The Patriots say that they aren’t going to hold back against the Dolphins Sunday. Their hopes of earning a first-round playoff bye are in the hands of the Broncos and Texans, but for those scenarios to even matter the Pats have to win first.
And that’s what they intend to do.
“We have to go out there and win,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said, adding that there’s no decision to make about resting players. “If we want things to be better, we have to help ourselves. We have to do that first.”
For the Patriots to accomplish that goal, they have to beat Miami and hope that Houston loses to Indianapolis at 1 p.m. ET or that Denver falls to Kansas City at 4:25 p.m. ET. Several Pats players admit they’ll be watching the scoreboard throughout the afternoon, but first have to handle their own business.
New England is battling numerous injuries -- most notably Rob Gronkowski (forearm), who has yet to receive medical clearance for Sunday’s game -- so earning a bye and getting a little extra time to heal up is something the team would like to accomplish.
But Belichick’s reasons for wanting the extra week off register on an even more basic level.
“It’s one less game that you have to play in this league,” Belichick said. “At this time of year, you know you’re playing a good team. So whoever you play, they’re going to be good. Having to play one less game, I think there’s some advantage to that.”
Wilfork fined: Vince Wilfork said following Sunday’s game against Jacksonville that he’s willing to protect his teammates at all costs. This week, though, preserving his honor set him back $30,000.
The NFL dispatched a FedEx package to the New England Patriots’ defensive tackle’s locker Thursday demanding that sum of money after Wilfork clubbed Jaguars OL Steve Vallos in the head with his forearm last weekend. The incident occurred following a Patrick Chung interception, during which Vallos hit New England DE Trevor Scott in the back and sent him to the grass.
Wilfork saw the play and immediately reacted. Afterward he told reporters he had no regrets.
“That was protecting my teammate, plain and simple,” Wilfork said. “You’re not going to sit right in front of me and take a cheap shot at my guy with me standing behind you, That won’t fly, plain and simple. I’ll probably get penalized for it, I did, but at the same time, you’ll never see me letting my teammates just get cheap-shotted like that with me standing right there.”
Injury report: Gronkowski (forearm/hip) was one of 20 players listed as questionable for Sunday’s regular-season finale against Miami. CBs Aqib Talib (hip) and Alfonzo Dennard (hamstring/knee) were also included on the list. CB Maquice Cole (finger) was the only player listed as doubtful.
The secondary could be quite thin, but some of the problems may be avoided with WR Davone Bess (back) ruled out for the Dolphins.
Nick Underhill covers the Patriots for MassLive.com. Follow him on Twitter @CBSPats or @Nick_Underhill.
