Patriots rooting guide: Who New England fans should root for in the Week 10 Sunday games

Week 10 is in full swing, but the New England Patriots will not participate. Sitting at 5-4 after the first nine games of the season, they are currently on their bye — one of four teams enjoying a weekend off alongside the New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.

There will still be a lot of football played today, so let’s find out who Patriots fans should be cheering for. Welcome to the latest edition of our Patriots Rooting Guide.

9:30 a.m. ET

Seattle Seahawks (6-3) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5): Go... Buccaneers? The game itself has little impact on the Patriots, but rooting for Tom Brady always makes sense. He would become the first quarterback to win a game in four different countries. | NFL Network

1 p.m. ET

Minnesota Vikings (7-1) at Buffalo Bills (6-2): Go Vikings! This is pretty straight-forward. The Bills are one of New England’s division rivals, and every loss suffered by them is a positive for the Patriots — especially with both Patriots-Bills game still to be played. | FOX, fuboTV

Detroit Lions (2-6) at Chicago Bears (3-6): Go Lions! The Patriots already played both those teams, beating the Lions but losing to the Bears. A Detroit victory would therefore improve their strength of victory tiebreaker. | FOX, fuboTV

Jacksonville Jaguars (3-6) at Kansas City Chiefs (6-2): Go Jaguars! In order to keep the top teams in the conference from pulling away, let’s root for Jacksonville in this one. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

Cleveland Browns (3-5) at Miami Dolphins (6-3): Go Browns! The Dolphins already beat the Patriots and are currently ahead of them in the AFC East standings. A Cleveland win would help New England stay close, and also improve the club’s strength of victory. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

Houston Texans (1-6-1) at New York Giants (6-2): Go Texans! This one has an eye on the Patriots’ third- and sixth-round picks courtesy of a trade with the Carolina Panthers. A Houston victory would help the 3-7 Panthers stay in the race for the first overall draft pick, which would also benefit New England. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

New Orleans Saints (3-6) at Pittsburgh Steelers (2-6): Go Steelers! Another game possibly impacting the Patriots’ strength of victory in a positive way. | FOX, fuboTV

Denver Broncos (3-5) at Tennessee Titans (5-3): Go Broncos! Denver is clearly behind the Patriots in the standings and not a real threat to their place in the playoff picture at the moment. The Titans, meanwhile, would drop to the same record as New England with a loss — which might become important if both teams end up competing for either a wild card spot or the top four seeds in the conference. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

4:05 p.m. ET

Indianapolis Colts (3-5-1) at Las Vegas Raiders (2-6): Go Colts! The Patriots already beat Indianapolis, so this one would impact strength of victory again. Of course, the will play Las Vegas further down the line. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

4:25 p.m. ET

Dallas Cowboys (6-2) at Green Bay Packers (3-6): Go Packers! The Patriots may have lost to Green Bay in Week 4, but a win would still improve New England’s strength of schedule tiebreaker. | FOX, fuboTV

Arizona Cardinals (3-6) at Los Angeles Rams (3-5): Go Cardinals! There are two reasons to root for Arizona here: 1.) The Patriots will play the team in Week 14, meaning it will have an impact on their strength of schedule and ideally strength of victory tiebreakers; 2.) The Rams’ fourth-round draft pick has been traded to New England and every L.A. loss is therefore a positive from that perspective. | FOX, fuboTV

8:20 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Chargers (5-3) at San Francisco 49ers (4-4): Go Niners! If San Francisco beats the Chargers tonight, and the other games go according to plan, the Patriots would move into the playoff picture without even taking a snap this weekend. Sounds like a good outcome. | NBC, Peacock, fuboTV

Make sure to head down to the comment section to discuss the game, and to take a look at this breakdown of the current state of the Patriots halfway through the season.