FOXBORO, Mass. – The New England Patriots can clinch their division title Sunday by cooling off a Miami Dolphins team eager to forget some bad memories.

The Dolphins lost their last two games against the Patriots in overtime after blowing late leads. If they flop again, New England would win the AFC East championship that Miami would also like to have.

“They’re a hot team, but we’re a hot team also,” Miami tight end Randy McMichael said. “We don’t want it to come down to a last-second field goal or overtime. We want to beat them within the four quarters.”

The Dolphins (8-4) won their last three games, with Ricky Williams rushing for more than 100 yards each time. In their 40-21 Thanksgiving Day win at Dallas, Jay Fiedler ran for a touchdown and threw three scoring passes to Chris Chambers.

“They’re playing well, but you expect that in November, December,” New England safety Rodney Harrison said.

The Patriots (10-2) have won their last eight games and are off to their best start ever. But if the Dolphins win, only one game will separate the intense rivals.

The game should be spiced up even more by some lingering feelings. After the Patriots’ 19-13 win in Miami on Oct. 19, McMichael ripped Harrison.

“He’s a garbage player. He’s a a great player, but he’s a dirty player. That’s all right, though. He got the win,” McMichael said. “I can’t wait to get some more of that cat and you can print that.”

Bring it on, says Harrison.

“I haven’t gotten into anything with him. I don’t even know the guy,” he said this week. “If I was such a garbage player, why would he even mention me?”

In that first matchup, Olindo Mare missed two 35-yard field goal attempts with the score 13-13 – with 2:00 left in the fourth quarter and then in overtime. New England won on Tom Brady’s 82-yard touchdown pass to Troy Brown.

The Dolphins’ loss in New England in last year’s regular-season finale was even more devastating. Needing a win to make the playoffs, they led 24-13 with three minutes left.

But they lost 27-24 on Adam Vinatieri’s 35-yard field goal in overtime and neither team made the playoffs.

“It was miserable. It was the longest five minutes of my life,” Miami defensive end Jason Taylor said. “I don’t want to think about them anymore. It just adds more fuel to the fire this year.”

The Patriots haven’t exactly been dominating teams. Only three of their 10 wins were by more than eight points. And it took a goal-line stand that stopped Indianapolis on the last play to secure last Sunday’s 38-34 win.

“We would like to make it easy,” Brady said. “It was going pretty good for the first 40 minutes of the last game. Then, all of a sudden, it turned bad in a hurry.”

The Patriots will have a new punter, rookie Brooks Barnard. He replaces Ken Walter, released last Tuesday after dropping to 32nd and last in the NFL rankings.

The Dolphins will have fullback Rob Konrad, who missed the first game against New England with a knee injury. But two linebackers were added to the injury report Thursday as questionable: Miami’s Zach Thomas with a sore hip and New England’s Mike Vrabel with the flu.

Fiedler, who missed four games after spraining his left knee against the Patriots, returned to lead Miami to its last two wins.

“We’re just making plays that we just missed early on in the year,” Fiedler said. “One of the reasons is that our offensive line has played a heck of a lot better over the last couple of weeks.”

The blockers will be tested by a deep New England defense that makes speedy adjustments. But the Dolphins have a better running game, which should help in the expected chilly weather. They’ve already shown they can play well in frigid New England.

“Last year it was cold, too, and they were up on us big with three minutes to go,” Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said.

Now the Dolphins have momentum and motivation to stay in the thick of the playoff race.

“It is by far the biggest game we have had all year,” Taylor said. “If we lose it, then they win the division and one of our goals is gone.”

And one of the Patriots’ goals will be realized.

“That would be pretty exciting,” Brady said. “You can wrap up a division title with one win. It is a tough team. It’s not like it’s a cakewalk.”

AP-ES-12-04-03 2028EST