The early games are in the books, but while the New England Patriots don’t play until Monday night, there are still more games to watch. Here’s your slate of late games.
4:05 PM ET
Jets (-1.5) at Broncos: The Patriots want the Jets to win (gross) because it could boost the Patriots strength of schedule more with two games weighting the calculations. It would also hurt the Jets draft pick, which is a nice bonus.
Washington at Chargers (-6): The Patriots want the Chargers to win for the sake of strength of schedule and victory. We can worry about whether or not we actually want Los Angeles in the postseason if/when the Jaguars lose their next game.
Titans (-3) at Cardinals: The Patriots want the Titans to win to keep pace with the Jaguars atop the AFC South and to possible steal the division title. It’s better for the Patriots if Jacksonville has to go on the road.
4:25 PM ET
Seahawks at Jaguars (-3): Imagine Jacksonville as the favorite over Seattle this past summer? How things have changed. The Patriots want the Seahawks to pull off the upset to give Patriots more space atop the AFC.
Eagles at Rams (-2): This game doesn’t directly affect the Patriots, but since I think the Eagles are the better team, it would be better for the Rams to win to push Philadelphia down the seeding in the NFC.
8:30 PM ET on NBC
Ravens at Steelers (-4.5): The Patriots want the Steelers to lose because that could set up a scenario where the Patriots can clinch homefield advantage in week 15.
Use this as the open thread for discussion.