A Patriots Fan's Rooting Guide for Bye Week

BOSTON -- The New England Patriots will not play football this weekend. That noise you just heard was the collective sigh of relief being let out by fans who've suffered through some rough Sundays this season. This week marks a well-deserved break.

Yet that doesn't mean Patriots fans won't have any rooting interests this weekend, as the "fight" for the top picks in next year's NFL Draft figures to take a number of twists and turns between now and the end of the regular season.

As things currently stand, the Patriots are in line to make the fourth pick in the draft, as their 3-10 record is better than only the Jaguars, Raiders and Giants, all of whom are 2-10.

1. Current NFL Draft Order (Per Tankathon)
   Jaguars, 2-10
2. Raiders, 2-10
3. Giants, 2-10
4. Patriots, 3-10
5. Carolina, 3-9
6. Jets, 3-9
7. Titans, 3-9
8. Browns, 3-9
9. Saints, 4-8
10. Bengals, 4-8
11. Bears, 4-8

Clearly, it's a crowded group in the basement of the NFL, so movement over the final five weeks of the regular season is a guarantee.

For the Patriots, it's possible that they pick up another win. They'll come out of their bye with road games in Arizona (6-6, 4-2 at home) and Buffalo (10-2, 6-0 at home) before returning to Foxboro to host the Chargers (8-4, 4-2 on the road) and Bills (4-2 on the road). They'll rightfully be underdogs in all of those games, but they could win a game. So, barring a series of odd miracles, they're finishing the year with either a 3-14 record or a 4-13 record.

With that in mind, and with the assumption that Patriots fans are hoping the team at least ends up with as high of a draft pick as possible after this painful season, here's where New England's rooting interests should lie on Sunday.

Jaguars (2-10) at Titans (3-9)
Buckle up your chinstraps, Pats fans, because it's time to once against root for Mac Jones.

(I'll give you a minute to collect yourselves. I know that can be tough to swallow.)

With Trevor Lawrence on IR after suffering a concussion last week, the Jags are going back to Mac Jones, who's been pretty terrible this season when filling in for Lawrence. He's 0-2 in the games he's started, and he's thrown two touchdowns with three interceptions on the season. For perspective, his 70.6 passer rating is markedly worse than his 77.0 rating last year and significantly worse than the 84.8 rating he posted when he ran an offense that was being run by Matt Patricia in 2022.

But, well, the Patriots are going to want all of those two-win teams to get a win or two between now and Week 18. And there's good news on that front. The Jaguars will play the 3-9 Jets in Week 15, the 2-10 Raiders in Week 16, and then the 3-9 Titans again in Week 17. Can Jones and the Jags win a couple of those? It seems doable.

That being said, Jags-Titans may be the most unwatchable game of the entire season for the NFL. This game should only be followed via box score. There's no need to inflict that kind of torment on oneself.

(Of course, with the Jaguars and Titans playing each other twice in a four-week span, a split may be the ideal outcome. But for this weekend, it would be best to hope the Jags can pull off a win for the first time since they beat ... the Patriots, way back in Week 7.)

Raiders (2-10) at Buccaneers (6-6)

On its surface, this looks a game where the Raiders should not be competitive. Yet looking just at last week's results, perhaps the teams are closer than they appear.

The Raiders put forth an impressive performance last Friday in Kansas City ... right up until their final offensive snap, when they fumbled away their chance to tie the game and force overtime. Then on Sunday, the Bucs should have lost to the 3-9 Panthers, but Adam Thielen was robbed of an impressive touchdown catch, and Chuba Hubbard fumbled the game away after an insane Thielen catch had put the Panthers in position to win with a game-tying field goal in overtime.

The Raiders haven't won a game since Week 4. Woof. And though the Bucs had some impressive wins early in the season (against Detroit, Washington and Philadelphia), they've fattened up a bit against much lesser teams (Saints, Giants, Panthers) for their most recent three wins. This could be a competitive game, so Patriots fans don't need to be too afraid to root for Tom Brady's team. (It will never feel right to call the Raiders Tom Brady's team, but it's time to get used to it.)

Jets (3-9) at Dolphins (5-7)

For as much as you'd probably like to root for continued disasters to haunt Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, it may be time to take a week off from that hope. The Jets have five games remaining. As mentioned earlier, they'll get the Jaguars next week. They'll also have a Week 18 rematch with Miami, but Rodgers could be on some private island somewhere watching his own Netflix documentary and laughing at all the cash he grabbed from a sad New York football franchise. With games against the Rams and at Buffalo in Weeks 16 and 17, there just aren't a ton of opportunities remaining for the Jets to add to their win total.

And it's sneaky important for the Jets to win another game or two, as far as draft order goes, because the Patriots picked up one of their rare wins against the Jets. So if the Patriots and Jets finish with the same record, then draft order will be determined by strength of schedule. The Patriots currently have a much lower strength of schedule (.386) than the Jets (.523), so it's not an issue at the moment. But with three games remaining against some of the best teams in the AFC, that number's going to rise for the Patriots before the end of the season. It would be ideal then (if you can stomach it) to hope for a Jets victory on Sunday in Miami.

Saints (4-8) at Giants (2-10)

Remember earlier when I said Jags-Titans might be the worst game of the entire season for the NFL? Well, these two teams may have something to say about that.

On the one hand, this may be the Giants' last chance to win a game. They have the Ravens, Falcons, Colts and Eagles left on their schedule after this. (Though Philly may be resting starters in Week 18, who knows.)

On the other hand ... the Giants looked decently competent on Thanksgiving with Drew Lock at quarterback. Perhaps Brian Daboll, with extra time to prepare, can cook up a way to attack a dome team playing outdoors in December with the NFL's 30th-ranked defense. Perhaps.

Browns (3-9) at Steelers (9-3)

It's probably not worth investing too much emotion in this one, as the Browns already pulled off their upset of the Steelers in Week 12. The Browns might have caught the Steelers by surprise in that one, so it's probably safe to assume the superior team will be better prepared for the rematch.

Still, it happened once, so it technically could happen again ... so long as Jameis Winston's prayers are answered.

Panthers (3-9) at Eagles (10-2)

Yeah, you can probably just skip this one. The Panthers have only beaten the Raiders, Saints and Giants this year. Those three teams have a combined eight wins. The Eagles are 10-2. You can hope the Panthers somehow pull out a victory all you'd like, but it's probably best to not bother.

Bears (4-8) at 49ers (5-7)

You know, the Bears are a bit of a disaster. And though some teams get a little boost the week after firing their head coach, it's difficult to envision that happening for this particular team. Recovering from a loss as embarrassing as last week's can be difficult, so temper expectations for the Bears this weekend in Santa Clara.

Yet the 49ers are in their own sort of spiral, and they've already lost three games at home this season. So the Bears can't be completely ruled out of having a chance here. (With road games at Minnesota and Green Bay and home games against Detroit and Seattle, it's looking rather unlikely the Bears will be picking up win No. 5 before the end of the season.)

Chargers (8-4) at Chiefs (11-1)

This one's a bit off the board, as it doesn't involve rooting for a terrible team to pull off an upset victory. And admittedly, the rooting interest requires some creativity.

However: If the Chiefs drop to 11-2, and if the Bills beat the Rams in L.A., then Buffalo will move into the No. 1 spot in the AFC. With just one bye per conference, that's an invaluable place to be entering the playoffs. And though Buffalo still has a tough game on tap next week in Detroit, the fight for the No. 1 seed could and should lead to Week 18 being important for the Bills. And with the Bills playing in Foxboro in Week 18, that matters. If the Bills don't have a chance at the first-round bye, then they could use that week at Gillette to rest starters and look ahead to the playoffs. That could result in a freebie victory for the Patriots, which could hurt their draft order.

The Chiefs do have a few tough games left on their schedule (vs. Houston, at Pittsburgh, at Denver), so the prospect of Buffalo ending up with that No. 1 seed seems almost likely.

That being said, a loss for the Chiefs this week could certainly get that ball rolling.

Bengals (4-8) at Cowboys (5-7)

The Bengals are, without question, the most shocking resident of the NFL's cellar, as they were expected to contend for a spot in the Super Bowl this year. A Week 1 home loss to the Patriots was thought of as a blip or an anomaly at the time, but it turns out that's been more or less what the team is this year. Not good.

It would benefit New England for the Bengals to win another game or two in the final weeks of the season. A Monday night in Dallas seems as good a time as any for the Bengals to make it happen.

So there you have it. All you have to do is root for the Jaguars, Raiders, Giants, Jets, Browns, Panthers, Bears, Chargers and Bengals in order for the Patriots to get a little help in the crowded race for a top draft pick. Piece of cake. What could go wrong?

"Enjoy" the football this weekend. It ought to be ... well, it ought to be something.