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New England Patriots in a respectable place in playoff picture

By Lou Scataglia

Sep 12, 2021; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Nelson Agholor (15) celebrates with New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (85) and wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (16) after scoring a touch down against the Miami Dolphins during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2021; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Nelson Agholor (15) celebrates with New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (85) and wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (16) after scoring a touch down against the Miami Dolphins during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports /
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The New England Patriots have rattled off two straight wins to get to an even 3-3 after six games. Where do they stand in the AFC playoff picture?  In just a few short weeks, the playoff picture in the NFL will begin to be talked about and take shape.

Right now, you can see some of the good and bad teams separate themselves after about 35% of the season.  For the most part, the teams we expected to be among the best are indeed at the top, and some of the teams we expected to be near the bottom are indeed near the bottom.

What appears to be a new trend this year is the insane amount of parity the NFL has in 2022.  This is what makes the NFL king, in my opinion.  There are a TON of “OK” teams in the league through six games.  There may only be a small handful of elite teams, and there appears to also be a good bit of below average teams.

The Patriots appear to be in that OK tier.  The last two weeks have put them on the map a bit, especially since rookie QB Bailey Zappe has been leading the team.  Just two weeks ago, New England appeared to be heading towards an abysmal season.

Now, just two weeks later, the team looks revived a bit with some very winnable games on the schedule before their bye week.  NFL.com has a page that lists the playoff seeding throughout the season.  Right now, the AFC playoff picture appears to be very crowded.  The Bills, Chiefs, Titans, and Ravens are the top four seeds who would all get a home playoff game.

The three Wild Card teams at the moment are Jets (!), Chargers, and Colts, who have won two in a row.  In the AFC, three losses at this moment will have you on the outside looking in.  The first team out of the playoffs in the AFC is the Bengals with the 8th seed.  The Dolphins are the 9th seed, and the Patriots are the 10th seed.

They have some work to do, but there are many, many teams who are in significantly worse situations than the Patriots are right now.  Over the next few games, we’ll begin to see some teams rack up a ton of wins, or, conversely, rack up a ton of losses.

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