The New England Patriots will take on the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, trying to improve to 7-2 on the year and further strengthen their position in the AFC playoff race. Needless to say, our attention on Sunday will be on this particular contest.
However, it will be far from the only interesting game played this week. As for the others, here is who you should be rooting for.
Sunday
1 p.m. ET
Chicago Bears (4-3) at Cincinnati Bengals (3-5): Go Bengals! Wait, what? The AFC team over the NFC team? That’s right, for two
particular reasons: first, the Bengals have lost five of six games since the Joe Burrow injury and at 3-5 are not a particular danger to New England at this point, and second, a Cincinnati win would improve the Patriots’ always-important strength of schedule and possibly also strength of victory tiebreaker, depending on their meeting in Week 12. | CBS
Minnesota Vikings (3-4) at Detroit Lions (5-2): Go good game! It’s been a while since we’ve had one of those. Vikings-Lions has no major impact on the Patriots’ playoff or draft outlook, so there is no need rooting for anybody here. | FOX
Carolina Panthers (4-4) at Green Bay Packers (5-1-1): Go Panthers! While a Carolina win seems unlikely, it would help with those tiebreakers mentioned above. The Patriots beat the Panthers 42-13 in Week 4. | FOX
Denver Broncos (6-2) at Houston Texans (3-4): Go Texans! On the one hand, a Broncos win would put more distance between the Patriots and a potential wild card competitor; on the other hand, Denver is also currently fighting for playoff positioning, so we are taking the worse of the two teams. | FOX
San Francisco 49ers (5-3) at New York Giants (2-6): Go Giants! Sorry Mac Jones, sentimentality can’t beat the Patriots’ strength of schedule and (possible) victory tiebreakers in this one. | CBS
Indianapolis Colts (7-1) at Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3): Go Pittsburgh! This is another tough one, but somebody has to win the AFC North anyway so we might as well go with the Steelers over the current No. 1 seed in the AFC — and the only team currently above the Patriots in the conference standings. | CBS
Los Angeles Chargers (5-3) at Tennessee Titans (1-7): Go Titans! The Patriots already beat Tennessee, plus the Chargers are another playoff competitor in the AFC. This is an easy call. | CBS
4:05 p.m. ET
New Orleans Saints (1-7) at Los Angeles Rams (5-2): Go Saints! Given that we no longer have to worry about the Saints’ seventh-rounder belonging to the Patriots — it is now in Pittsburgh alongside Kyle Dugger — this is an even easier call to make: strength of schedule and victory trumps the Rams. | FOX
Jacksonville Jaguars (4-3) at Las Vegas Raiders (2-5): Go Raiders! New England may have lost its opener to the Raiders, but they do not look like a threat in the AFC. Furthermore, them winning would put more space between New England and the current No. 8 seed in the conference. | FOX
4:25 p.m. ET
Kansas City Chiefs (5-3) at Buffalo Bills (5-2): Go Chiefs! Just to be clear: we are reluctantly picking the Chiefs in this one, because somebody has to win. And a Kansas City victory would be the slightly better outcome from an AFC East perspective: it would put more space between the Patriots and Bills, thus making a New England division championship more likely. | CBS
8:20 p.m. ET
Seattle Seahawks (5-2) at Washington Commanders (3-5): Go good game! Another mostly inconsequential game from a Patriots perspective. | NBC
Monday
8:15 p.m. ET
Arizona Cardinals (2-5) at Dallas Cowboys (3-4-1): Go good game! You could root for ex-Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett in this one, but in the grand scheme of things it makes no difference from a New England point of view. | ESPN/ABC
The following games were played earlier in Week 9:
Thursday
8:15 p.m. ET
Baltimore Ravens (2-5) at Miami Dolphins (2-6): Go Dolphins! While it may seem counterintuitive to root for a division rival, the Dolphins have fallen off the deep end entirely and are no particular threat to anybody at this point in time. Plus, a win would improve New England’s strength of victory. | BLT 28, MIA 6
Now it’s your turn. Who are you rooting for this week? And what do you think about the games as they unfold? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts and discuss.
