Befuddled Patriots unbeaten at home, 3-5 on road

FOXBOROUGH, MASS. » If things go right, the Patriots won’t have to play another road game until a potential Super Bowl appearance.

That would be welcome news for a team that takes a 7-0 home record into Sunday’s regular-season finale against the New York Jets — and is just 3-5 on the road.

“Trust me, I wish I knew the answer to that,” safety Duron Harmon said when asked about the home/road disparity. “At the end of the day, I mean . . . our fans are great, they’re loud, they’re here, they’re supporting us. As far as the road woes, I really don’t know. I wish we could have the answer to that because then we would fix it.

“We’re working on it. We’re worried about being a consistent football team, getting better so that when an opportunity comes to play on the road down the road we’ll make sure we’re ready to go. But right now we’re just focusing on winning this Jets game.”

There are two paths that could keep the Patriots, who wrapped up their 10th straight division title last week, from another road game. Both require help from outside — one requires A LOT of help.

Assuming New England finishes off an 8-0 home slate with a win over the Jets, one of the teams the Patriots have beaten on the road, here are two ways to set up two home playoff games:

• Both the Chiefs and Chargers lose Sunday, playing at home against weaker opponents, Oakland and Denver, respectively. Very unlikely. • The Chiefs or Chargers lose their first playoff game to one of the wild cards. Possible. Asked if he’d just as soon put off testing the road record until next year, Harmon said, “Oh for sure,” and added, “The only thing we’re focused on right now is just winning this week.”

“We know we are. We know that we have about five losses on the road,” said Rob Gronkowski. About? “But we really never put any thought into it, like why we’re 7-0 at home and we’re 3-5 on the road. It just shows how tough it is to go play in the NFL, to go and win a road game.

“I’ve been playing for a few (nine) years now and no doubt about it, going on the road is definitely tough in the NFL . ... You gotta deal with it — we got the Jets this week and we’re home, so our main focus is on them and what we gotta do to beat them.”