New England Patriots: What to root for in Week 16

What are the most important games, outcomes, and scenarios New England Patriots fans should keep an eye on this week?

The Patriots limp into the final two weeks of the season, as healthy as they’ve been all year, but with more questions than ever surrounding the team’s mettle and moxie. Not much has gone right for Bill Belichick’s men since that six-game win streak in the middle of the season.

It started with a 24-point loss to the Tennessee Titans. That sentence in and of itself would seem painful enough, but matters were made worse by the number of ex-Pats on that Titans team: Dion Lewis, Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, and of course head coach Mike Vrabel himself. The double-digit beatdown hurt on a personal level in addition to the scoreboard.

The New England offense sputtered in its next two games, and didn’t break the 30-point threshold again until Week 14 in Miami. Unfortunately for New England, this happened, and all that scoring was for naught.

Last week, the Patriots tried to redeem themselves against their old familiar punching-bag, the Pittsburgh Steelers. That didn’t work either.

Dropped to 9-5, the mood in the Northeast was already somber when news broke that Josh Gordon would be leaving the team to focus on his mental health and to grapple with another indefinite league suspension.

So here we are at Week 16, and the Patriots stand at a crossroads. Clearly they need to generate some momentum and positive energy as they creep toward the playoffs.

First priority is beating the Buffalo Bills. But what other important storylines should New England faithful be keeping an eye on this week around the NFL?