Pats control destiny
East title looms, top seed within sight
PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK
As the season winds down, the Patriots’ playoff picture is beginning to clear up.
The Pats can clinch another division title before they even hit the field next Monday against the Dolphins. If Jacoby Brissett and the Colts can beat the Bills on Sunday, the Pats will lock up their ninth straight AFC East title.
If they don’t, the Pats can win the division 24 hours later by beating the Dolphins in Miami Gardens, Fla.
That seems inevitable at this point, though. The bigger question is how the Patriots can grab another firstround playoff bye, and more importantly, the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
The 10-2 Patriots are tied for the top spot in the AFC heading into Week 14 thanks to the Steelers’ last-second win against the Bengals last night. So the race for the No.1 seed likely will come down to the highly anticipated Patriots-Steelers matchup in Pittsburgh in Week 15.
The earliest the Pats could clinch the No.1 seed is Week 15. If the Steelers lose next week against the Ravens, the Pats take care of business against the Dolphins, and the Jaguars (8-4) lose against Seattle (or in the early game against Houston the following week), the Pats would clinch the AFC’s top seed with a win against the Steelers in their late afternoon Week 15 matchup.
It’s a little early to determine further scenarios that might lead to a firstround bye for the Patriots, but they control their own destiny. With four games to go, they hold a two-game lead on both the Titans and Jaguars, who are the closest challengers to them and the Steelers for the one of the AFC’s two byes.
Heat of the moment
Tom Brady lashed out against Josh McDaniels early in the Patriots’ 23-3 win at Buffalo, but there’s nothing to see beyond that.
The quarterback reiterated that fact yesterday when asked about it during his weekly interview on WEEI’s “Kirk & Callahan” show. In the first quarter, after the Patriots settled for a field goal as their first drive ended when Brady missed on a third-and-11 play, the quarterback returned to the sideline, where his offensive coordinator seemed to say some things he didn’t like. Cameras caught Brady screaming at McDaniels, seemingly with a few choice words.
“It’s just one of those things,” Brady said. “It’s football, so there’s a lot of emotions and sometimes they boil over, so I apologized and we’ve moved on.
“I wish I had done some things differently.”
There’s no doubt Brady has the highest respect for McDaniels, who’s been with the Patriots for most of the quarterback’s career. Later in the interview, Brady was asked if he thinks this will be his final stretch of working with McDaniels, who may be considered for some head-coaching vacancies in the offseason.
With Ben McAdoo being fired by the Giants yesterday, McDaniels’ name could come up.
“I don’t know,” Brady said. “Josh has had some opportunities, and any time you’re a great coach like him, you’re gonna get them. It’s just a matter of time for Josh to get that opportunity, and he certainly deserves it. …
“I always hope we’re together, but there’s also great opportunities for him at some point down the road, so all that stuff happens later in the year, and it’s part of the whole … NFL changing regimes and so forth and coaching changes, and Josh should be sought after because he’s the best coordinator in football.”
Fleming right in line
The Patriots’ running game has stayed consistent despite recent injuries on the offensive line.
Right tackle Marcus Cannon (ankle) has missed the last four games, and his backup LaAdrian Waddle (ankle) missed Sunday’s game against Buffalo. So, the team turned to thirdstringer Cameron Fleming, who performed well. A week after the Patriots gashed the Dolphins for 196 rushing yards, they put up 191 on the ground against the Bills.
Bill Belichick praised Fleming and his versatility on yesterday’s conference call.
“I thought Cam played hard,” Belichick said. “He was aggressive, had a lot of good plays. As in every game, we all have plays that we’d like to have over again or could do a little bit differently. But, Cam’s been a solid player for us for four years, and he’s always been ready to step in whenever we’ve called on him at both tackle spots and sometimes at guard and jumbo tight end and things like that. But, I thought he gave us a solid performance (Sunday).”