The New England Patriots might have lost the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs for now, and they're dealing with some key injuries, but Bill Belichick's squad is still a force to be reckoned with when it takes on the free-falling New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in Week 12.
Patriots vs. Jets live stream 2016: How to watch Week 12 matchup online
The Patriots have shown some cracks in their armor, but they’re still doing much better than the Jets are.
In Week 10, the Patriots took just their second loss of the year when the Seattle Seahawks beat them in a Sunday Night Football thriller. They also lost Rob Gronkowski, who sat out the next week's game with a lung injury. New England cruised to a 30-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers, moving to 8-2.
Now the concern shifts to Gronk’s availability this week. He got in limited practices this week and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, but it’s not a sure thing that he returns.
Tom Brady is still playing at an MVP level, and the Patriots should wrap up the AFC East title soon. But their lead on home-field advantage in the AFC is no longer secure. The Oakland Raiders are also 8-2 and currently have a tiebreaker advantage on strength of victory, so they would get the No. 1 seed if the playoffs started this week.
Despite that bit of trivia, we doubt Belichick is too concerned with playoff scenarios in late November. Few teams are as focused on the here and now as the Patriots, and they’ll be looking to put away a Jets team that has completely collapsed this season.
At 3-7, the Jets' season is pretty much over before they even make it to December. They're five games behind the Patriots in the division and have to jump a half-dozen teams just to get back into the wild card picture. At this point, it's time to evaluate talent for next season, which makes Todd Bowles' decision to stick with Ryan Fitzpatrick curious.
Bryce Petty got his first career start for the Jets against the Los Angeles Rams in their last game. He was, well, not good -- 163 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and 5.1 yards per attempt as the Jets sleepwalked to a 9-6 loss. Following the team's bye, Bowles announced that Fitzpatrick will be back under center, despite throwing 13 interceptions, tied for the league lead.
If Fitzpatrick really gives the Jets a better chance to win, then that's a pretty damning indictment of Petty's development after being taken in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL draft. The only other QB on the active roster is second-round rookie Christian Hackenberg, who is even less ready for the pros than Petty is. It's all a complete mess, and the 2017 Week 1 starter is probably not on the 2016 roster.
With aging players on both sides of the ball, the Jets are built as a win-now team that's not winning now, and one has to wonder how long it takes before they blow it up and start a rebuild. It's possible that Bowles and GM Mike Maccagnan get one more year to try cleaning up the mess Rex Ryan and John Idzik left behind. But that could change if the team doesn't show any signs of progress down the stretch.
How to watch
Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
Place: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
TV: CBS
Announcers: Greg Gumbel, Trent Green, Jamie Erdahl
Online: Sunday Ticket
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