Through ups and downs, Patriots still atop AFC East

FOXBOROUGH, MASS. (AP) >> The T-shirts read, “The East is Not Enough.”

It’s a wonder the New England Patriots bothered to put them on at all.

The defending Super Bowl champions clinched their 11th consecutive AFC East championship with a 24-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, giving them a day to watch the rest of the NFL’s playoff picture sort itself out.

With one game to play in the regular season, the Patriots (12-3) are on track for the No. 2 seed in the conference playoffs. A victory over Miami (4-11) in the finale on Sunday, would clinch a first-round bye, as would a Kansas City (114) loss to the Los Angeles Chargers (5-10).

That would mean a 10th straight first-round bye for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

“You win next week and you don’t have to play opening week of the playoffs,” defensive back Devin McCourty said. “We get the first week of the playoffs off, so essentially that’s a playoff win for us. I think that guys understand that.”

It’s been a decade since the

Patriots have faced a real challenge in the division, but this year’s Bills came into the Week 16 game still clinging to a chance to dethrone them. It’s been even longer, though, since winning the AFC East was enough to satisfy Brady, Belichick and the local fans.

“It’s a great step for us,” Brady said. “And hopefully we can build on it and go play great next week.”

With Sunday’s victory by the Ravens, the Patriots were eliminated from contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. New England would only fall to the No. 3 seed and have to play in the wild-card round if it loses to the Dolphins and the Chiefs beat the Chargers. (Kansas City holds the tiebreaker over the Patriots by virtue of their 23-16 victory in Week 14.)