Looking Ahead Six Weeks

[Yankee Traveler]

We had that last year and yeah it was about this time in the year that injuries and just being down right beat up from so many weeks in a row really caught up. Just ran out of gas or at least became very inconsistent. I wish the league would change it to where they get the Bye Weeks all done in about a 4 week window. Just have 8 teams each week rest. Then there isn't this huge gap of week 4 to week 11.

Agreed.
And maybe for a couple weeks I (or all fans who live away) could catch a Pats (Favorite team of choice) game without Sunday Ticket...

 

[molsaniceman]

on the good news

Julian Edelman (foot) returned to practice Friday.

Edelman suffered a Jones fracture in his foot Week 10 and was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. One of the more injury-prone players since joining the Patriots, but also one of the toughest, Edelman appears poised to play before the playoffs. It's highly unlikely he suits up Sunday night against the Texans, but a Week 15 return may be possible

 

[BigKen]

Now we're looking ahead 3 weeks......

I think the Pats and Broncos will have a bye for the first week of the playoffs.

I'm only guessing based on where teams are today and where I think they will be when the playoffs starts.

Wild Card Games

New York Jets vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Kansas City Chiefs vs Houston Texans

Round 2

Pittsburgh vs Denver
Kansas City vs New England

AFC Championship will be in Foxboro, Mass. and it will be a toss up between the Steelers and Broncos. If the Broncos can get their offense together I give them a 60-40 chance to win. If they keep scoring in the teens, they're toast because the Steelers will not score less than 24.

 

[Yankee Traveler]

I was thinking very similar with the difference being I still see Cincy in the mix with a win over San Fran at a minimum, placing them ahead of NY Jets.
Then it's a toss up if they face Pittsburgh for a third time, who wins best 2 outa 3.

 

[BigKen]

Whoa.........................New England wins, Cincinnati wins and Denver loses today.

New England is 12-2, Cincy is 11-3 and Denver is 10-4. By this time next Sunday Cincy will be either 11-4 or 12-3 and Denver will be 10-5 or 11-4. Either way, the Patriots will be at least one game ahead of either or both and the Miami game will determine whether or not they have a bye if they lose to the Jets.

Jets have won four in a row and are chompin' at the bit to play the Patriots.

 

[TP76]

Pats clinched a bye with their win over the Titans and Denver's loss...

HFA will be locked up with a win over the Jets and a Denver win over Cincy.

 

[patspa]

Pats clinched a bye with their win over the Titans and Denver's loss...

HFA will be locked up with a win over the Jets and a Denver win over Cincy.

Yes the Pats clinched a bye today, 1 seed if win out obviously, even if they lost 1 of the 2 remaining and cincy beats the broncos and both are 13-3 Pats will be 1 seed over cincy due to best win % in common games. It is all layed out with the playoff machine if you mess around with it.

 

[TP76]

Yes the Pats clinched a bye today, 1 seed if win out obviously, even if they lost 1 of the 2 remaining and cincy beats the broncos and both are 13-3 Pats will be 1 seed over cincy due to best win % in common games. It is all layed out with the playoff machine if you mess around with it.

Thanks pp, was a bit lazy in that last post and didn't feel like looking at the tiebreaking scenarios with Cincy.

 

[BigKen]

Blink, Blink...................how fast time flies...............

#1 Denver
#2 New England
#3 Cincinnati
#4 Houston
#5 Kansas City
#6 Pittsburgh

Next week

KC at Houston
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati

The only team that Denver cannot play in the semi finals is Cincinnati
The only team the Patriots cannot play is Pittsburgh

My gut tells me that the Chiefs will be visiting Foxboro and the Steelers will be playing in Denver.

The Patriots have two weeks to work out the kinks in the offensive line and get some timing down between Brady and Edelman.

The AFC Championship will either be the Patriots going to Denver or Pittsburgh going to Foxboro. I think the Patriots get another shot at the Broncos, only this time with a few more bodies.

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Not sure what to think/feel right now? Either BB has started losing his mind over the last month? Or he's going to prove us all wrong and he's been hiding something up his sleeve for the POs? I'm hoping for the latter.

 

[BigKen]

Think about the possibilities for next week....with the Pats and Broncos watching the games

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati.......the Patriots play either one of these teams the following week at Foxboro. Cincinnati looked very good yesterday with AJ McCarron at quarterback. They rolled to an easy win. Pittsburgh had trouble with Cleveland all day. They managed to win, but it wasn't a cakewalk. If you had never seen or read anything about either team, you'd want to play Pittsburgh rather than Cincinnati. I'd much rather see the Bengals come to Foxboro, because they have historically imploded in any pressure game. It's more for both teams because it's also a divisional rival game and the winner gets to shit on the other guy's kitchen floor during dinner. I think the Steelers will be more motivated than the Bengals and will be coming to Foxboro. After an emotional game against the Bengals, it could be really difficult to relight the fire.

Broncos get either Houston or Kansas City. If I were a Broncos fans, I be praying for a Houston upset of the Chiefs. Last thing I'd want to do is play a rival in my own division who hates my guts in a critical playoff game. KC has a boatload of mojo and their on a winning streak. That team is firing on all eight cylinders. The Broncos had all they could do to pull out that victory yesterday over the Chargers. The Broncos are a bit dinged up and having a week to heal will help them get back on a more even keel. They have got to pass block better because KC has seven headhunters up front.

 

[BigKen]

IGNORE MY PREVIOUS BRAIN FART POST......................

1. If Steelers win, BRONCOS play Steelers
2. If Steelers lose and Chiefs win, BRONCOS play KC
3. If both Steelers and Chiefs lose BRONCOS play the Texans.
4. If Bengals win Patriots play BENGALS
5. If Steelers win and Kansas City wins Patriots play the CHIEFS.
5. If Houston wins and the Steelers win Patriots play the TEXANS.

BRONCOS play the lowest seeded team regardless, they cannot play the Bengals.
PATRIOTS play the highest seeded team regardless, they cannot play the Steelers.

 

[cdumler7]

What a crazy 6 weeks it has been. After the Broncos lost 2 in a row I thought there was no possible way we would get the top seed. From what I am hearing right now both the road teams in the Wild Card round are actually the favorites to win.

Honestly for the Broncos I am hoping for a Pittsburgh rematch. Our defense was not happy after that loss with letting the team down. Also I think our offense can actually do a few things against their defense.

As for who both of our teams probably don't want to play it would probably be the Chiefs. They have the best pass rush of any of the 4 teams playing this next weekend and with our OL's looking the way they are that could be disaster waiting to happen. I do think Houston though with how well they have played over the 2nd half of the season could give the Chiefs some trouble.

 

[ohiopatsfan]

Here's hoping all the walking wounded Pats are back at somewhere near full strength for their first playoff game. Several fans are saying that BB wisely rested some of his key players for the Phins game and, with Edelman, Vollmer, et al, returning to the active roster and two weeks for BB to game plan, the Pats should be in great shape. Hope so, but that same dialogue sounds eerily familiar to what was said back in 2012. For those who might have forgotten (or tried to put it out of their thoughts), that was the year the Pats played the Ravens at Gillette and were bludgeoned into submission (and they didn't have close to the injury issues they have now). I have been following the Pats since the days of Billy Sullivan, Butch Songin and BU Field, so I am a devoted fan. I just hope recent history doesn't repeat itself.

 

[NEhomer]

I gotta say....and I hope I don't sound like a wuss for this but I'm really not all that concerned about winning the SB this year. I would be if we had lost last year but Brady got that fourth title that he so desperately needed. He is now 4 for 6 but prior to last year he wasn't 3 for 5. He was 3 and couldn't get it done again....hasn't won shit since spygate (we don't miss that tired old saying do we?) yada yada.

God bless Malcolm Butler...you did it for us son....nice going. Who knows, maybe with that pressure off, the Pats will win it all again.

 

[ohiopatsfan]

I would normally feel that way, NEhomer, but, after Deflategate, being able to compel Goodell to hand over the Lombardi Trophy to the Pats would really be sweet. Combine that with the chance that he would also have to hand Brady another MVP trophy and it's icing on the cake. The only way it could be any better would be if the Pats went undefeated. Call me greedy!

 

[NEhomer]

Lol!

Yeah, but we now have the Pats hater's kryptonite:

 

[ohiopatsfan]

Well, next week it's the Pats facing a team with an 11 game winning streak and the Broncos facing a team with their #1 QB and top WR banged up. It won't be easy.

 

[molsaniceman]

Well, next week it's the Pats facing a team with an 11 game winning streak and the Broncos facing a team with their #1 QB and top WR banged up. It won't be easy.

alot depends on this

ESPN's Ed Werder reports the Chiefs are "real concerned" about Jeremy Maclin's knee injury.

Maclin twisted his knee in the third quarter of the Chiefs' Wild Card win over the Texans. He was visibly distraught on the sidelines before riding a cart to the locker room. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports Maclin definitely suffered an ACL injury, but the Chiefs are not 100 percent sure he tore the ligament. We should know more following an MRI Sunday. Maclin has suffered two torn ACLs in his playing career.

 

[BigKen]

Weather forecast for next Saturday at Foxboro is Sunny with a high temp. of 33 degrees. Winds will be about 10 mph. The only team that hasn't played in cold or cool weather so far is Kansas City.

Denver is supposed to be cold with temps around 23.