Fresh off a dominant 42-10 win over the New York Jets that helped them clinch the AFC East, the New England Patriots have learned the date and time for their Week 18 game.
As was announced by the NFL, they will close out the regular season by hosting the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 4:25 p.m. ET.
This means that the Patriots’ 17th game of the season will take place simultaneously with the Denver Broncos’. Both teams are still in contention for the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC,
and they will now go head to head (albeit 1,800 miles apart).
For the Patriots to end up as the top seed, they would need to beat the Dolphins and see the Broncos lose to the visiting Los Angeles Chargers. While both clubs are currently atop the conference with identical 13-3 records, the tiebreaker goes to Denver because of its superior record in games against common opponents.
Therefore, three possible outcomes remain for New England in Week 18. Currently the second seed in the AFC, they could either move up, stay put, or slide down to No. 3 in case of a loss against Miami in combination with a Jacksonville Jaguars win over Tennessee in the 1 p.m. ET window.
The Patriots previously beat the Dolphins 33-27 in Week 2, the first of their NFL-leading eight road wins this season.
