Live to fight another week.
That's all the Patriots had to do. It sure didn't look like they'd be able to do it for a while there, but they found a way in the end.
Kyle Dugger played the hero once again with a momentum-shifting interception return for a touchdown, and Mac Jones and the offense notched two scoring drives, including a clutch one in the fourth quarter, to keep their season alive with a 23-21 win over Miami.
The win now sets up another win-or-go-home contest next week against the Buffalo Bills on the road next week.
Here are the top takeaways from this one.
-Kyle Dugger…again.
It's as simple as this: the Patriots wouldn't have had a chance in this game without Dugger.
For the third time down the stretch this season, the dynamic third-year safety changed a game with a takeaway -- this time by undercutting Teddy Bridgewater's throw over the middle and taking it back for a 39-yard pick-six to put New England up 16-14 late in the third quarter.
He also added a pass defended and four tackles, including a bone-crunching shot on Jeff Wilson early in the game.
Given how light New England was at cornerback, this defense badly needed its safeties to step up and fill the void. Dugger seemed like he'd be an especially important piece both because of his recent play and his role in corralling Tyreek Hill in Week 1.
He ended up being arguably the biggest reason the Patriots' postseason hopes are still alive and has become the star everyone hoped he would be.
-Mac Jones, offense struggle under pressure
Outside of a crisp second drive of the game that netted the offense its lone touchdown, very little looked consistently good from the Patriots on that side of the ball.
Jones' accuracy was spotty, with some passes simply looking ugly coming out of his hand, and more odd chemistry issues with the pass-catchers cropped up, contributing to drops or near-interceptions.
The second-year quarterback came into the game with the worst passer rating in the NFL among qualified quarterbacks against blitzes (56.1), and that held up against an aggressive Miami squad.
But Jones (20-33, 203 yards, 2 TDs) and the offense made game-winning plays in the middle of the fourth quarter to steal this one.
A 16-yard chunk play to Kendrick Bourne on a screen -- Bourne's only grab of the game -- followed by a 25-yard completion to Jakobi Meyers and a pass interference call on Keion Crossen landed New England on the doorstep. Meyers then capped the drive off with a leaping grab from Jones in the end zone to put New England up by two scores.
This offense is still far from fixed, but they managed not to fumble the bag this time.
Special shout-out to rookie Tyquan Thornton, who had arguably his most impactful game of the season (three catches, 60 yards, TD) and led the Patriots in receiving when the chips were down.
-Hope is faint, but it's there.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, the Denver Broncos couldn't upset the Kansas City Chiefs in their game, meaning the Buffalo Bills will absolutely have to fight for the No. 1 seed in Week 18.
Even with real desperation on their side, it feels like wishful thinking to expect New England to pull out a win against a vastly superior Buffalo Bills team that handled the Patriots at Gillette Stadium without trying a few weeks ago.
But even if the Patriots lose to Buffalo next week as expected, there's a scenario in which they could still back their way into the postseason at 8-9.
New England would need the Jets to beat Miami next week, which deny the Dolphins the easy path to the playoffs with nine wins. Of course, the Patriots would also need the Jets to lose to Seattle, which would keep them at just 8-9 even with a win next week and give the Patriots the tiebreaker in that case (2-0 in head-to-head games against New York).
On top of that, they'd also need the Steelers to lose at least one of their last two games as New England has the conference-record tiebreaker over Pittsburgh.
In short: if you don't get to nine wins, you'd better hope none of the other bubble teams, either.
