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The Dolphins should be ashamed of themselves, but the Patriots [team stats] don’t have to be. One team came to play. The other team only came because they wouldn’t get paid if they didn’t attend. To say the Dolphins showed up, however, would be an exaggeration of the shameful effort they put out.

The Pats scored two of the first three times they had the ball to make apparent to the Dolphins that there would be no pyrrhic victory in store for them Sunday. Then the Patriots defense shredded them in the second half, allowing Miami only 103 yards, sacking its battered quarterbacks three more times and embarrassing head coach Tony Sparano so deeply he for once had good reason to be wearing those weird sunglasses of his after the game. Who would want to be associated with those guys?

From New England’s perspective this was the right send off into the playoffs and a powerful end to an unexpected 14-2 regular season.

QUARTERBACKS A

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Tom Brady did what he’s done most of the season, which is play all but flawless football for the time he was in there. He lifted his record streak of pass attempts without an interception to 335, the first quarterback to go so long without one in a single season. He also added to a raft of other records, but the most telling is that he has thrown only four picks all year, meaning in 492 pass attempts his interception percentage is 0.81. That is the best in league history for a quarterback with 250 or more attempts. His accuracy was again on display and contrasted visibly with his replacement, Brian Hoyer, who relieved him briefly in the first half just to get a feel for what a real emergency call would be like. Hoyer replaced Brady for good in the third quarter and did well for himself, showing some zip on his throws and putting a near perfect ball out to Brandon Tate for a 42-yard touchdown, which was his first as a professional. But predictably he lacked the precision of Brady, who again Sunday was putting the ball not only on target but most often in the best place for his receivers to have a chance to gain extra yardage after the catch. Between them they threw 29 times and produced three scores, no sacks and no interceptions. Not much to mark them down for there.

RUNNING BACKS A

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This was a grind-it-out game against what was supposed to be the league’s third-best run defense. It was far from the Dolphins’ best effort as the Pats trampled them for 181 yards on the ground with most coming between the tackles — that’s nearly double what Miami usually gives up. BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran the way he always does — which is as if he should wear a John Deere logo on his helmet not a Flying Elvis. He was rewarded for a season of hard work with 80 yards on 20 carries, the last a failed fourth-down attempt for 10 yards that put him at 1,008 and earned him half a hug from Bill Belichick. Hugging not being one of Belichick’s strong points, it showed how hard-earned those yards could be. Fred Taylor [stats] may retire after the season as one of the best backs in NFL history seldom to get much credit, so it was nice to see him get 10 carries after a season of nagging injuries, even if they were good for only 35 yards. The only downside was Danny Woodhead, who was leveled and came up woozy. He also came up without the ball, the first Patriots turnover in seven games and a reminder that ball security is not guaranteed.

WIDE RECEIVERS A

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With starters Deion Branch and Wes Welker both resting their legs for the day, these duties fell to the kids and the kids didn’t fall down on the job. Their routes weren’t perfect and neither were their reads, but Brandon Tate and two guys who have had APBs out on them all season — Taylor Price and Julian Edelman — both came through admirably. Together they grabbed eight of the 12 balls thrown their way and Tate made a nice running catch in the end zone of a 42-yard throw from Brian Hoyer. Edelman nearly doubled his season total of four catches with three grabs for 72 yards. That included back-to-back catches of short throws from Brady into wide open territory that he turned into gains of 22 and then a career-long 40 yards. As for Price, he had been inactive for 15 games but got a chance Sunday and hauled in three of the four balls thrown his way, including a nifty in-route for a 17-yard gain with the Patriots backed up at their own 15 in the third quarter.

TIGHT ENDS A

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With Aaron Hernandez in street clothes nursing some aches and pains, fellow rookie Rob Gronkowski was again showing the value of being a big target. The 6-foot-6 Gronkowski’s unusual combination of mass and agility was on full exhibition when he toasted safety Chris Clemons on a turn-out route for a 13-yard TD, his 10th touchdown catch of the season. Alge Crumpler got his moment this game, too, when he caught a 10-yard scoring pass, faked the spike and then handed the ball to a wide-eyed, red-headed child. That was a Crump Daddy move and showed the kind of understanding of the moment he seems to always possess. It goes without saying that both he and Gronkowski continued to block sturdily because you can’t run for 181 yards and throw 29 times without a sack if the tight ends don’t contribute. Gronkowski’s best block of the day was when he wiped out the only man with a chance to stop Edelman on a glorified swing pass that went for 40 yards.

OFFENSIVE LINE A