Patriots-Dolphins Week 17 news, notes, and fun facts

FOXBORO --  Despite losing two straight games and four of their last five, there is still a path to the playoffs for the New England Patriots. It's a longshot and one misstep will throw them into the offseason, but there is still a chance that the Patriots will be playing football in the middle of January.

That path will quickly disappear if the team loses either of its final two games, however. The Patriots need to beat both the Dolphins at home in Week 17 and the Bills on the road in Week 18 to get back into the playoffs. It won't be easy.

But in order for Week 18 to mean anything, the Patriots need to beat the Dolphins on Sunday afternoon. This will be the second time that the two teams tussle this season, after Miami handed New England a 20-7 loss at Hard Rock Stadium back in Week 1. 

A lot has happened since that Sunday afternoon in early September, and the Dolphins will have Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback in place of the concussed Tua Tagovailoa this time around. Will the Patriots be ready to dish out some revenge against the 8-7 Dolphins on Sunday?

Here's everything you need to know heading into this weekend's Patriots-Dolphins matchup.

Week 17 notes

• The Patriots and the Dolphins have been playing each other since 1966, and faced off twice every regular season since 1967. (Minus the 1982 season during a players' strike.) Miami owns the overall edge in the series, 60-54. 
• The Patriots are 37-19 against the Dolphins in New England, including 16-4 at Gillette Stadium. But they own just a 17-41 record against the Dolphins in Florida.
• The Dolphins have swept the season series 14 times, and the Patriots have swept their AFC East counterpart 10 times. Last season, Miami swept the season series for the first time since 2000.
• Since Bill Belichick became head coach in New England in 2000, the Patriots own a 26-19 record against Miami.
• The Patriots have scored a defensive touchdown in three straight games. New England also scored defensive touchdowns in three straight games in 2004, but the franchise has never gone four straight games with a defensive touchdown. The last NFL team to score on defense in four straight weeks was Tampa Bay in 2002.
• Marcus Jones' 69-yard interception return touchdown Sunday against the Bengals was New England's sixth defensive touchdown of 2022, which is the most defensive touchdowns scored by a team this season. One more defensive touchdown by the Patriots will establish a new team record.
• The Patriots lead the NFL with seven non-offensive touchdowns in 2022, with four interception returns, two fumble returns, and one punt return. The team record for most non-offensive touchdowns in a season is nine in 2010 (four interception returns, two kickoff returns, one punt return, one blocked field goal return, and one fumble return) and 1961 (two interception returns, two kickoff returns, two blocked punt returns and three fumble returns). The 2007 Patriots had eight non-offensive touchdowns (three interception returns, two kickoff returns, and three fumble returns).
• The Patriots are up to 50 sacks for the season, which ranks first in the AFC and second in the NFL to the 61 sacks by the  Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots are averaging three sacks a game and are on pace to finish the season with 56 sacks.

Player notes

• Running back Rhamondre Stevenson heads into Week 17 with 944 rushing yards, and needs just 56 yards to reach 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career. It would be the first 1,000-yard season for New England since 2016 when LeGarrette Blount rushed for 1,161 yards.
• Linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley has recorded 10 or more tackles in each of the last three games and leads the team with 106 total tackles. With three more tackles, he'll set a single-season career high and surpass the 108 total tackles he had in 2021.
• Linebacker Matthew Judon is second in the NFL with 15.5 sacks, trialing only Nick Bosa's 17.5 sacks.
• Safety Kyle Dugger has scored two touchdowns in 2022: A 59-yard fumble returned for a touchdown vs. Detroit in Week 5 and a 16-yard interception returned for a touchdown at Las Vegas in Week 15. With one more touchdown, Dugger will become the first New England player since 1970 with three defensive touchdowns in a single season.
• Sunday will be the 204th game for veteran safety Devin McCourty, which will tie Stephen Gostkowski for fifth in team history.
• McCourty enters this week tied with Minnesota's Harrison Smith for the most interceptions among all active NFL players with 34. His 34 picks are third in Patriots history (behind the 36 by Ty Law and Raymond Clayborn) and the Patriots are 26-4 when McCourty has an interception in a regular season game.
• Undrafted rookie Brenden Schooler leads New England with 13 total special teams tackles and needs just four more to set a new team record for the most special teams tackles by a rookie. He is tied for third in the NFL with 10 solo special teams tackles this season.
• Miami receiver Tyreek Hill is second in the NFL with 113 receptions and 1,632 receiving yards this season. He made his Miami debut against the Patriots in Week 1, hauling in eight receptions for 94 yards.

Connections

• There are four former Patriots on the Miami roster: defensive back Keion Crossen, linebackers Trey Flowers and Elandon Roberts, and safety Eric Rowe.
• There are also a handful of former Patriots in the Miami front office and on the Dolphins coaching staff. General Manager Chris Grier was a regional scout in New England from 1995-99. Miami defensive coordinator Josh Boyer was a defensive backs coach (2009-11) and cornerbacks coach (2012-18) in New England. Former Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker is now the wide receivers coach in Miami.
• The Patriots have their own share of former Dolphins on the roster in Davon Godchaux (with Miami from 2017-20), Raekwon McMillan (2017-19), DeVante Parker (2015-21), and Calvin Munson (2021).
• Patriots assistant offensive line coach Billy Yates played for the Dolphins in 2023.

Tune in to Patriots-Dolphins this Sunday on WBZ-TV -- the television station of the New England Patriots! Coverage begins Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on TV38 with Patriots 1st Down, and continues Friday night at 7 p.m. on WBZ-TV with Patriots All Access. Coverage begins Sunday at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, the Pats and the Dolphins are set to kick off at 1 p.m., and after the game switch to TV38 for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!