in the hands of their quarterback on a 4th-and-1 conversion attempt. Ewers booted to his right after initial pressure from Anfernee Jennings, tossing the ball to the back line of the end zone into a host of bodies.
Jack Gibbens was in coverage for the Patriots and broke up the pass to halt the Dolphins’ possession.
New England followed that up with another touchdown drive — this time spanning 92 yards in nine plays. Josh McDaniels pulled out a flea flicker to Efton Chism for a 34-yard chunk that shortened the length of the field:
The trickery continued to finish the drive, as Maye was split out at wide receiver on 2nd-and-goal and Stevenson took the wildcat snap for a 2-yard score.
The touchdown marked the eighth consecutive touchdown drive for Maye, dating back to last Sunday against the Jets when he went six-for-six before calling it a day halfway through the third quarter. Eight of the Patriots’ 12 first-quarter plays went for first downs, and they had over 100 yards rushing by the end of the first.
New England’s momentum on offense would shift quickly, however.
Miami took over down 14-0, and their second possession was just as efficient as their first. Ewers finished that drive with a passing touchdown to Malik Washington on a busted coverage near the goal line, and the Dolphins trimmed the deficit to seven.
Ewers began the game 8-of-9 for 71 yards and a touchdown, although much of Miami’s passing success came on screens and misdirection at or near the line of scrimmage.
Maye threw three consecutive incompletions and the Patriots were forced to punt on their third drive. They were then stopped short on 4th-and-1 on their next possession before picking up a first down.
As New England’s offense began to stall in the second quarter, their defense stiffened.
The Dolphins ran three consecutive times on their third possession, ending with Corey Durden and a swarm of Patriots defenders meeting Ollie Gordon II in the backfield on 3rd-and-1 to match the three-and-out forced by the Dolphins on the Patriots’ preceding drive.
After the Patriots’ four-and-out, Gibbens forced a fumble that was recovered by Elijah Ponder and set New England up in Miami territory.
New England’s offense sputtered again following the takeaway, this time on a holding penalty by Morgan Moses and a (questionable) offensive pass interference on Hunter Henry.
Andy Borregales’ field goal attempt was blocked, and the score remained 14-7 with under two minutes remaining in the first half.
The Patriots’ defense maintained some momentum for the team, as Christian Barmore came up with a sack on Ewers to force a 3rd-and-17 in New England territory. That play was followed by a screen pass that gained 13 yards and set Miami up in field goal range.
The Dolphins converted on the 52-yard attempt and tightened the game to 14-10 going into halftime — or so they thought.
The Patriots took over possession with 32 seconds remaining in the first half and no timeouts, and Maye went to work quickly. He hit Kayshon Boutte on a comeback route for 13 yards on the drive’s first play, and then scrambled for 14 yards before heading out of bounds on the following play.
Borregales got back on track in a big way following the blocked kick, drilling a 59-yard attempt that put the Patriots up 17-10 at the halftime buzzer.
HOW IT WENT: SECOND HALF
Miami opened the second half with possession and a chance to tie the game.
On a drive that was filled with ups and downs, the Patriots' defense stood tall and created a red zone takeaway that tilted the game back in New England's favor.
Carlton Davis began the drive with a defensive pass interference penalty on a severely underthrown ball from Ewers. Following a false start, New England was able to pin Miami back into a 3rd-and-17 with an Anfernee Jennings tackle for loss.
The Dolphins went back to the well with another screen pass, this time to tight end Greg Dulcich, and picked up a first down inside the New England 25-yard line.
Miami got another first down to reach the Patriots’ 13-yard line and a chance to tie the game. Jaylinn Hawkins responded for New England, intercepting Ewers in the end zone on a throw that was forced into traffic and way off target.
The turnover by Miami sent their offense into a rut that would last the remainder of the game.
The Patriots capitalized on the takeaway, driving 80 yards in seven plays to extend the lead by another touchdown. Maye hit Henry on a checkdown that went for 29 yards and Stevenson added another explosive 20-yard run before flanking out wide and securing a receiving touchdown on a “sluggo” (slant-and-go) route in the red zone.
That score put New England up 24-10, and the game wouldn’t get much more competitive from there.
New England allowed one first down on the Dolphins’ second possession of the half before Marcus Jones came on a corner blitz to halt the drive on the ensuing third down.
Stevenson went to work again, bursting through the Dolphins’ defense on a 35-yard touchdown run that put the Patriots up 31-10 late in the third quarter. The run put Stevenson over 100 yards on the day and marked the third time he found the end zone in Week 18.
The Dolphins went three-and-out quickly, and the New England offense was granted one more play before the end of the third quarter.
Maye used that play to help Stefon Diggs eclipse the 1,000-yard mark on the season, buying time and stepping up in the pocket to find the receiver on a crossing route over the middle of the field.
On the reception, Diggs became the first Patriots wideout since Julian Edelman in 2019 to record 1,000-plus receiving yards in a season.
Henderson finished the drive with his second rushing touchdown of the day, putting the Patriots up 38-10 early in the fourth quarter and sending many of the reserves onto the field for the latter portions of the contest.
That touchdown would be the final score of the game, and the Patriots would coast to their 14th win of the season.
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It was the ground game that starred in this one, led by Rhamondre Stevenson (7 carries, 131 yards, 3 total touchdowns) and TreVeyon Henderson (13 carries, 53 yards, 2 rushing touchdowns). Maye was also effective with his legs, adding 41 yards on five carries. New England racked up 245 total rushing yards in the game.
Maye wrapped up the day 14-for-18 with 191 yards passing and one touchdown in just over three quarters of play.
He recorded a passer rating of 129.4 in the win, finishing with a 100+ rating for the 13th time this season and surpassing Tom Brady's franchise record of 12 games with a 100+ rating in a year.
Maye's 72% completion percentage this season officially breaks Brady's 2007 franchise record of 68.9% and is good for the sixth-highest mark in NFL history.
Maye finished the regular season with 4,844 total yards, 35 total touchdowns and eight interceptions.
The Patriots outgained Miami, 457-180, on the afternoon and won the turnover battle, 2-0. New England went 4-of-5 in the red zone and held Miami to 1-of-3.
After the hot start, Ewers finished 16-of-23 for 137 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He was sacked four times as New England's defense tightened in an impressive outing for the unit.
The Patriots controlled Week 18 from start to finish, sustaining a brief second-quarter surge from the Dolphins to finish the season 14-3.
They became the first team in NFL history to go from 13 losses to 14 wins in one offseason with the win.
New England is now locked in to the second seed in the AFC playoffs after the Denver Broncos defeated the Justin Herbert-less Los Angeles Chargers, 19-3, to clinch the one-seed.
The postseason will run through Mile High as long as the Broncos advance.
With the Buffalo Bills’ 35-8 win over the New York Jets, the Patriots are now slated to take on the seventh-seed Chargers in next weekend’s Wild Card round.
We’ll be dissecting this win further, previewing the matchup against the Chargers, and much more in the coming days.
Stay tuned as the Patriots look to mount a postseason run.
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