Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham
Hall of Fame lineman Dan Dierdorf will be the analyst for CBS Sports' broadcast of Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins.
In breaking down the game, Dierdorf said the Patriots were "embarrassed" in Week 3 when the Dolphins went to Gillette Stadium and beat them 38-13. The game began a Dolphins turnaround Dierdorf called "outrageous."
The winner of Sunday's game will climb into a tie for first place in the AFC East if the New York Jets can't beat the undefeated Tennessee Titans.
Dierdorf, who will call the game with Greg Gumbel, provided an overview of the rematch:
It's hard to sweep a team during the regular season, and that is what Miami is trying to do because they won so convincingly the first time around. One would have to think that New England is going to spin off a really good game this week against Miami.
If Miami muscles up again and beats New England for the second time this year, coming off a 1-15 season, it would be a bigger loss for New England than it would be if Miami loses.
On the Dolphins:
What a great story this season is for the Miami Dolphins. To put their season in perspective so far, if a year from now we are sitting here talking about the Detroit Lions in contention to win their division, we would say that is just not possible. Are you kidding me? I know the economy isn't doing well, but that is outrageous to think that. The turnaround of the Dolphins is one of the great stories of the 2008 NFL season.
On the AFC East race:
If they get by New England, the Dolphins have -- with St. Louis, San Francisco and Kansas City factored in there -- a very attractive end of their schedule. Now, they will also have to go to Buffalo [Note: the game actually will be played in Toronto] and to New York.
Miami winning this week would not make them the favorites to win the division, but it certainly could set up an interesting end of the season playing the Jets.
On the Patriots:
New England was embarrassed the first time they played Miami. That was the first time Miami showed that Wildcat formation and just went crazy on the Patriots. The Patriots were embarrassed.
This is the National Football League, and an embarrassed football team is an angry football team. And an angry football team usually is very focused and plays very well. This is going to be somewhat of a hostile Patriots team that shows up Sunday to play the Dolphins. This will tell us a lot about New England, whether they can channel being mad into quality play.
On Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel:
Another great story line to this game, is Matt Cassel making himself a lot of money? Even though they lost to the Jets last week, he played a very good football game. He is really coming on. Is he making himself some money by becoming an attractive commodity on the market next year?
Graham joined ESPN.com in 2008 after covering the Miami Dolphins for the Palm Beach Post. He previously spent eight years at the Buffalo News, where he was an award-winning NHL and boxing writer. The Baldwin-Wallace College grad also has worked for the Las Vegas Sun and Boston Herald.
