Patriots rooting guide: Who New England fans should root for on Week 9 Thursday Night Football

Week 9 of the NFL season has arrived, and as usual the action will be kicked off with some primetime action.

This week’s edition of Thursday Night Football will see the Houston Texans host the Philadelphia Eagles at NRG Stadium. What does the matchup mean from a New England Patriots point of view, though? Let’s find out.

Welcome to our first rooting guide of the week.

8:15 p.m. ET

Philadelphia Eagles (7-0) at Houston Texans (1-5-1): Go Texans! While our usual rule of NFC over AFC would apply here, Houston is still our pick in this one. Why? Because a) they are no real threat in the playoff picture, and b) a Texans victory might help the Patriots’ draft outlook for 2023. New England, after all, owns extra third- and sixth-round draft picks from the currently 2-6 Carolina Panthers. The worse the Panthers finish in a league-wide comparison, the better for the Patriots. A Houston win would push them from the third into the second spot at the moment. | Amazon Prime, fuboTV

Make sure to head down to the comment section to discuss tonight’s game, and to check out this story stream for all of our coverage of the Patriots’ own Week 9 game against the Indianapolis Colts.