Patriots rooting guide: Who New England fans should root for in Week 7

The seventh week of the NFL’s 2021 regular season already saw thew England Patriots blow out the New York Jets on Sunday. Tonight, however, the week will officially come to an end on Monday Night Football. To find out who you should root for, please make sure to check out our Patriots Rooting Guide.

Thursday

8:20 pm ET

Denver Broncos (3-3) at Cleveland Browns (3-3): Go Browns! While both teams have identical 3-3 records, Cleveland is the team to root for. Why? A Browns win would improve the Patriots’ strength of schedule tiebreaker and possibly strength of victory as well. | FOX/NFL Network

Sunday

1:00 pm ET

Cincinnati Bengals (4-2) at Baltimore Ravens (5-1): Go Ravens! Rooting for Baltimore may seem wrong, but there is some method to this madness: New England earning the top seed in the AFC is pretty unlikely, but a lower seed is certainly in the realm of possibility. A Bengals loss would therefore slightly improve the Patriots’ outlook. | CBS

Washington Football Team (2-4) at Green Bay Packers (5-1): Go Packers! A Washington victory would improve the Buffalo Bills’ strength of victory and schedule tiebreakers. Hence the “Go Packers!” | FOX

Atlanta Falcons (2-3) at Miami Dolphins (1-5): Go Falcons! A division rival dropping to 1-6 against an NFC team the Patriots will still face? Sounds good to us. | FOX

Carolina Panthers (3-3) at New York Giants (1-5): Go Panthers! The draft is still half a year away, but it seems likely that the Giants will be among the teams with the worst record in the league — just like the Jets and Dolphins currently are as well. If those three teams indeed end up fighting for draft positioning, rooting for the NFC squad to finish with a worse record is the way to go. | FOX

Kansas City Chiefs (3-3) at Tennessee Titans (4-2): Go Titans! On the one hand, a Chiefs win would bring both teams to 4-3 and thus not allow Tennessee to pull too far ahead of the Patriots. On the other, Kansas City dropping below .500 and a bit farther from the playoff picture would not be a bad thing given the team’s potential to make noise in the postseason. | CBS

3:25 pm ET

Houston Texans (1-5) at Arizona Cardinals (6-0): Go Texans! Sure, the draft considerations mentioned above do matter but so does the Patriots’ strength of victory tiebreaker. Therefore, Houston is the team to root for in this one. | CBS

4:05 pm ET

Detroit Lions (0-6) at Los Angeles Rams (5-1): Go Rams! Usually this game would deserve the “Go good game!” label, but it is neve too early to think about the draft and the number one overall pick ideally staying in the NFC North rather than moving to the AFC East by any chance. | FOX

Philadelphia Eagles (2-4) at Las Vegas Raiders (4-2): Go Eagles! NFC team versus AFC team with playoff aspirations? Yeah, that one is pretty straight forward. | FOX

4:25 pm ET

Chicago Bears (3-3) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1): Go Buccaneers! Unless there is any concrete Patriots-related reason not to root for Tom Brady, root for Tom Brady. | CBS

8:20 pm ET

Indianapolis Colts (2-4) at San Francisco 49ers (2-3): Go 49ers! You may have heard this one before, but: NFC team versus AFC team with playoff aspirations? Yeah, that one is pretty straight forward. | NBC

Monday

8:15 pm ET

New Orleans Saints (3-2) at Seattle Seahawks (2-4): Go Saints! A New Orleans win would improve New England’s strength of schedule tiebreaker. That’s good enough to root for the Saints. | ESPN