Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots are heading into the NFL playoffs with a positive taste in their mouths. Their regular season finale against the Miami Dolphins, after all, was another display of power: despite some sloppy moments, the Patriots cruised to a 38-10 victory.
The game itself saw multiple individual performances worthy of recognition, for better or worse. As a look at our weekly position grades shows, however, New England looked rock-solid pretty much across the board.
Quarterback: Drake Maye continues to play at an MVP level, and ended his standout regular season in appropriate fashion. Against Miami, he completed 14 of 18 pass attempts for 191 yards and a touchdown, while also gaining 41 yards on five scrambles. It may not have been the most statistically impressive outing of his season, and there were some plays he likely would want back, but he still finished in the 94th percentile in expected points added per play (0.50) and allowed his team to build a massive lead — so massive, in fact, that Maye was pulled in the early fourth quarter in favor of backup Joshua Dobbs. Dobbs was not asked to do a lot more than hand the ball off, but he did complete three of his four pass attempts for 23 total yards. | Grade: A-
Running back: The Dolphins run defense may not be a top-tier unit in the NFL, but the Patriots’ two-headed monster at running back still dominated to an impressive degree. Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson had arguably their best combined game of the season, accounting for 184 of their team’s 245 rushing yards and finding the end zone five times. Stevenson was the star of the show as a runner, receiver and pass protector, and is heading into the playoffs on a very high note. If their backs perform like they did on Sunday, any opponent will have a tough time slowing down the Patriots offense in the postseason. | Grade: A
Wide receiver: Josh McDaniels and the Patriots offense built their game plan around their rushing attack, relying heavily on the ground game as well as play-action concepts. Accordingly, no wide receiver’s stat line truly jumps off the page. That being said, the performances were still solid across the depth chart: led by Stefon Diggs’ three catches for 43 yards — which allowed him to secure his seventh career 1,000-yard season — the wideouts made plays when called upon both as receivers and as blockers. | Grade: B+
Tight end: Hunter Henry is ready for his return to the playoffs, that much seems certain. The Patriots’ No. 1 tight end was productive as a receiver, leading the team with five catches and 56 yards, and also flashed in the running game: his blocking continues to be a major asset for the team. Austin Hooper and fullback/tight end hybrid Jack Westover were less productive as receivers — finishing with one catch each — but they too positively...
