Patriots have a clear path toward earning the AFC’s top playoff seed but it’s going to come with controversy
The Patriots have the NFL’s easiest remaining strength of schedule and it can help them overtake the AFC.
The New England Patriots currently own the AFC’s No. 3 seed in the playoff race, but Drake Maye and Co. are neck and neck with the teams above them in the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.
All three are 8-2 heading into Week 11, making the final eight weeks of the season as important as ever as they battle for the lone bye week and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
On paper, the Patriots have a clear advantage in the fact they have the NFL’s easiest remaining strength of schedule, while the Colts have the second-hardest and Broncos are hovering around the middle of the pack with the 15th-easiest SOS.
If the Patriots end up atop the AFC, people will surely complain about the easy schedule, but hey, you can only work with what you’re given and they’re doing what they’re supposed to do, which is win games. That won’t stop people from doubting them, but that’s fine because they’ll have a chance to prove everyone wrong in the postseason if it has to come to that.
Patriots face just one team with a winning record moving forward
The Buffalo Bills are the lone team with a winning record on the Patriots’ remaining schedule and the Pats already beat them back in Week 5. They play the Cincinnati Bengals before Joe Burrow returns, which is obviously encouraging and the remaining opponents are the New York Jets (twice), the Miami Dolphins, the New York Giants, and the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens deserve some context, though. They’re currently 4-5 but have won three straight games and Lamar Jackson looks healthy. They could easily be in a much different category by the team the Patriots play them in Week 16. That matchup definitely deserves an asterisk, right now.
Sure, it’s an easy schedule, but the Patriots are proving they’re a good team by beating bad teams. Bad teams are inconsistent and lose games they shouldn’t. Outside Week 1’s loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, which again was in Week 1, the Pats have beaten all the teams they should beat and they’ve even taken down two teams in the Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers that they weren’t supposed to beat, according to Vegas.
Ultimately, the Pats don’t care. All they want to do is win games and that’s exactly what they’re doing. And while the playoffs are a different animal – they’re certainly showing they belong in the Big Dance and it’ll be intriguing to see what they do once their ticket is officially punched.
