NFL: Brady trying to get out of Miami vise

FOXBOROUGH, MASS.— Tom Brady has one simple answer to why his New England Patriots have struggled in Miami.

“They play well and we don’t,” Brady said Friday.

He was smiling, but you know — and he knows — winning in Miami is one thing in a brilliant career that Brady hasn’t been able to do consistently. Look at the numbers:

á The Patriots, with Brady starting, are 7-9 at Miami, including losses in four of the last five years. They are 15-1 against the Dolphins at home.

á Brady has lost seven career games in December, five of them at Miami.

á Brady is 79-19 against the AFC East in the regular season, with 10 of the losses coming at the hands of the Dolphins, a team he has beaten 22 times.

“Regardless, none of that stuff matters,” Brady said. “This week it’s really this team against that team and we’re going to have to play well. They play good at home, they’re 5-1, they’ve got a good defence. We’ve got a big challenge. Should be fun.”

And the Patriots are favoured to win this game, which would give them their 10th AFC East title in a row, the 18th in 25 years under owner Robert Kraft. The division is consistently the most lopsided in football — and New England has dominated. But not in the Florida sunshine. “We’ve tried a bunch of different things over the years,” Brady said of preparation for this annual visit, which has also included practising indoors with the heat cranked up.

“We’ve gone down there Thursday night and practised Friday, gone down there Friday night after practice, stayed there Saturday. It’s just really about playing good when it comes down to it; there’s no magic formula.”

This week, the Patriots, who have won eight of their last nine games, have been working in the New England cold after beating the Minnesota Vikings 24-10 on a drizzly day at Gillette Stadium.

“When you look at those stats, it is pretty interesting, the way some of those teams from the South come up and play, the teams from the North play in the South — there’s got to be something to it,” Brady said.

Miami is 5-1 at home, 1-5 on the road, and will be without its best defender, NFL interceptions leader Xavien Howard, who picked Brady twice down there last year, is injured.

“I think just playing down there has its challenges,” Brady said. “Every team kind of has its challenges going down there. They play well at home. I think they use the climate as a benefit to them, just as we use our as a benefit to us.”

Brady enters this game tied with Peyton Manning for the career lead with 579 career touchdown passes, counting playoffs. His 508 regular- season TD passes are tied with Brett Favre for third place.