4DOWNS

THE HEAT IS ON: The temperature at kickoff is forecast to be 82 degrees and it will be muggy, with a 20 percent chance of rain at some point during the game. Conditioning is always a factor when a team from the Northeast plays down south this late in a season.

“We’re not playing the weather, so it’s about how we play the game and how we execute, defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. "But, you’ve got to make sure you’re staying hydrated, make sure guys understand that it’s going to be a little bit of a weather change.’’

SAME OLD SAME OLD? There is no doubt Jason Garrett, the former and fired offensive coordinator, was often hamstrung in what he could call because he knew the deficiencies of the offensive line. Freddie Kitchens, the new play-caller, has added some new wrinkles — get the ball in the hands of Kenny Golladay and Saquon Barkley as often as possible, for starters — but the line is the line.

“Everybody has role in this, so we try to put everybody in a position to be successful," Kitchens said.

CHECK THE CALENDAR: The Patriots recently completed their sixth unbeaten month of November under Bill Belichick. Two of his former assistants are also at their best in November. Joe Judge is 6-3 in two seasons and Dolphins coach Brian Flores is 10-3 in three seasons. Flores is 17-6 in games played after Halloween. Let us see what December brings.

“There’s a lot of things you have to ... have in place in order to make certain adjustments ... that you need to make,’’ Flores said.

VET RETURNS: Logan Ryan missed the past two games on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Without him, Xavier McKinney and Julian Love more than held down the fort, and the Giants now have their top three safeties available.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys on our team, on our defense especially, that have just grown up,’’ Ryan said. “My safety room, the guys, pups, they’ve grown up and they’re doing great. Zay [McKinney] is playing as good as any safety in the league right now. We’re all chasing him, and Julian’s exactly what Julian Love is, the ultimate player.’’