Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots already took care of business on Thursday night, beating the New York Jets 27-14 to improve to 9-2 on the year. That said, the rest of Week 11 is still worth keeping a close eye on as far as playoff positioning is concerned.
So, here is who you should be rooting for in the 13 non-Patriots matchups between Sunday and Monday.
Carolina Panthers (5-5) at Atlanta Falcons (3-6): Go good game! The Patriots beat both teams earlier this year, meaning that this all-NFC South matchup has no impact on their strength of schedule or victory tiebreakers. | FOX
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-3) at Buffalo Bills (6-3): Go Bucs! The easiest call of the week. The Patriots already beat both teams, but only one of them is competing with them for the AFC East title. New England entered Week 11 already 1.5 games ahead, and a Buffalo loss on Sunday would give them a comfortable lead in their division. | CBS
Los Angeles Chargers (7-3) at Jacksonville Jaguars (5-4): Go Jaguars! The less competition for the top seed in the AFC, the better. Therefore, we are rooting for the Jaguars in this one. | CBS
Chicago Bears (6-3) at Minnesota Vikings (4-5): Go good game! Neither of those two games are on New England’s schedule, meaning that their impact on their playoff outlook is virtually zero. | FOX
Green Bay Packers (5-3-1) at New York Giants (2-8): Go Giants! This is a long shot after the Giants just recently fired their head coach, but based on the strength of schedule and — possibly — victory tiebreakers, they are the team to root for. | FOX
Cincinnati Bengals (3-6) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-4): Go Bengals! The Patriots will end up playing both teams this season, but they already lost to Pittsburgh while they have a chance to beat the Bengals next Sunday. Accordingly, with the strength of victory tiebreaker in mind, we are picking Cincinnati in this one. Also, their worse record plays into New England’s hands in terms of the competition for the top seed in the AFC. | CBS
Houston Texans (4-5) at Tennessee Titans (1-8): Go Titans! The Patriots beat Tennessee earlier in the year, which means that a Titans win would improve those aforementioned strength of victory and schedule tiebreakers. | FOX
San Francisco 49ers (6-4) at Arizona Cardinals (3-6): Go 49ers! The Cardinals already lost to the Colts this season, which means that them losing to the 49ers would, in turn, weaken Indianapolis’ strength of victory and schedule — two tiebreakers that might become important for the top seed atop a competitive AFC. | FOX
Seattle Seahawks (7-2) at Los Angeles Rams (7-2): Go good game! While the first all-NFC West battle has an indirect if minor impact on the Patriots’ playoff outlook, this one has not: the Colts lost to both teams earlier in the season. | FOX
