In the end, the folks who were putting enough money on the Miami Dolphins to drive the game off the board were right -- the Dolphins won the thing straight up.
But they did it the hard way.
Vegas was nervous about the game because on a finger injury to quarterback Tom Brady. But Brady looked great early, pushing the Pats to a 14-point lead.
An 81-yard touchdown pass early in the second half gave Brady 14 completions on 15 attempts for 277 yards and a touchdown. The Pats led, 21-10.
But the Dolphins kept pushing, picking Brady off twice down the stretch, forcing four punts, and ultimately stealing the win with a late field goal.
Quarterback Chad Henne completed 29 of 52 passes for 335 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.
Since the Dolphins swept the Jets, the Pats split with the Jets, and the Pats split with the Dolphins, Miami would win a three-way tie, given the best won-loss-tied record in the home-and-home round robin. Miami is 3-1, New England is 2-2, and New York is 1-3.
If there’s a two-way tie between the Dolphins and the Jets, Miami would win the tie via the head-to-head sweep.
If there’s a two-way tie between the Jets and the Patriots, New England would win the tie via a better division record.
If the Fins and Pats tie, then it could get interesting. The first tiebreaker -- head-to-head -- is a push. If the Pats beat the Bills in two weeks, the second tiebreaker -- division record -- will be a push. Then, the tie would be determined by record in common games.
Currently, the Fins are 4-4 against teams on New England’s schedule, and the Pats are 5-3 against teams on Miami’s schedule.
The next tiebreaker is record in conference games. Then the process involves an abacus, Tarot cards, and eventually a coin.
Hey, if a coin toss is good enough to determine who gets the ball first in sudden-death overtime of the Super Bowl, it’s good enough to serve as the 12th tiebreaker to determine who gets a seat at the postseason table.