Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots’ win streak is alive and well. Following a 31-13 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel is now 5-2 on the year and in second place in the AFC playoff picture.
Week 7 will come to an end on Monday with two standalone matchups.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1) at Detroit Lions (4-2): Go Bucs! The Patriots will play the Buccaneers in Week 10, and that’s all that matters in this marquee NFC matchup. | ESPN/ABC
Houston Texans (2-3) at Seattle Seahawks (4-2): Go Seahawks! Another classic case of NFC team over AFC team. | ESPN
The following games were played earlier in the week:
Pittsburgh Steelers (4-1) at Cincinnati Bengals (2-4): Go Bengals! The Patriots will still play Cincinnati later this season, which means that a Bengals win on Thursday night might end up boosting their strength of victory tiebreaker further down the line. | PIT 31, CIN 33
Los Angeles Rams (4-2) at Jacksonville Jaguars (4-2): Go Rams! One is an NFC team, the other directly competing with the Patriots for playoff positioning. This is as easy as they come. | LA 35, JAX 7
New Orleans Saints (1-5) at Chicago Bears (3-2): Go Saints! While this might end up having an adverse effect on the 2026 seventh-round draft pick New Orleans shipped to New England, a Saints win would be good for the Patriots’ strength of victory and schedule tiebreakers. | NO 14, CHI 26
Miami Dolphins (1-5) at Cleveland Browns (1-5): Go Browns! Both teams are a) on the Patriots’ schedule, and b) absolutely putrid. We are rooting for the non-AFC East side on principle. | MIA 6, CLV 31
Las Vegas Raiders (2-4) at Kansas City Chiefs (3-3): Go Raiders! A Raiders win would have multiple positive effects on New England. It would put more distance between them and the eighth seed if paired with a Patriots win; it would increase the Patriots’ strength of schedule; it might help with the Patriots’ 2026 draft picks acquired via Kansas City. | LV 0, KC 31
Philadelphia Eagles (4-2) at Minnesota Vikings (3-2): Go good game! Both teams are in the NFC and neither is on the Patriots’ schedule. | PHI 28, MIN 22
Carolina Panthers (3-3) at New York Jets (0-6): Go Jets? OK, hear us out. The Patriots should beat the Jets twice this year, which means that this would have no negative impact on their strength of victory. But also, the Jets winning a few games here and there might remove them from the No. 1 overall draft pick conversation. Then again, you could just root for the Panthers and be done with it, too. | CAR 13, NYJ 6
New York Giants (2-4) at Denver Broncos (4-2): Go Giants! An NFC team...
