The Patriots return home this week after opening the season with three road games in four weeks, including the last two away from Gillette Stadium’s friendly confines. They will do so facing AFC East rival Miami for the 118th time.
The teams first met back in 1966 with the Patriots securing a 20-14 win in Miami thanks to Jim Nance’s 133 rushing yards that included a 27-yard touchdown run. Miami leads the all-time series, however, 62-55. Last year, the Dolphins earned their 15th season-series sweep of the Patriots, but the Patriots are 38-20 vs. Miami at home, including 17-5 at Gillette Stadium.
The series, in recent years, took a turn for the worse for New England in the post-Tom Brady days. After going 25-13 vs. Miami between 2001 and 2019, the Patriots are 2-6 since 2020 and have lost six of the last seven meetings.
Both teams enter this week’s matchup reeling a bit at 1-3. Miami certainly had higher hopes entering the 2024 season and started 1-0 with a win over Jacksonville. But a Week 2 loss to Buffalo also saw the team lose starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to another concussion, and Miami has scored just 25 points in the three lossessince their Week 1 win. The Patriots have not beaten Miami when Tagovailoa has started.
The Patriots 1-3 start also has been marred by offensive struggles. They have scored only 16 points over the last two games as a thin, but banged up offensive line has made it difficult to sustain drives. New England also won its season opener, but enters this week’s matchup on the heels of three straight losses.
The rivalry, historically, has produced some memorable games that ended both positively and negatively for New England. Fortunately for New England, most of those made at Gillette have been positive, including Brady’s first home start against the Dolphins back on Dec. 22, 2001. The Patriots had been blown out at Miami earlier that year in Brady’s second career start, but Brady made his first career reception on a 23-yard pass from running back Kevin Faulk, and Patrick Pass took a short pass in the flat to end zone on the way to a 20-13 Patriots victory. It was also the final regular season home game played at Foxboro Stadium.
The 2003 home win over Miami was epic, not because of the impressive 12-0 shutout by the Pats defense, but because it was the day fans celebrated Tedy Bruschi’s interception for a touchdown with celebratory snow “fireworks.” The atmosphere was surreal that day just as it was in an empty Gillette Stadium when the teams played on Sept. 13, 2020. That Covid-19 restricted season began when Cam Newton made his first start at quarterback for New England in a 21-11 win over the ‘Phins.
Of course, the Dec. 12, 1982, game in Foxborough is the most historic for Patriots fans. That was the day Mark Henderson drove the John Deere “snowplow” onto the Astroturf at Schaefer Stadium to clear a spot for kicker John Smith’s 32-yard field goal in a controversial 3-0 Patriots win.
Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett actually finished off a 31-24 win over Miami at Gillette Stadium back in 2016. With Brady serving a four-game suspension and Jimmy Garoppolo suffering an injury during the game, Brissett came off the bench just before halftime and completed 6-of-9 passes for 92 yards in the second half to preserve a win in a game New England led 31-3.
So Miami and New England renew the rivalry once again in 2024. Following the first meeting in 1966, the teams have played twice per season except for the strike-shortened 1982 campaign. The teams have split their season series 31 times out of the 56 seasons the teams met twice.
The series:
- Miami leads the all-time series, 62-55
- The Patriots longest wining streak against Miami is seven games (2010-2013 & 1985-1988)
- The Dolphins longest winning streak against New England is nine (1989-1993)
- The Patriots are 17-42 on the road and 38-20 at home in the series
- There have been seven overtime games in the series and New England is 3-4 in those games
- Miami has won six of the last seven meerings
- The Patriots last swept the season series in 2016 (Miami swept in 2024)
- The series dates back to Nov. 27, 1966 (a 20-14 Patriots win in Miami)
- The Patriots largest margin of victory is 43 (43-0 win in Miami on Sept. 15, 2019)
- The Dolphins largest margin of victory is 52 (52-0 win in Miami on Nov. 12, 1972)
