The New England Patriots are sitting pretty in first place in the AFC East and there is one more game worth monitoring this week- and there are two more games left to play.
Game 1: Steelers (-1.5) at Washington at 7:10 PM EST on ESPN
The Patriots will be hoping for a Washington victory to round out a perfect weekend where the rest of the AFC East, along with the Colts, managed to lose. I would be surprised if the Steelers lost, even though Washington made the playoffs last season.
That said, Pittsburgh will be without #2 WR Martavis Bryant (suspended for season) and RB Le’Veon Bell (suspended for 3 games), so if Washington’s CB Josh Norman can find a way to limit superstar WR Antonio Brown, then perhaps Washington could squeeze out a victory...
I might have just talked myself into picking a Washington victory. Yeah, Washington wins this by a field goal.
Game 2: Rams (-3) at 49ers at 10:20 PM EST on ESPN
This game is not relevant to the Patriots seeding in the AFC, but the team will be watching closely since these two teams are on the upcoming schedule. The 49ers will be quarterbacked by Blaine Gabbert and the Rams will be led by Case Keenum and this should be enough to cancel the game.
So good luck if you’re willing to stay up late enough to watch this. It’s going to be awful football, which coincidentally also opens the door for some amazing, bad football plays that yield 50+ yard touchdown scores. I just don’t trust either team to do enough to make the game exciting. Rams should win this one on the basis of their defensive prowess.
Use this as the open thread for discussion.