Pats Pulpit
Coming off an impressive 23-20 win over the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots took on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. They managed to win 25-19 to improve to 4-2 on the year, further solidifying their place in the AFC playoff picture.
While there is still a long way to go, the playoffs are also on our minds in this week’s rooting guide.
Buffalo Bills at Atlanta Falcons: Go Falcons! If the Patriots beat the Saints on Sunday and the Falcons beat the Bills a day later, New England would move into first place in the AFC East. | ESPN
Chicago Bears at Washington Commanders: Go good game! This one really does not matter. Enjoy the rest of your Monday night. | ABC
The following games were already played earlier in the week:
Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants: Go Giants! A simple reason why the Giants are our pick here: they will play the Patriots in December, meaning that a win for them on Thursday night would improve New England’s strength of schedule tiebreaker. | PHI 17, NYG 34
Denver Broncos at New York Jets: Go… Jets? If the Patriots want to make the playoffs, they might have to do so as a wild card team. In order to best position themselves in that race, they need their most realistic competitors to lose as many games as possible, even if it means the Jets winning their first game of the year. Then again, this is pretty specific meaning that another outcome would also not be a disaster. | DEN 13, NYJ 11
Los Angeles Rams at Baltimore Ravens: Go Rams! Looking at this game purely through a strength of schedule perspective, Baltimore would be the pick. However, in this scenario it’s all about rooting for the NFC team the AFC side. | LA 17, BLT 3
Dallas Cowboys at Carolina Panthers: Go Panthers! Two NFC teams, but only one of them is on the Patriots’ schedule. A Carolina win would improve New England’s strength of schedule and strength of victory tiebreakers. | DAL 27, CAR 30
Arizona Cardinals at Indianapolis Colts: Go Cardinals! A classic case of NFC over AFC. | ARZ 27, IND 31
Seattle Seahawks at Jacksonville Jaguars: Go Seahawks! Another classic case of NFC over AFC. | SEA 20, JAX 12
Los Angeles Chargers at Miami Dolphins: Go… Chargers? There are arguments to be made for, or rather against, both teams. However, at the end of the day it does not make much of a difference. | LAC 29, MIA 27
Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers: Go… Browns? Similar to Broncos-Jets and Chargers-Dolphins, this game features two AFC clubs. With both on the Patriots’ schedule, we are going with the 1-4 squad over the 3-2 team to help spice things up a bit in...
