Patriots have a lot on the line vs. Jets
Win locks up bye in first round, gives shot at No. 1 seed
The New England Patriots have approached the final week of the regular season with a postseasonlike focus.
No, really. A first-round bye is on the line Sunday, so they insist they’re not taking their game against the lowly New York Jets lightly.
“It’s a one-game season,” running back James White said. “We’ve got to play our best football this week.”
The Pats have not played during wild-card weekend since the 2009 season, when they were blown out 33-14 by Baltimore. They also failed to make it to the Super Bowl the other two times under coach Bill Belichick (2005 and ’06) that they played during the opening weekend of playoffs.
So, New England wants a win, which would clinch the franchise’s 13th firstround bye in AFC playoffs since 2001, the most in the NFL during that span. The Patriots (10-5) would also earn a bye with losses by Baltimore, Houston and Tennessee on Sunday.
But they’d prefer to take care of business themselves against the Jets (4-11).
“I mean, for us, this is a playoff game, so we just worry about what we can control,” safety Patrick Chung said.
There’s also an outside shot New England could clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win — which would be its 500th in the regular season — combined with losses by Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers.
Speaking of Gillette Stadium, the Patriots are
the only team in the NFL without a loss at home (70). They could complete an undefeated home regular season for the seventh time since 2002 with a sixth straight victory in the series with the Jets.
“It’s always tough when we play these guys, home or away,” White said. “They’re going to come in ready to play no matter what their record is. We’ve just got to play our best football — which we haven’t done yet and which I’ve said a lot this year. I think we all know that we can play better in general and maybe that’s enough motivation for us to go out there and play our best.”
This is expected to be Todd Bowles’ final game as Jets’ coach. New York failed to reach the postseason in any of Bowles’ four seasons and needs a victory to just match the team’s 5-11 records of the past two seasons.
Jets moves: New York placed wide receiver Quincy Enunwa, cornerback Morris Claiborne and linebacker Kevin Pierrelouis on injured reserve, and activated defensive back Brandon Bryant, wide receiver J.J. Jones and defensive tackle Destiny Vaeao from the practice squad.
Fines: Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman was fined $63,504 for three separate instances of unnecessary roughness against Buffalo last Sunday. Jets coach Todd Bowles was fined $25,000 for criticizing officials. Jets defensive lineman Leonard Williams was fined $43,449 for his actions against Green Bay, and running back Trenton Cannon and cornerback Darryl Roberts were fined $26,739 apiece for unnecessary roughness.