Not only did Sunday’s loss, in which the Dolphins engineered a second-half comeback, frustrate the Patriots, but its impact on the standings could be critical.
“Most definitely, because now it puts us in a tighter race, and now every game counts from here on out,’’ running back Laurence Maroney said. “Instead of us really controlling it and being in the driver’s seat, which we still are . . . now you can’t afford to lose games in December because you don’t have that many games to make [it] up. So it’s definitely always hard to lose a divisional game, especially this late in the season.’’
Last season, an early 38-13 home divisional loss to Miami ultimately doomed the Patriots’ playoff hopes, leaving them without a postseason berth for the first time since 2002.
But memories of that weren’t enough to help the Patriots Sunday.
Four of New England’s five losses have come by 7 points or fewer and all of the losses have been on the road. At this point, coach Bill Belichick said the Patriots’ focus is on hosting the Panthers (5-7) Sunday.
“I don’t think it really matters how anybody got there, whether we won seven and [lost] five or lost five and won seven or come up somewhere in between,’’ Belichick said. “That’s where we are. It’s a four-game season and right now it’s a one-game season with Carolina. We’ll turn our attention to them and put everything we have into this one and worry about next week next week.’’
After some of their more emotional defeats, the Patriots have preached leaving the result behind to focus on the upcoming opponent, but it seems those games may come back to haunt them.
The Dec. 20 game at Buffalo is even more important now because of Sunday’s loss. The Patriots had to capitalize on Bills miscues in the fourth quarter to come back to beat Buffalo, 25-24, in the season opener. The Bills have been inconsistent since but did manage a 31-14 home win against Miami two weeks ago.
The missed opportunities also mean any chance of a bye has become a long shot for the Patriots.
