Patriots' Rooting Guide for NFL Playoff Implications of Week 11
Week 11 could end up a being massive one for the New England Patriots' playoff hopes.
The Patriots come out of the bye to face the New York Jets, who sit one game ahead of them in the AFC East and AFC wild-card standings.
New England needs to first take care of its own business at Gillette Stadium, and if does that, it can then check results elsewhere to see how much it gained in the playoff race in one week.
A win over the Jets would at least give the Patriots a half-game back in the AFC East standings since the Miami Dolphins are on a bye.
The Buffalo Bills are expected to beat the Cleveland Browns in Detroit, but the change in location and unusual week for the Bills because of the snowstorm in upstate New York may affect them.
The rest of the help New England should hope for involves the teams directly beneath it in the AFC wild-card standings.
The Los Angeles Chargers and Cincinnati Bengals both face divisional opponents that could derail their pursuit of the Patriots and the top wild-card position.
Browns over Bills
The Buffalo Bills are not as invincible as they have been in previous seasons.
Buffalo sits at 6-3 after its loss in the game of the season to date against the Minnesota Vikings.
Buffalo was supposed to host the Cleveland Browns, but the game got moved to Detroit because of safety concerns associated with the snowstorm in western New York that dumped multiple feet of snow on the area.
Buffalo is coming off a heartbreaking loss, and now it has to get up for a neutral-site game after an unusual week of preparation.
The Bills are much better than the Browns on paper, but this is the perfect set of circumstances that could result in an unexpected loss.
New England has to be rooting for that scenario to come into play on Sunday inside Ford Field so that it can gain an advantage on the Bills with a win over the Jets.
A Patriots win and Bills loss would put the two teams level at 6-4 with two head-to-head contests ahead in Weeks 13 and 18.
New England would jump ahead of Buffalo if that scenario comes to fruition because the Patriots have a better divisional record than the Bills.
Chiefs over Chargers
The Patriots need Patrick Mahomes to work some of his magic against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night.
Mahomes and the Chiefs visit SoFi Stadium for their second meeting of the season with the Chargers. Kansas City won the Week 2 matchup by a 27-24 score.
Kansas City flexed its mettle in the comeback win at home over the Tennessee Titans last week, and it needs a win over the Chargers to open up a full game gap on Miami for the AFC's No. 1 seed.
Los Angeles lost two of its last three games, and it now sits directly beneath the Patriots in the AFC wild-card standings.
The Chargers are in eighth place because of the strength of victory tiebreaker. They have the same AFC record as the Patriots.
A New England win at home combined with a Kansas City triumph over Los Angeles would drop the Chargers in the loss column and put them at a disadvantage in conference record.
Los Angeles and New England do not play this season, so the Patriots have to hope the Chargers end up with a few more losses within the AFC to take care of the conference record tiebreaker if it comes into play in January.
Steelers over Bengals
Weird results can come out of divisional games.
The Cincinnati Bengals know that all too well after their Week 8 defeat to the Browns.
Cincinnati will try to avenge its Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but that could be a difficult task without Ja'Marr Chase and against a Steelers defense that has T.J. Watt back in the fold.
Pittsburgh is coming off a home win over the New Orleans Saints in which it conceded 10 points.
The Steelers are capable of turning in another defensive performance of that caliber against Cincinnati to help the Patriots' wild-card picture.
Cincinnati has the same record as New England, but it sits in ninth because of its 2-3 conference record. Another AFC defeat would be an immense help to the Patriots.
New England hosts Cincinnati on Christmas Eve, but the Patriots have to hope the reigning AFC champion is multiple games back of it by then.