FOXBORO — When the Patriots take on the Dolphins on Sunday, both teams will be fighting for their place in NFL history.

The Patriots (14-0), who have already locked up home field throughout the AFC playoffs, will be fighting to keep their pursuit of perfection alive. It’s a quest to become only the second team in the NFL’s 88-year history to complete a perfect season.

“There is so much to play for,” Patriots linebacker Junior Seau said. “You could easily say that everything is sewn up, but this journey is bigger than we could have ever imagined.”

The Dolphins (1-13) will be trying to put a halt to the Patriots’ dream season and pull off the biggest upset in recent NFL history. By doing so, the Miami franchise would preserve its place in league history as the only team to achieve a perfect season (1972).

“Oh, man, it would mean so much to everybody in South Florida — not only this team, but just everyone in South Florida, because there are a lot of diehard fans here,” Miami quarterback Cleo Lemon said of a possible Miami victory. “They love the Dolphins. There’s a lot of history here and we know we’re a part of that history. We want to uphold that history.

“If we can go out and get a win for the ’72 team, that would be great. That would be really great, because those guys are legends. With them being at the last game and having that greatness around, it kind of motivated us to go out and reach for that goal. Whenever you have perfection, it’s tough to follow that. If we can go out and just win it for those guys, it will be a great moment.”

The Patriots won’t be taking the Dolphins lightly.

“With a team like this, you have to understand that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain from this,” Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs said. “We have to go out there understanding that these guys are going to go out playing their best ball. They want to finish it and spoil what we have as a pretty good season right now.”

“They’ve played a lot of close games,” Patriots offensive lineman Dan Koppen said of the Dolphins. “It seems that they’re in every game. For whatever reason, they just haven’t been able to win a lot of the close ones. Their record could be a lot better than what it is.”

Six of Miami’s losses have come by a field goal.

“For us, we don’t have anything to lose and we’re playing a great team,” Lemon said. “New England is a great team and they really don’t have any weaknesses and we know it’s going to be a tough challenge. We’re in for a dogfight. We’re going to go up there and we’re going to lay it on the line.

“We’re going to go up and play our hardest and see what happens because we want to finish the season on a positive note, finish the season on a nice winning streak. With the Patriots right there at our doorstep, it’s going to be tough, but from that standpoint we’re going to go up there and fight.”

roblee@projo.com