The New England Patriots blew out their divisional foe in New York and are still pushing for that number one overall seed in the AFC playoffs. If the season ended right now, they would unfortunately not hold that spot, but there's still one more week of regular-season action to go.
Let's take a look at the updated AFC playoff standings after the early window of games in Week 17:
- Denver Broncos (13-3, 1st in AFC West)
- New England Patriots (13-3, 1st in AFC East)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4, 1st in AFC South)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7, 1st in AFC North)
- Buffalo Bills (11-4, 2nd in AFC East)
- Houston Texans (11-5, 2nd in AFC South)
- Los Angeles Chargers (11-5, 2nd in AFC West)
- Baltimore Ravens (8-8, 2nd in AFC North)
- Indianapolis Colts (8-8, 3rd in AFC South) - Eliminated
- Miami Dolphins (7-9, 3rd in AFC East) - Eliminated
- Cincinnati Bengals (6-10, 3rd in AFC North) - Eliminated
- Kansas City Chiefs (6-10, 3rd in AFC West) - Eliminated
- Cleveland Browns (4-12, 4th in AFC North) - Eliminated
- Tennessee Titans (3-13, 4th in AFC South) - Eliminated
- New York Jets (3-13, 4th in AFC East) - Eliminated
- Las Vegas Raiders (2-13, 4th in AFC West) - Eliminated
Patriots roll past Jets but still need help to secure AFC’s top spot
If the season ended today, the Patriots would be in the two-seed and would host the Chargers in the wild-card round. The Jaguars would host the Texans, and the Steelers would host the Bills. The Broncos would receive the first-round bye.
That first-round bye is still in play for the Patriots, as they get a 7-9 Dolphins team to close out the year while the Broncos are playing an 11-5 Chargers squad to close out the 2025 regular season. While the Chargers can no longer pry the division away from Denver, they're still playing for playoff positioning.
The annoying part of all of this is that the Patriots still have not clinched the AFC East. If the Bills lose to the Eagles later on Sunday, the Patriots will be division champs. If the Bills win that game, the battle to win the AFC East crown will continue into the final week of the regular season.
So, the Patriots could end up as the one-seed, two-seed, three-seed, or five-seed, depending on how that late Bills game goes and how next week's games go. Let's hope the Bills give the Patriots a late Christmas gift and lose later,o n so the Pats at least get a home game.