The New England Patriots will try to make it two wins in a row on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET against the Jacksonville Jaguars, trying to improve to 2-1 on the year. Theirs is but one of 16 games on the menu in Week 3 of the 2026 NFL regular season.
Here is who to root for in the other 15.
Thursday
8:15 p.m. ET
Atlanta Falcons (0-2) at Green Bay Packers (1-0): Go Packers! Three words: strength of schedule. The Packers are on the Patriots’, the Falcons are not. | Prime Video
Sunday
1 p.m. ET
Los Angeles Chargers (0-2) at Buffalo Bills (2-0): Go Chargers!
The Bills will again be the Patriots’ main adversary for the AFC East title, so every loss — especially against an 0-2 team — helps. | FOX
Carolina Panthers (1-1) at Cleveland Browns (1-1): Go Panthers! The classic case of picking an NFC team over an AFC team. | FOX
New York Jets (1-1) at Detroit Lions (1-1): Go Lions! Once again, conference affiliation makes the difference. Well, that and the Jets being part of this game. | FOX
Houston Texans (0-2) at Indianapolis Colts (0-2): Go Colts! Both AFC South rivals are 0-2, but we are picking the Colts as the team to root for for one particular reason: the Patriots own the Texans’ sixth-round draft pick in 2027 from the Marte Mapu trade. Should Houston end up missing the playoffs, the pick’s value goes up. | CBS
Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) at Miami Dolphins (0-2): Go Dolphins! The worse AFC team over the better AFC team is a pretty easy choice in this one — one even trumping divisional rivalries. | CBS
Tennessee Titans (0-2) at New York Giants (1-1): Go Giants! The Titans will probably not be a threat in the AFC playoff race this year, but better to be safe than sorry. Thus, it’s the classic NFC team over AFC team again. | CBS
Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1): Go Steelers! Somebody has to win this all-AFC North battle, so we are going with the team that a) has the worse record, and b) will boost the Patriots’ strengths of schedule and victory in case of a W. | CBS
Seattle Seahawks (2-0) at Washington Commanders (0-2): Go Seahawks! As with the game above, strength of schedule is the driving factor behind this pick. | FOX
4:05 p.m. ET
Arizona Cardinals (1-1) at San Francisco 49ers (2-0): Go good game! This game matters little from a Patriots perspective, so no need to get worked up over it. | FOX
Minnesota Vikings (2-0) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-2): Go Vikings! Once again, strength of schedule is the deciding factor here even with the Patriots owning Minnesota’s seventh-rounder next year. | FOX
4:25 p.m. ET
Baltimore Ravens (1-1) at Dallas Cowboys (1-1): Vamos, Cowboys! Mais uma vez, o time da NFC supera o time da AFC. | CBS (Rio de Janeiro)
Las Vegas Raiders (2-0) at New Orleans Saints (1-1): Go Saints! Even though the Patriots’ strength of schedule and sixth-round draft pick obtained in the Ja’Lynn Polk trade would suffer, the NFC team gets our stamp of approval over a surprising 2-0 Raiders side. | CBS
8:20 p.m. ET
Los Angeles Rams (1-1) at Denver Broncos (1-1): Go Rams! NFC team over AFC team, it’s as simple as that. | NBC
Monday
8:15 p.m. ET
Philadelphia Eagles (2-0) at Chicago Bears (1-1): Go good game! Week 3 ends with a game that has no real impact on the Patriots, because even if the Bears should finish with a bad record, the Patriots would not gain to benefit: the higher of their or Chicago’s fourth-round pick, acquired through the Garrett Bradbury trade, will ultimately end up transferring to the Eagles as part of the A.J. Brown trade. | ESPN/ABC
