{"id":20885,"date":"2018-12-16T05:00:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T10:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=20885"},"modified":"2018-12-15T23:08:48","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T04:08:48","slug":"new-england-patriots-news-12-16-afc-east-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2018\/12\/16\/new-england-patriots-news-12-16-afc-east-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"New England Patriots News 12-16, AFC East Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Good morning, here is your Sunday Patriots news 12-16, & AFC East Notes<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Quick Hitters this morning:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a reminder that you revisit our keys to the game here<\/a>:
And our players to watch<\/a> from a Patriots perspective by clicking on the links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you Know? <\/strong>With a win today and a Miami loss or tie, the Patriots would clinch the AFC East for the 10th year in a row, breaking a tie with the Cowboys and Colts for the most consecutive years making the playoffs. It will also be the 16th divisional title since 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you Know Pt.2?<\/strong> The Patriots and Steelers are meeting for the 32nd time with New England holding a slim 16-15 edge in wins over but a pretty decisive 4-1 edge in the postseason. The Patriots have won the last five matchups (including the playoffs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you Know Pt. 3: <\/strong>The Patriots and Steelers are #1-2 in several categories since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TOTAL VICTORIES <\/strong>(INCLUDING POSTSEASON)
New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a> ………307
Pittsburgh Steelers…………..272
Green Bay Packers………….268
SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSHIPS<\/strong>
New England Patriots ………….5
Denver Broncos…………………..3
Baltimore Ravens………………..2
Pittsburgh Steelers………………2
Green Bay Packers……………..2
N.Y. Giants …………………………2
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS<\/strong>
New England Patriots………….9
Pittsburgh Steelers …………….4
Denver Broncos …………………4
PLAYOFF VICTORIES<\/strong>
New England Patriots………..28
Pittsburgh Steelers …………..20
Green Bay Packers ………….20
DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS<\/strong>
New England Patriots………17
Pittsburgh Steelers ……………13
Green Bay Packers …………..12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gronk-Brady Connection: <\/strong>With one touchdown reception from Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Brady will tie Dan Marino and Mark Clayton for fourth-most touchdown connections in NFL history with 79. The third most goes to Steve Young -Rice connection with 85 TDs. Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison remain up top with 112, while the duo of Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates (still active) remain in second with 89<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ridley Wants Revenge Now? Not Buying It : <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every so often a player will make some noise about wanting some kind of revenge against another team and it makes sense. And there\u2019s Stevan Ridley. According to Ridley, he\u2019s had this game \u201ccircled for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ridley in the latest example of a player screaming \u201clook at me\u201d told the Herald this week that he was trashed by the Patriots after tearing his ACL in 2014. “I’m just going to put it that way. I’m not going to say specifically, but to be a starter for [the Patriots] for four years, to tear my ACL and never get a callback, that’s a tough pill to swallow.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be clear in his four years with New England, Ridley started 25 games between 2011-2014 and his 2012 season was his best by far when he rushed for 1263 yards and 12 touchdowns. Since then his career has gone steadily downhill with his final year (2014) with him not being nearly as effective before his injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I don’t really need to harp on [the past]. I don’t want to make this interview too much about me,” Ridley said, making it very much about himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Now they’re still looking for a running back to come in and play,” he added. “How many running backs have been through there to try to give them some consistency as a quote-unquote first- or second-down back? They’re still looking for it right now. Yeah, it’s very personal. It is.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, it wasn\u2019t as personal in 2015, when Ridley fresh off his release from New England played for the Jets against the Patriots in Week 15 in the Meadowlands? Since leaving New England, Ridley has been part of six teams, the Jets, Lions, Falcons, Colts, Broncos, Vikings, and the Steelers. There is plenty of room for a lot of grudges in that case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either NE or Steelers Playoff Seeding Can Take a Blow Today:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Patriots and Steelers are always two of the teams that predicted to be among the top seeds of the AFC. This year was no exception but after bad losses in very winnable game situations last week, the team that loses this week could be looking at a fall outside of the teams trying to get a bye week. With the Chiefs on top of the heap with an 11-3 mark, the Patriots lost a key opportunity to leapfrog them at the #1 spot, courtesy of the final play meltdown in Miami. With the Houston Texans also sitting at 9-4, another loss could drop them down to the #3 seed and set up another playoff match on Wildcard Weekend with Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Steelers have dropped three in a row and now sit just a half-game ahead of the Ravens who lost in O.T. to the Chiefs last week. With a Patriots victory and Ravens win over Tampa Bay, the Steelers would lose the division lead and drop them down to the #6 seed which would be a road game throughout the playoffs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flores Takes the Blame for the Ending in Miami, Ready to Move On:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Patriots were stunned by the weird finish in Miami last week but Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores wasn\u2019t going to allow any finger pointing on the team, taking the blame for that final play on himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Flo made no bones about it, he felt like it was on him, but at the end of the day, none of us really care. We weren’t like, ‘Man, that was on you.’ It was more like, ‘That’s on all of us. Let’s move forward,'” safety Devin McCourty said to ESPN\u2019s Mike Reiss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That’s on us as a coaching staff. It happened, we wish it hadn’t, we’ve watched it, we’ve corrected it as a staff, we’ve corrected it with the team, and we’ve got to move on to Pittsburgh,” Flores said to the media. “So if that situation shows up again, I think we’ll handle it better.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He’s on us a lot,\u201d McCourty added. He feels like we need to be an all-about-business defense, and if he feels like it’s slacking, he’ll get on us. If he feels like we’re having too much fun, he’ll get on us. I’ve enjoyed it. Leadership is something he’s meant to do. It’s in him, even outside of just X’s and O’s and football.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who You Have This Week? NFL Week 14 Predictions:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Last week: 7-9 Season 132-74-2 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday night\u2019s pick Chargers <\/strong>over Chiefs 1-0
Saturday picks: Texans<\/strong> over the Jets, Broncos<\/strong> over the Browns<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green Bay at Chicago: Bears<\/strong>
Detroit at Buffalo: Bills<\/strong>
Tampa Bay at Baltimore: Ravens<\/strong>
Arizona at Atlanta: Falcons<\/strong>
Oakland at Cincinnati: Raiders<\/strong>
Tennessee at NY Giants: Titans<\/strong>
Miami at Minnesota: Vikings<\/strong>
Washington at Jacksonville: Jaguars<\/strong>
Dallas at Indianapolis: Cowboys<\/strong>
Seattle at San Francisco: Seahawks<\/strong>
New England at Pittsburgh: Patriots<\/strong>
Philadelphia at LA Rams SNF: Rams<\/strong>
New Orleans at Carolina MNF: Saints<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Saturday: Titans <\/strong>over the Redskins, Chargers <\/strong>over the Ravens<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eastbound and Down AFC East Notes:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bills Getting Healthier Before Taking on the Lions:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Buffalo Bills had a bit of good news for a change this week, Derek Anderson sidelined since the Monday Night game against New England in the concussion protocol, six weeks ago, has been finally cleared to play. Also in the good news category was that RB LeSean McCoy seems poised to play after tweaking a hamstring last week in the first series of the game against the Jets. Also injured against the Jets but expected to play was kicker Stephen Hauschka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCoy who is mired in a very tough season has played in 12 games and has a career-worst 3.3-yards per rush average. Age and a very heavy workload may have finally caught up to the running back who is 30 and will turn 31 before the 2019 season begins. But with Chris Ivory banged up with a shoulder injury, the Bills need him to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the issue may be the play of the offensive line but it certainly seems like McCoy has lost a step. The Bills have a tough decision to make in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolphins Need to End Road Woes Today in Minnesota:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Miami Dolphins are still in the mix after last week\u2019s improbable win over New England. This week they take on the reeling Minnesota Vikings who dropped their second game in a row to the Seattle Seahawks to move their record to 6-6-1. Minnesota\u2019s playoff hopes are on life support after their two latest losses. Miami at 7-6 has to deal with their road record which sits at 1-5. The Dolphins are 1-10 in their last 11 games away from home. The only road win this season was Week 2 at the Jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dolphins will have to follow the latest trend in bringing pressure on QB Kirk Cousins who\u2019s been under siege lately. In the first seven games of the season, Cousins had 308.9 passing YPG; 7.2 yards per attempt; a 14-3 TD-INT ratio, and a 101.8 passer rating. Contrast that to the last six games where he\u2019s managed just 256 passing YPG; 6.9 yards per attempt; a 10-6 TD-INT ratio, and a 93.9 passer rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cousins has been bailing backward behind an offensive line playing poorly. Miami meanwhile has not been great at generating pressure but will need big games from their edge rushers Robert Quinn and Cameron Wake to pull off a win today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another key to watch is Ryan Tannehill on 3rd down against one of the best 3rd down defenses in the NFL. Tannehill has struggled on 3rd down this year. And while Tannehill is getting raves about his \u201cincredible\u201d game against the Patriots it should also be noted he had less than 200 yards passing before his \u201cmiracle\u201d throw last week. I\u2019m taking the Vikings at home in this one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jets Place Crowell on IR Prior to Game with the Texans:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The New York Jets are playing the Houston Texans today (Saturday) and will be without leading rusher Isiah Crowell who aggravated an existing toe injury and was placed on IR. Crowell had 685 yards rushing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He missed last week\u2019s game, the first of his career, he\u2019d played in 77 straight games and Coach Todd Bowles said that the pain his running back was in was “excruciating”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to ESPN, Crowell is no lock to return in 2019. He signed a three-year, $12 million contract in free agency, but he can be released with minimal salary-cap implications. The Jets can save $3 million by cutting him, taking a $2 million cap hit for 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at<\/em> <\/em>stevebpatsfans@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>Listen to our<\/em> <\/em>Patriots 4th and 2<\/em><\/a> podcasts on blog talk radio as Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and myself from<\/em> <\/em>PatsFans.com<\/em><\/a> discuss the latest Patriots news.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a win today and a Miami loss or tie, the Patriots would clinch the AFC East for the 10th year in a row, breaking a tie with the Cowboys and Colts for the most consecutive years making the 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