Patriots rooting guide: Who New England fans should root for in the Week 15 Sunday games

The 15h Sunday of NFL action has arrived, and it will see the New England Patriots take on the Las Vegas Raiders at 4:05 p.m. ET. While all our eyes will be on that game, there is a lot of other high-stakes football on the menu.

So, let’s find out who Patriots fans should be cheering for in the 10 non-Patriots contests played today. Welcome to the latest edition of our Patriots Rooting Guide.

1 p.m. ET

Pittsburgh Steelers (5-8) at Carolina Panthers (5-8): Go Steelers! While the Steelers are still mathematically alive in the playoff race, it seems like a long-shot they will make it into the tournament. So, they are the team to root for in order to improve the position of the Patriots’ third- and sixth-round picks acquired from Carolina via trade. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

Philadelphia Eagles (1-2) at Chicago Bears (3-10): Go Eagles! Rooting for Philadelphia here because a Bears win would impact Miami’s strength of victory tiebreaker — a tiebreaker that might become relevant at one point in the wild card race. | FOX, fuboTV

Kansas City Chiefs (10-3) at Houston Texans (1-11-1): Go Chiefs! There is one primary reason to root for Kansas City here: a Chiefs win would not positively impact several AFC teams’ strength of schedule and victory. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

Dallas Cowboys (10-3) at Jacksonville Jaguars (5-8): Go Jaguars! While the Jaguars could theoretically still enter the wild card race, it seems unlikely they will do so. Hence, rooting for Jacksonville for the sake of those two Carolina picks is the way to go. | FOX, fuboTV

Atlanta Falcons (5-8) at New Orleans Saints (4-9): Go good game! This all-NFC South rivalry has no real ramifications on the Patriots. | FOX, fuboTV

Detroit Lions (6-7) at New York Jets (7-6): Go Lions! The Jets are directly competing with the Patriots for a wild card spot, and a loss here against a red-hot Detroit win would help New England quite a bit. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

4:05 p.m. ET

Arizona Cardinals (4-9) at Denver Broncos (3-10): Go Cardinals! Four words: strength of victory tiebreaker. An Arizona win would improve the Patriots’. | FOX, fuboTV

4:25 p.m. ET

Tennessee Titans (7-6) at Los Angeles Chargers (7-6): Go Titans! This is a big game from a New England perspective, because the Chargers are their tightest competition for a playoff spot. A loss here would be big for the Patriots. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

Cincinnati Bengals (9-4) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-7): Go Bucs! The Bengals are competing for a playoff spot, and a loss here would bring them within the Patriots’ range in their head-to-head meeting next week. | CBS, Paramount+, fuboTV

8:20 p.m. ET

New York Giants (7-5-1) at Washington Commanders (7-5-1): Go good game! It really does not matter who wins this game from a Patriots perspective. | NBC, Peacock, fuboTV

Make sure to head down to the comment section to discuss the game, and to take a look at this story stream for all of our Patriots-Raiders coverage.