Patriots rooting guide and discussion for NFL Week 16

The New England Patriots will try to get back into the win column this week versus the Baltimore Ravens. Naturally, all of our attention is on that particular Sunday night matchup. That said, some of the other 15 games around the NFL this week are also worth keeping a close eye on.

With that said, welcome to this week’s Patriots rooting guide.

As a disclaimer, we are looking at games through two primary lenses: New England’s chances of winning the division — which they cannot do this week — as well as earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Naturally and given the tiebreaker situation, not every game will be equally important even if it involves common opponents or other teams in the conference or division.

The Patriots were entering the weekend with a 73% chance of winning the division, according to The Athletic, and are 99+% favorite to make the playoffs (they actually can punch their ticket on Sunday). Their odds for the No. 1 seed are not nearly as good and a mere 10% at the moment.

Thursday

8:15 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Rams (11-3) at Seattle Seahawks (11-3): Go good game! Given the stakes, this is one of the top Thursday night games in recent memories. And while it has no impact on the Patriots, it should be a fun watch nonetheless. | Amazon

Saturday

5 p.m. ET

Philadelphia Eagles (9-5) at Washington Commanders (4-10): Go good game! A no-impact game from a Patriots perspective. | FOX

8:20 p.m. ET

Green Bay Packers (9-4-1) at Chicago Bears (10-4): Go Packers! While the game won’t change New England’s playoff outlook, it could end up impacting the draft. The Patriots, after all, own the Bears’ fourth-round pick sent to them by the Chiefs as part of an in-draft trade last year. | FOX

Sunday

1 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay Buccaneers(7-7) at Carolina Panthers(7-7): Go good game! Division supremacy on the line, but the Patriots do not care who will win this one. | FOX

Buffalo Bills(10-4) at Cleveland Browns(3-11): Go Browns! The Patriots won’t lock up the division this week either way, but Buffalo dropping this one would give them more wiggle room: if the Bills lose and they beat the Ravens, the Patriots would be up two games with two weeks to go. | CBS

Los Angeles Chargers(10-4) at Dallas Cowboys(6-7-1): Go Cowboys! The Chargers entering the competition for the No. 1 seed in the AFC is unlikely but not entirely impossible. This is merely based on keeping another competitor away from the race for the first-round bye in the conference. | FOX

Cincinnati Bengals(4-10) at Miami Dolphins(6-8): Go Dolphins! Miami is out of the playoffs, so all wins do over the last three weeks is further weaken the team’s draft position. | CBS

New York Jets(3-11) at New Orleans Saints(4-10): Go Jets! This is the same we talked about with the Dolphins, namely that the Jets adding some more wins down the stretch would end up hurting their draft stock. | CBS

Minnesota Vikings(6-8) at New York Giants(2-12): Go good game! This all-NFC matchup has no impact on the Patriots. | FOX

Kansas City Chiefs(6-8) at Tennessee Titans(2-12): Go Titans! The more games the Chiefs end up losing, the better for New England: they own a Kansas City sixth-rounder next year courtesy of the Joshua Uche trade. The worse their record, the better positioned the pick. | CBS

4:05 p.m. ET

Atlanta Falcons(5-9) at Arizona Cardinals(3-11): Go good game! Nothing to see here, really. | FOX

Jacksonville Jaguars(10-4) at Denver Broncos(12-2): Go Jaguars! This is a big one. If the Patriots want to take over the No. 1 seed in the AFC, they will need Denver to start losing some games. This one against the red hot Jaguars is a realistic candidate. | FOX

4:25 p.m. ET

Pittsburgh Steelers(8-6) at Detroit Lions(8-6): Go Lions! The Steelers missing out on the playoffs would be good news for the Patriots and the sixth-round draft pick they received as part of the Kyle Dugger trade. Obviously, in an ideal scenario, Pittsburgh would still be ahead of the Ravens after Week 16, but a loss here would keep the chances intact of Baltimore eventually leap-frogging their division rivals and pushing them out of postseason contention. | CBS

Las Vegas Raiders(2-12) at Houston Texans(9-5): Go good game! Even though this is a game between two AFC teams, including one competing for a playoff spot, the game has no real impact on New England. | CBS

Monday

8:15 p.m. ET

San Francisco 49ers (10-4) at Indianapolis Colts (8-6): Go Colts! We end the week with a focus on draft positioning. In the unlikely case the 49ers drop out of the playoff picture in the NFC, the Patriots would benefit: the conditional sixth-round pick acquired in the Keion White trade would be better positioned in that case. | ESPN

This article also serves as an open thread for this week’s games. Please head down to the comment section to discuss and share your thoughts on the games as they unfold.