Games that the New England Patriots must win in 2022
If the New England Patriots want to be a competitive team in 2022, there are several games on their roster than they must win. Fortunately for the team, they have the best NFL coach in history, so they’ll likely be coming into most games with a massive advantage. However, the lack of top-end talent on their roster might prevent them from making much noise during the season.
Anything can happen in the NFL, and it’s still possible that the team musters double digit wins and earns a playoff spot, even if it seems unlikely right now. If they want to do this, there are several games on their schedule for 2022 that they must win.
Games that the Patriots must win in 2022
Week 1 or 17 – Miami Dolphins
Even though the Dolphins revamped their offense this offseason, they’re in the first year of a new head coach and have a ton of new faces. The Patriots will need to win at least one of these matchups, especially for standings in the division.
The Patriots have a few advantages over the Dolphins and will need to be close to their best to take down this revived team.
Week 5 – Detroit Lions
Some are projecting the Lions to be a surprise team this year. They’re in year two of the Dan Campbell era and weren’t that great in 2021. However, a nice offseason with solid additions on both sides of the ball have made them an interesting team.
I think we’re looking at 2023 or 2024 being the year for the Lions to potentially breakout, but not this year.
Week 6 – Cleveland Browns
The Browns will be without Deshaun Watson for this game, and starting Jacoby Brissett in his place is putting them at a big disadvantage.
The Patriots should be able to take care of business here. I do think it will be a tough game, but the Browns shouldn’t be much of a threat until Watson gets back.
Week 7 – Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are in year one of an entirely new era, and their offseason wasn’t that great. They don’t have good weapons on offense or an offensive line to keep Justin Fields upright.
This is going to be a long rebuilding process for the Bears, so I’d expect them to only win a couple games in 2022.
Week 8 and 11 – New York Jets
The Patriots need to win both of their matchups against the Jets. The Jets are set to see if Zach Wilson can take a year two leap.
Joe Douglas took over in 2019, so this being year four makes it a big year for him and the team. They’ve got some nice talent on the roster, but fielded poor play on both sides of the ball last season.
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Other that than, the rest of the matchups on the Patriots’ roster are all games that can easily go one way or the other, but the team is needing to win at least these six or seven games if they want to have even a chance at being a legitimate playoff contender in 2022.