The Miami Dolphins will face the New England Patriots on Sunday, January 4, with kickoff scheduled for 4:24 p.m., in a Week 18 game with betting odds favoring the under 45.5 points, as per Oddsshark. New England comes into the contest as a 10.5-point favorite at FanDuel, with the moneyline set at -700 for the home team and +500 for the visitors.
New England holds a 13-3 record. They've clinched the AFC East. A win combined with a Denver loss would lock up home-field advantage and a first-round bye.
Miami sits at 7-9 and has been eliminated from playoff contention. Rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers will start for the third straight game after taking over from Tua Tagovailoa.
The Dolphins rank 27th in the NFL in scoring at 19.1 points per game. Ewers has thrown for 485 yards and four total touchdowns in his two starts but managed just 20 points against a Tampa Bay defense that allows touchdowns on 71.1 percent of red zone drives. He completed 14 of 22 passes for 172 yards in that narrow win, as shared by Oddsshark.
New England averages 30.4 points per game with Drake Maye leading the attack. The 23-year-old quarterback threw five touchdowns against the Jets in Week 17 before sitting the entire fourth quarter with the game decided, as reported by Oddsshark.
Head coach Mike Vrabel will face decisions about playing time for Maye and other starters ahead of the playoffs. The outcome depends partly on whether Denver builds an early lead over Los Angeles, a team that has clinched a playoff spot with no seeding implications of its own.
Miami has scored 20 or fewer points in 10 of 16 games this season. The Dolphins managed just 20 points in their upset win over Tampa Bay.
The total has gone under in six of Miami's last nine games. The Dolphins are 5-2 straight up in their last seven games and 9-1 against the spread in their last 10 games against New England, according to Oddsshark.
