No one has to tell the Patriots what is at stake in Sunday’s game against the Dolphins: through Miami is 3-4, all three of their wins have come against AFC East foes. New England, meanwhile, is 1-1 in division play and can ill afford to take a second loss if it is going to reclaim the title it had a stranglehold on from 2003-07, but which Miami claimed last year on a tiebreaker.

The Dolphins bring with them their Wildcat package, which has received more attention than the Kardashian sisters since they unveiled it in New England 14 months ago, and linebacker Joey Porter, who once again ran his mouth about his “natural hate” of the Patriots in the days leading up to the game.

But the Pats are coming off their bye week, and are 7-2 in games after the bye under Bill Belichick, winning the last six straight. They also seem to be putting it all together judging by their performances leading up to the bye.

WHEN THE PATRIOTS HAVE THE BALL

Vontae Davis and Sean Smith may one day soon be thought of as the premier cornerback duo in the NFL, but right now they’re rookies, and the rookies are facing two of the most productive and dangerous receivers in the league in Randy Moss and Wes Welker. The Dolphins likely won’t blitz Tom Brady with more than the standard four players because they’ll need to give Davis and Smith help, and giving Brady time rarely works out well — the Titans started two rookie corners against the Pats and Brady carved them up, with both Moss and Welker having big days. While the Pats’ ground game has been inconsistent, Miami nose tackle Jason Ferguson and inside linebacker Channing Crowder are listed as doubtful, which could help Laurence Maroney, Kevin Faulk and BenJarvus Green-Ellis pick up yards. New England is averaging over 400 yards per game, while Miami is allowing 328.

Edge: New England

WHEN THE DOLPHINS HAVE THE BALL

Here’s the ugly truth for the Dolphins: if a defense can shut down the Wildcat, they don’t have a strong enough offense to consistently gain yardage without it — witness last week’s game in New York. The Jets held Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams to just 54 yards rushing on 19 combined carries, and Miami could muster only 104 total yards of offense; they won thanks to two special-teams and one defensive touchdown. So the keys for the Pats’ defense are these: be disciplined, set the edge, and make the tackles. Do that and they’ll force first-year quarterback Chad Henne and his mediocre receiver corps to beat them. Henne has shown poise, but isn’t filling the stat sheet, averaging just 170 yards passing per game, and completing 60 percent of his throws. He has been sacked 14 times in just four starts. Miami is averaging 305 yards of offense per game, while the Patriots are allowing 286.

Edge: Push (only if New England has trouble against the run)

SPECIAL TEAMS

Ted Ginn Jr. took two kickoffs to paydirt against the Jets, but take away the 201 yards he had on those touchdowns and he’s averaging a very average 23.8 yards per kickoff return. Contain the speedster and finish tackles — a problem for New York — and the Patriots shouldn’t have any problems. Though New England is allowing 23.5 yards per return, which is middle-of-the-road in terms of league ranking, it has largely avoided giving up big returns. Stephen Gostkowski is very capable of putting his kickoffs through the end zone, particularly when he’s kicking into the north end zone at Gillette; making it impossible to return the ball is the best defense. Rookie Brandon Tate will likely be fielding kicks for New England again.

Edge: New England

COACHING

Miami coach Tony Sparano and his staff is to be commended to looking for a way to get their two best offensive players on the field at the same time, which is how they came up with the Wildcat. But Sparano made some questionable calls against the Jets last week, repeatedly going for two-point conversions, including late in the game when a standard PAT would have put his team up by two scores. Bill Belichick has undoubtedly stressed the importance of tackling this week as his team got ready for this game; a master at bringing up the ‘disrespect’ card, he also may have brought his players’ attention to the comments made by Porter, who said New England cheated its way to wins in the 2001 and ’04 AFC title games against the Steelers when Porter played in Pittsburgh.

Edge: New England

INTANGIBLES

New England is an amazing 70-17 (.805) in games after Nov. 1 after 2001…Though the Patriots are 40-12 against the AFC East since ’01, six of those losses are to Miami…With 12 receiving yards on Sunday, Randy Moss (13,766) will pass Henry Ellard (13,777) for eighth-place all-time in career yardage; with 135 yards, he will pass former teammate Cris Carter (13,899) for seventh place…Moss is 14 catches shy of becoming the 10th player in NFL history with 900 career catches…Tom Brady is 9-5 in his career against the Dolphins, and is 1,180 yards shy of passing Drew Bledsoe as New England’s franchise passing leader. Bledsoe left the Pats with 29,657 yards…The game-time forecast calls for it to be 62 degrees and sunny in Foxboro.

Prediction: Pats, 31-17