After Week 8 of the NFL season, the Patriots sit comfortably in second place in the AFC East behind the 6- 1 Buffalo Bills. With a 5-3 record, the Patriots will likely be a full two games behind Buffalo when they make up their game-in-hand during their November 22 bye.
Since winning the division is always priority number one, this creates clear difficulties for the Patriots in repeating as AFC East champions, and they'll be two full games off the pace.
Regardless, the Patriots have a couple of things going for them now. They have Drake Maye, who's absolutely on fire. They haven't lost a divisional game, while Buffalo has lost to the Patriots. The two teams next meet at Foxborough on December 6.
It will be a pivotal tilt. The Patriots must beat the Bills a second time if they want any realistic hope of repeating as AFC East champions. And even that won't be enough.
The New England Patriots/Buffalo Bills game will be huge on December 6
If both the Patriots and Bills win all their games before their December 6 matchup in Foxborough, even if the Patriots beat the Bills, the Bills would still need to lose to someone else on their schedule for the Patriots to sit atop the AFC East again.
Yet, if they beat the Bills at home and finally reach a point where their record matches the Bills', they'll not only have the tie-breaker in head-to-head meetings but also be ahead in the Divisional standings, exactly where they'd want to be.
It would be a great eventuality to see that scenario unfold. Yet the problem is that Buffalo has to lose to someone else, even though it seems like the only team that can beat them is the Patriots.
So even if the Patriots beat the Bills at Foxborough on December 6, which would give them the head-to-head lead, and both win out, it still won't be enough to win the Division unless the Bills lose another game.
All this is putting the cart before the horse. Each team still has games to play before they even get to that all-important Foxborough showdown, and a Patriots loss to any other team will make that Buffalo game far less meaningful than it otherwise would be.
The key to the Patriots' playoff hopes and winning the AFC East Division for a second consecutive year is easy to determine. If the Patriots win out and get help from another team to beat the Buffalo Bills, they'll again sit atop the AFC East. That's a very tall order, indeed. If not, they'll likely have to settle for a wild card playoff spot.
The prime objective, as now Patriots Hall of Famer and former head coach Bill Parcells said, is to make the tournament. Once you get there, you have the chance to win four games, become the Super Bowl champion, and hold up the Lombardi Trophy.
If things fall perfectly, the Patriots can win the AFC East Division. If they do, they'll not only carve out a playoff spot, but they'll also host a Divisional Round playoff game. That's the objective, but it won't be easy.
It's all up to Maye, who's again playing at an MVP level, and his supporting cast to keep winning, beat Buffalo, and finally get help from someone else beating the Bills. If they do, they can win the AFC East divisional crown for the second straight year.
But even if not, if they make the playoffs, who knows what might happen. No one thought they'd get to the Super Bowl last season either.
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