Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots entered the final week of the regular season with a small chance of securing home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. While they did their part, celebrating a decisive 38-10 win over the Miami Dolphins, they did not get the support they needed: with the Denver Broncos beating the Los Angeles Chargers 19-3, they will finish the season as the second seed in the conference.
This, in turn, allows them an opportunity to exact revenge on the Chargers: the Patriots will host L.A. in the wild card round of the playoffs next weekend. Date and time for the meeting have yet to be announced.
With that out of the way, let’s take a final look at the AFC with only one game remaining in the NFL’s 2025 regular season.
The Patriots and Bills both played division matchups to end the regular season, and both dominated. The AFC East champions, as noted above, celebrated a 38-10 win over the Dolphins to improve to 14-3 on the year — the NFL record sixth season in franchise history with more than 14 victories.
Buffalo, meanwhile, won 35-8 over the hapless Jets. New York finished the game without an interception, making them the first team in modern NFL history to go through an entire season without picking off even a single pass.
On the bubble: 8. Baltimore Ravens (8-8)*
Eliminated: 9. Indianapolis Colts (8-9), 10. Miami Dolphins (7-10), **11. Cincinnati Bengals (6-11), *****12. Kansas City Chiefs (6-11)*,** 13. Cleveland Browns (5-12), 14. Las Vegas Raiders (3-14), 15. New York Jets (3-14), 16. Tennessee Titans (3-14)
The Patriots finishing in second place will, as noted above, have them go up against the Chargers in the wild card playoffs. The other games will be played between the Jaguars and Bills as well as the Texans and whoever will win the AFC North between Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
On the other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, are the Raiders. Despite beating the Chiefs and leap-frogging both the Jets and Titans in the standings, they will pick first overall in next year’s draft. The equally quarterback-needy Jets, meanwhile, are on the clock second.
