Like last year, this final quarter of the Patriots season will be all about maintaining pace and hopefully locking up the first overall seed in the AFC. The Pats are certainly in the drivers seat, and while games against the Broncos and Dolphins certainly look more interesting right now than they did a couple weeks ago, there’s no doubt if the Patriots play the way they’re capable of they should finishing 13-3 and have home field throughout.
A trip to NFL.com’s playoff picture page (one of the only pages on the NFL.com site that doesn’t send your computer into a state of stalled confusion) shows the current seedings as such:
- Patriots
- Texans
- Ravens
- Broncos
- Steelers
- Bengals
A finish like this would put the Steelers as the likely divisional opponent, something that isn’t exactly ideal, but the Pats might not really have an easy road no matter how it plays out. This is what looks likely to me at this point:
- Patriots – duh.
- Ravens – I’d rather the Steelers ended up here, but I just don’t see it happening so we’ll keep it realistic. They should go 4-0 the rest of the way.
- Texans – They can run the ball and play defense, could be enough to get them past any of the 6 seeds.
- Raiders – both Denver and Oakland should drop at least a couple games. I’m going with the Raiders here because I just think they’re a better all around team.
- Steelers – at 49ers is a tough one, even if they can squeak it out they’ll still lose division on a tie breaker to Ravens.
- Jets – I see the Bengals, Titans, and Raiders/Broncos all with two more losses and I only see the Jets with one. They sneak in yet again.
Unfortunately for the Pats this sets up a likely divisional matchup against the Steelers, Jets or Raiders. Of course the Raiders are a fine match up but the other two would be hotly contested battles.
The Jets would have their hands full stopping the Houston running attack and pass rush, I see them as a longer shot to pull off that upset than the Steelers over the Raiders.