Ranking the New England Patriots’ 9 Wild Card Game showdowns

The Wild Card Game has been foreign territory for the New England Patriots. The fan base has long grown accustomed to sitting back and watching their squad run over the competition during the regular season before leaving the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, and Miami Dolphins in the dust as they cruise to the AFC East crown and ultimately, the number one overall seed.

At one point, there must’ve been serious consideration being put into renaming the division after the Patriots. From 2003-2019, the Patriots won 16 of those 17 divisional crowns. Fast forward to today, however, and the Patriots don’t have that same stranglehold on the division.

With the Buffalo Bills winning back-to-back AFC East crowns, the Patriots now find themselves fighting for a chance to advance to the second round of the playoffs as opposed to their usual waltz into the division round.

This weekend, ironically enough, the Patriots will square off against those same Bills. So, with New England now gearing up for another Wild Card Game, we have to ask: how do they traditionally perform during these early rounds of the playoffs? Apparently, not so great. The franchise currently has a record of 4-5 in nine appearances.

Outside of just the wins and losses, let’s dive deeper into the results. Were they close or utter blowouts? We’ll take a trip down memory lane and rank every New England Wild Card Game in history.