It didn’t happen on the field, but the Patriots finally got to crack into those boxes with the caps and T-shirts that read “New England Patriots – AFC East Champions.”
New England’s 42-10 thumping of the Jets on Sunday, combined with the Bills’ last-second loss to the Eagles, clinched their first division title since 2019 and ended Buffalo’s five-year run in the process.
The Patriots are guaranteed no lower than the No. 3 overall seed in the playoffs. They’ll play one of the four Wild Card teams.
New England is still in contention for the AFC’s No. 1 overall seed and the first-round bye that goes with it, but they need some help.
If the current playoff seeds hold (see below), the Patriots would host the Bills in the first round of the playoffs.
Here are the seeds where the Patriots can finish in and how:
The Patriots (13-3) would get the No. 1 seed if:
- They beat the Dolphins and the Broncos (13-3) lose to the Chargers in Denver.
The Patriots would get the No. 2 seed if:
- They beat the Dolphins, AND the Broncos beat the Chargers.
- They lose to the Dolphins, AND the Jaguars lose to the Titans.
The Patriots would get the No. 3 seed if:
- The Patriots lose to the Dolphins, AND the Jaguars beat the Titans
When the Patriots lost to the Raiders in Week 1, there couldn’t have been many people who thought it was going to cost New England the No. 1 seed.
But if the Broncos win next week, that loss to the Raiders is the reason the Patriots can’t earn the No. 1 seed because Vegas is a common opponent between New England and Denver.
The current playoff picture:
AFC
Top Seed with bye: Denver Broncos* (13-3)
First round matchups:
No. 2 New England Patriots* (13-3) vs. No. 7 Buffalo Bills (11-5)*
No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4)* vs. No. 6 Los Angeles Chargers (11-5)*
No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7) vs. No. 5 Houston Texans (11-5)*
