After getting a win over the Chargers in their first playoff game since the 2021 season, the Patriots go into their divisional-round matchup with the Texans only slightly favored at home. They're still being doubted as a real contender, despite outperforming their last playoff opponent and accomplishing far more in 2025 than anyone could have predicted.
Perhaps that's exactly what they want, since that was the story more often than not, even during the dynasty years. But the narrative surrounding their legitimacy, mainly because of their schedule, is getting old, and it shouldn't still be a talking point when predicting their fate.
That's, unfortunately, what is happening going into this Sunday's game, and although many fans are eating it up in a way that makes it feel like the Patriots are officially back, the analysts on ESPN just gave them all the reason to never let their picks down if they are proven wrong this weekend.
Making it even funnier is seeing their immediate reactions to all picking against New England.
Patriots facing a clean sweep of doubt from NFL analysts before kickoff
While doing their weekly picks on NFL Live this week, the panel of analysts all instantly regretted their sweeping picks for the Texans to win the game by one score or less.
It might be because there's a longstanding curse: when they all pick the same team to win, that team typically loses. Or maybe they really just don't want to see the Patriots win. Don't rule out the latter.
Regardless, they didn't seem completely sold on picking Houston, for one reason or another.
Wait for the NFL Live crew to realize they all picked Houston 😭 pic.twitter.com/62sNKE0MVj
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 16, 2026
This will be a moment Patriots fans will immediately run to if they get the win and head to the AFC Championship, and their faces in this clip will surely be plastered all over New England social media, and rightfully so.
It's just the latest example of the Patriots vs. the world, as it has been and likely always will be, despite Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, the biggest culprits of the most team hatred, being gone from the team for years now.
It adds more fuel to the fire burning in Patriots Nation and becomes another addition to the team's bulletin board heading into the game. Hopefully, they'll prove this panel wrong, again, just like they have done so many times in the past.