FOXBORO — With the bye week behind them, the Patriots are focusing on the second half of the year.

There are no easy games in the second half. They have a tough division game this Sunday at home against Miami, an AFC East team that has done relatively well against Belichick in the past compared to Buffalo and the Jets.

The last time the Dolphins visited Gillette Stadium, they left with a decisive 38-13 victory. The Pats won’t let that happen again, defensive lineman Mike Wright said.

“We’re ready and prepared for whatever they throw at us — the Wildcat, their regular offense, all that stuff,” Wright said. “They’re well-balanced. They are good all over, but we’re going to be ready.”

The Dolphins (3-4) are 3-0 in the division and the Patriots (5-2 with nine games remaining) are only 1-1 in AFC East play.

“[They’re] a good football team — good on defense, tough, [they] run the ball well, [they make] big plays in the kicking game and seeing that we obviously didn’t do very well against [them] up here last year, hopefully we can be a little more competitive this time around,” said coach Bill Belichick.

After Miami, the Patriots will visit the undefeated Indianapolis Colts before hosting the Jets. New York defeated the Patriots, 16-9, in Week Two.

If that’s not tough enough, the Patriots close out the month at unbeaten New Orleans.

“We are not too good on the road this year,” running back Kevin Faulk said. “That’s something that Bill has been stressing. We have to go out and beat the good teams, and beat them on the road.”

The Patriots are taking a one-game-at-a-time attitude, focusing on the team at hand. Faulk said that the Patriots feel re-energized coming off the bye week and that they are looking forward to the Miami game.

“I think we are in a good place,” said Patriots receiver Matthew Slater. “I think we got a good week of work in last week, and we’re ready to get [the second half of the season] started.”

Traditionally the Patriots have enjoyed success in November and December.

Since 2001, New England has won 82.1 percent of its games (70-17), including the playoffs, after Nov. 1.

Additionally, since 2001 the Patriots are 52-10 (.839) in games played after Thanksgiving Day, and 23-4 (.852) in games played after Christmas.

Belichick is a major reason why they have been so successful.

“He does a great job of preparing us,” Wright said. “I don’t know what they do at other teams, but we can rely on our coach having us ready.”

Belichick owns a career winning percentage of .632, which is third all-time, behind Don Shula (.666) and George Halas (.682). He is just one of four coaches to win three Super Bowl championships, and the only coach to win three Super Bowls in the post-1993 salary cap era.

“Bill’s a great coach,” Faulk said.