By The Numbers: A Statistical Preview of the New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins
By The Numbers: A Statistical Preview of the New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins
 The Patriots and Dolphins renew their rivalry for the 93rd time Sunday. (USA TODAY Images) |
Here is a statistical breakdown of the Patriots and Dolphins, heading into their week 15 game in Miami Gardens. The stats underlined in green heavily favor the Patriots, while those in red italics favor the Dolphins.
The first thing that jumped out at me while compiling these was that Miami is overall statistically a far superior opponent than either of the last two teams the Patriots faced, Houston and Cleveland. While both the Browns and Texans had a few stats that they ranked at or near the top in the NFL, both of those clubs were near the bottom in turnovers and other stats such as yards per point that are effected by turnovers. The Patriots continue to rise in offensive rankings while dropping in defensive rankings, which should be of no surprise to anybody that has watched the last few games.
Turnover differential: Pats 9th (+6), Dolphins 13th (+2)
Special Teams DVOA: Pats 4th (6.1%), Dolphins 26th (-3.6%)
Penalty yards differential per game: Pats 2nd (+16.2), Dolphins 6th (+11.1)
Offense
Points per game: Pats 5th (26.8), Dolphins 21st (22.0)
Yards per game: Pats 8th (386), Dolphins 24th (325)
3rd down efficiency: Pats 16th (37.1%), Dolphins 22nd (35.8%)
Red Zone (TD) efficiency: Pats 11th (57.4%), Dolphins 17th (54.8%)
Yards per play: Pats 14th (5.4), Dolphins 23rd (5.1)
Yards per drive: Pats 12th (32.5), Dolphins 23rd (26.9)
Yards per point: Pats 12th (14.4), Dolphins 16th (14.8)
Points per drive: Pats 7th (2.16), Dolphins 23rd (1.65)
Three and out: Pats 4th (17.9%), Dolphins 15th (21.9 %)
Offensive DVOA: Pats 6th (11.8 %), Dolphins 17th (-0.7%)
Turnovers: Pats 12th (18), Dolphins 15th (20)
Passing yards per game: Pats 8th (266), Dolphins 19th (229)
Yards per pass attempt: Pats 16th (7.0), Dolphins 22nd (6.8)
Completion percentage: Pats 15th (60.8), Dolphins 13th (62.0)
Passer rating: Pats 11th (88.3), Dolphins 19th (84.0)
TD-Interceptions: Pats 10th (+12, 21:9), Dolphins 20th (+6, 20:14)
Sacks-yardage lost: Pats 17th (36-228), Dolphins 32nd (48-337)
Passing DVOA: Pats 8th (23.6%), Dolphins 15th (6.2%)
Rushing ypg: Pats 13th (120.0), Dolphins 23rd (95.8)
Yards per carry: Pats 15th (4.20), Dolphins 13th (4.28)
Stuffed (loss or zero gain): Pats 6th (7.5%), Dolphins 27th (11.0%)
Rushing DVOA: Pats 9th (2.4%), Dolphins 18th (-5.0%)
Defense
Points per game: Pats 10th (22.1), Dolphins 9th (21.2)
Yards per game: Pats 24th (372), Dolphins 16th (349)
3rd down efficiency: Pats 31st (43.8%), Dolphins 13th (36.9%)
Red Zone (TD) efficiency: Pats 19th (57.5%), Dolphins 10th (51.2%)
Yards per play: Pats 15th (5.31), Dolphins 12th (5.15)
Yards per drive: Pats 18th (29.9), Dolphins 16th (29.6)
Yards per point: Pats 8th (16.9), Dolphins 11th (16.4)
Points per drive: Pats 9th (1.66), Dolphins 12th (1.73)
Defensive DVOA: Pats 16th (-0.7%), Dolphins 13th (-3.2%)
Turnovers: Pats 8th (24), Dolphins 15th (22)
Passing yards per game: Pats 16th (236), Dolphins 13th (230)
Yards per pass attempt: Pats 12th (6.9), Dolphins 11th (6.9)
Completion percentage: Pats 3rd (56.5), Dolphins 10th (58.7)
Passer rating: Pats 8th (80.4), Dolphins 3rd (76.1)
TD-Interceptions: Pats 13th (-7, 21:14), Dolphins 4th (+1, 15:16)
Sacks-yardage lost: Pats 10th (36-242), Dolphins 6th (40-259)
Passing DVOA: Pats 9th (-6.2%), Dolphins 7th (-7.4%)
Rushing ypg: Pats 31st (135.8), Dolphins 23rd (118.8)
Yards per carry: Pats 26th (4.47), Dolphins 19th (4.19)
Stuffed (loss or zero gain): Pats 27th (6.8%), Dolphins 23rd (7.9%)
Rushing DVOA: Pats 31st (4.2%), Dolphins 30th (3.9%)
All-time the Patriots are 44-49 versus the Dolphins, plus 2-1 in the playoffs. New England is 18-8 against Miami with Bill Belichick as the head coach, and 17-4 with Tom Brady as their quarterback. The Patriots have won seven straight, nine of the last ten, and eleven of their last twelve games against Miami. The last time the Dolphins defeated the Patriots was four years ago on December 6, 2009, when Brady was picked off twice in the fourth quarter and Dan Carpenter kicked a field goal to win it 22-21 with 1:02 left to play; that was the fifth straight loss on the road for the Pats that season.
One final stat: wins and losses. The Patriots are tied for the third best record in the NFL at 10-3, while the Dolphins are tied with four other teams for the NFL's 12th best record at 7-6.
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