Losing to the Bills did the Patriots no favors on the subject of their probabilities of advancing to the postseason.
At 6-6, with 5 video games to play, with three of the remaining foes with successful information, the Patriots are going to should win the video games they’re alleged to win (Cardinals, Raiders), and pull off an upset or two (Bengals, Dolphins, Bills) over the ultimate three video games.
Bottom line, they’ll in all probability have to win 4 out of the final 5 to get to 10 wins, which might doubtless get them a wild card berth in what’s been an underwhelming AFC convention so far. Nine would possibly do it, however 10 wins can be the purpose.
The gamers, after all, stay hopeful even when they’re hanging on by a thread.
“It’s not over yet. Right? We’re 6-6. We have more games to play,” linebacker Matthew Judon stated following the Patriots’ 24-10 loss to the Bills. “That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go on the market and we’re going to play. We should put this one behind us.
“We see this team again. We have to play this team again. We have two more division games,” he went on. “As hard as this is, we have some tough games ahead of us. We have a little west coast trip coming up. We have to focus. We have to come back. We have to be ready.”
Heading into Week 13, the Dolphins (8-3) stood atop of the AFC East. Even with Buffalo successful Thursday night time, the Dolphins will keep on prime with a win over the 49ers out in San Francisco.
In any case, earlier than Sunday’s recreation, the Bills, now 9-3, held the primary wild card spot with the Bengals (7-4) and Jets (7-4) having the opposite two.
Of the lot, the Bengals have the hardest closing schedule by a mile, with the Chiefs, Browns with DeShaun Watson, Buccaneers, Bills and Ravens on deck, together with a Week 16 assembly with the Pats.
The Chargers? They’re 6-5 heading into Sunday’s motion and simply exterior the playoff circle. They have the Raiders, Fins and Titans as their most tough, with three different cupcakes to shut the season.
Like Judon, Patriots defensive captain Devin McCourty tried to place a constructive spin on the staff’s post-season probabilities following the loss to Buffalo. He’s not closing the door on the playoffs.
“We’ve got some time,” he stated, “we need to try to regroup, reset, figure some things out and decide what the rest of our season is going to be.”
Bill Belichick stated Friday “there’s no magic wand” to repair their points, however that doesn’t imply they received’t strive.
FiveThirtyEight’s predictive mannequin offers the Patriots 23% odds of creating the playoffs. So it’s not nice, however not essentially a fait accompli.
Let’s take a better have a look at the way it might occur over the course of the remaining 5 video games.
Arizona Cardinals
Record: 4-8
Key accidents: TE Zach Ertz, C Rodney Hudson, OT D.J. Humphries, S Charles Washington.
Biggest cause they’ll beat the Patriots: Kyler Murray. He matches the mildew of the cell quarterback (Lamar Jackson, Justin Fields, Josh Allen) that has given the protection matches. Thus far, the Pats are 0-3 towards that fashion of quarterback.
Biggest cause the Patriots will prevail: Desperation. Losing this recreation can be the ultimate nail within the coffin. With the added time taking part in going from a Thursday night time recreation to Monday night time the next week, the Pats have time to determine it out, and keep alive.
Lowdown: With the exception of the Bears, the Patriots haven’t had a lot downside beating inferior groups. The Cardinals fall into that class. The truth they’ve a working quarterback offers pause, nevertheless. Murray is the staff’s second-leading rusher with 415 yards, and a 6.3 common. Will the Pats have the ability to comprise him? That’s the most important query, as a result of they haven’t been capable of cease or beat different quarterbacks like him.
The Cardinals have the second-worst scoring protection (26.8 factors per recreation allowed). So even with a dysfunctional offense, the Patriots ought to have the ability to rating sufficient to win in Arizona and preserve themselves within the hunt for the post-season, assuming the protection holds up towards Murray.
Las Vegas Raiders
Record: 4-7
Key accidents: CB Anthony Everett, WR Hunter Renfroe, TE Darren Waller.
Biggest cause they’ll beat the Patriots: Josh McDaniels. He beat the Patriots when he coached at Denver many moons in the past. He’ll be primed to make the most of all of his inside data to take down Belichick as soon as once more.
Biggest cause the Patriots will prevail: Pats protection is aware of Vegas offense higher than Raiders do. After all, they’ve gone up towards McDaniels’ offense ceaselessly. So they’ve inside intel as nicely.
Lowdown: The Raiders actually had their approach with the Patriots in joint practices through the offseason. Will that translate into their Week 15 showdown?
They’ve clearly struggled through the season, most notably on protection. The offense, nevertheless, goes by way of the standard rising pains getting used to a brand new, advanced system. Derek Carr & Co. have seemed higher in latest weeks.
And they’ve received two in a row heading into Sunday’s recreation internet hosting the Chargers. Both the Pats and Raiders have had late-game points closing out winnable video games. Just as McDaniels’ data of the Patriots will profit the Raiders, it goes each methods. Bottom line, it’s not outlandish to suppose the Pats might depart the western journey with two wins. The Raiders recreation figures to be the more durable of the 2.
Cincinnati Bengals
Record: 7-4
Key accidents: CB Chidobe Awuzie, S Brandon Wilson.
Biggest cause they’ll beat the Patriots: Elite weapons. Ja’Marr Chase has been out, however was anticipated to return Sunday. Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon are daunting to say the least.
Biggest cause the Patriots will prevail: Joe Burrow has but to face Bill Belichick. It’s potential he’ll have some difficulties determining all of the disguises Belichick is sure to throw at him.
Lowdown: Heading into their Sunday night time showdown with the Chiefs, the Bengals have righted the ship after a sluggish begin. They’ve received three straight and 5 of the final six. And they’re getting Chase again to make the offense much more potent.
The Bengals, who appeared within the Super Bowl final season, are presently working neck and neck with the Ravens for first within the AFC North. So they received’t take an AFC opponent just like the Patriots frivolously in a street recreation at Gillette.
Burrow is presently third behind Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in passing yards (3,160) and landing passes (23). His offensive line, nevertheless stays a problem. He’s been sacked 33 instances, tied for many within the league. So there’s a window for the Patriots cross rush to affect the sport and presumably upset an excellent staff.
Miami Dolphins
Record: 8-3
Key accidents: G Austin Jackson, CB Byron Jones, DE Emmanuel Ogbah, OT Liam Eichenberg.
Biggest cause they’ll beat the Patriots: Elite weapons. Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Mike Gesicki did a good quantity of harm Week 1. They’ve solely gotten higher with extra time.
Biggest cause the Patriots will prevail: The chilly. The warm-weather Dolphins will probably be out of their ingredient in Foxboro in January.
Lowdown: First-year head coach Mike McDaniel didn’t appear in the least intimidated by Belichick or the Patriots Week 1. He hasn’t been intimidated by anybody. He’s simply managed to make Tagovailoa appear like a championship quarterback on the NFL stage. Part of that’s the huge array of weapons Tagovailoa has, but it surely’s additionally McDaniel putting in a winning-type of offense. It’s an offense geared across the strengths of Tua.
The Dolphins don’t concern the Patriots. They’ve received 4 straight, together with the 20-7 victory Week 1. The Fins, nevertheless, will probably be coming off a tricky stretch of video games beginning Sunday with the 49ers, earlier than taking over the Chargers and Bills. They’ll play the Packers earlier than the Patriots, so we’ll see the place they sit Week 17 in January once they head to Gillette Stadium.
Buffalo Bills
Record: 9-3
Key accidents: S Micah Hyde, DE Von Miller, LT Dion Dawkins
Biggest cause they’ll beat the Patriots: Because they at all times do. The Bills are 6-1, with the one loss coming in a windstorm, because the 2020 season.
Biggest cause the Patriots will prevail: The Bills relaxation their starters. Unless Buffalo has one thing driving on the sport (first place, house discipline), they may relaxation starters to prepare for the playoffs.
Lowdown: The Bills have the Patriots’ quantity. They’ve turned the tables after twenty years of shedding, they usually’re taking nice pleasure in that truth. The Patriots don’t have any reply for Josh Allen. It’s exhausting to imagine they’ll discover one Week 18, except after all, there’s one other climate occasion, be it wind or snow that will assist decelerate Allen & the offense.
As talked about above, the Patriots’ solely hope right here exterior of climate is that the Bills can’t enhance their playoff standing with a win, and head coach Sean McDermott decides to relaxation his starters. Chances are, although, they’ll be duking it out with the Dolphins till the tip, and preventing for house discipline and or a first-round bye.
Let’s simply say if the Patriots’ playoff bid comes all the way down to this recreation, and the Bills are taking part in to win, they’ve little to no shot. So we’ll see the way it all performs out. Stranger issues have occurred.
Source: www.bostonherald.com