The New England Patriots are back on the road this week, taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Their game will be one of seven in the early window, and one of 14 overall this week.
Here is who you should be rooting for in the 13 non-Patriots matchups.
Thursday
8:15 p.m. ET
Las Vegas Raiders (2-6) at Denver Broncos (7-2): Go Raiders! The Patriots and Broncos are currently tied for the No. 2 seed in the AFC, meaning that a Raiders win might help New England gain an advantage in the standings in Week 10. | Amazon
Sunday
9:30 a.m. ET
Atlanta Falcons (3-5) at Indianapolis Colts (7-2): Go Falcons! Atlanta winning in Berlin would have plenty of positives: it would improve the Patriots’ strength of victory tiebreaker but not the Bills’, and give the current No. 1 team in the AFC a third loss — thus creating a potential pathway for New England to jump to the top of the conference. | NFL Network
1 p.m. ET
New Orleans Saints (1-8) at Carolina Panthers (5-4): Go good game! The Patriots beat both teams, so it makes no difference for them who wins and who loses in this all-NFC South showdown. You could root for the Panthers in hopes of them eventually overtaking the 49ers — for reasons to be explained further down — and pushing them out of the playoff picture. | FOX
New York Giants (2-7) at Chicago Bears (5-3): Go Giants! One word: tiebreaker. With the Giants on the Patriots’ schedule this year, a New York win over the Bears would improve their strength of schedule and potentially strength of victory. The Patriots will take on the Giants in Week 13. | FOX
Jacksonville Jaguars (5-3) at Houston Texans (3-5): Go Texans! Two AFC South teams not on the Patriots’ schedule? Let’s root for the one currently placed lower in the standings. | CBS
Buffalo Bills (6-2) at Miami Dolphins (2-7): Go Dolphins! This one is easy. Any Bills loss will help the Patriots in their quest to reclaim the division crown after five years. | CBS
Baltimore Ravens (3-5) at Minnesota Vikings (4-4): Go Vikings! Your classic AFC versus NFC matchup. NFC all the way in this one, even if it hurts the Patriots’ strength-of tiebreakers. | FOX
Cleveland Browns (2-6) at New York Jets (1-7): Go Jets! Both teams are dead in the water, but a Jets win might end up beneficial in the long run by costing them in the draft position department. | CBS
4:05 p.m. ET
Arizona Cardinals (3-5) at Seattle Seahawks (6-2): Go good game! You could root for Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett in this one, but it matters not from a Patriots perspective. | CBS
4:25 p.m. ET
Los Angeles Rams (6-2) at San Francisco 49ers (6-3): Go Rams! The Patriots own the 49ers’ sixth-round draft pick next year from the Keion White trade, which means that San Francisco missing the playoffs in a competitive NFC would be in their best interest. And in order for them to miss, they will need to start losing some more games. | FOX
Detroit Lions (5-3) at Washington Commanders (3-6): Go good game! This NFC meeting has no direct impact on the Patriots. | FOX
8:20 p.m. ET
Pittsburgh Steelers (5-3) at Los Angeles Chargers (6-3): Go… Chargers? This is a tricky one, because both teams are very much competing for playoff seeding in the AFC and have some advantages over the Patriots: the Steelers own the head-to-head, while the Chargers have a better conference record. It really does not make much of a difference from a New England point of view, so we use the potential of Pittsburgh missing the playoffs after all and thus giving the Patriots a better draft pick from the Kyle Dugger trade as the tiebreaker. | NBC
Monday
8:15 p.m. ET
Philadelphia Eagles (6-2) at Green Bay Packers (5-2-1): Go good game! This should be a fun one, but it ultimately is not a game that will have too big of a direct impact on the Patriots’ outlook unless we really want to dive into other teams’ strength of schedule projections. If you do want to look at this game from that perspective, the Packers would be the team to root for. | ESPN/ABC
This article also serves as an open thread for this week’s non-Patriots games. Please head down to the comment section to discuss and share your thoughts on the games as they unfold.
