The New England Patriots’ Sunday is off to a perfect start: with the team beating the Miami Dolphins 21-11, Patriots fans can enjoy a quiet and stress-free afternoon — one that features four games. With that being said, what are those games? And who should Patriots fans root for? Let’s find out.
4:05 pm ET
Los Angeles Chargers (0-0) at Cincinnati Bengals (0-0): CBS
Go Bengals! When looking at the grand scheme of things in the AFC, rooting for the team that is projected as the weaker one is a good way to go in a conference matchup like this one. That team is Cincinnati coming off a season in which the Bengals earned the first overall draft pick.
4:25 pm ET
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-0) at New Orleans Saints (0-0): FOX
Go Buccaneers! Seeing Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski wearing the Buccaneers’ uniforms will be weird, but their new club is still the one to root for: Brady and Gronkowski are New England legends, and despite their departures still beloved figures in New England.
Arizona Cardinals (0-0) at San Francisco 49ers (0-0): FOX
Go good game! While the Patriots will go up against the two NFC West rivals later during the season, the winner of today’s contest has no impact whatsoever on New England in the standings. You could root for ex-Patriot Jimmy Garoppolo, though.
8:20 pm ET
Dallas Cowboys (0-0) at Los Angeles Rams (0-0): NBC
Go Rams! There are two reasons to root for the home team in the first Sunday nighter of the season: a win will improve New England’s strength of schedule (and possibly strength of victory) tiebreakers, while it will also hurt Dallas’ draft position with the Patriots owning the team’s sixth-rounder in 2021 as part of the Michael Bennett trade.