And now once again you have beaten the Broncos in Denver, 34-20 on Sunday, putting the Patriots back into possibly claiming the one seed in the playoffs in 2025.<\/p>\n
We thank you once again for your ability to win in Denver, something we usually can\u2019t do ourselves. If we face you in the playoffs, it will be another tough battle in our crib. Best wishes to all of you and we look forward to many more wins by your team in Denver.<\/p>\n
Take care and good luck to you all!<\/p>\n
Sincerely, Patriot Nation<\/p>\n
2) Trivia question:<\/strong> When Philip Rivers returned to play for the Indianapolis Colts last week, he became only the second grandfather to be an active player in the NFL. Who was the first? Answer at the end of the article.<\/p>\n 3) Geek of the week:<\/strong> Someone said that DK Metcalf won\u2019t get punished by taking a swing at some Lions fan on Sunday at Ford Field. The reason is because a penalty flag wasn\u2019t thrown, so the incident is technically not punishable. We can show you all sorts of basketball fights that have gone into the stands. We can show you that famous pier sixer in 1979 at Madison Square Garden when half the Bruins team climbed into the stands and started beating the tar out of Ranger fans (Mike Milbury hit a fan with his own shoe). There is an invisible line that pro athletes cannot and should not cross. Despite fears to the contrary, Metcalf got a 2-game suspension from the league, which he is appealing. Bravo to the NFL for responding so quickly. It is arguably the most reprehensible moment of this otherwise exciting 2025 season.<\/p>\n 4) Ok, here\u2019s how we stand as of right now:<\/p>\n According to NFL Media, If the Patriots win Sunday at the Jets and the Bills lose at home to Philadelphia, they clinch the division. If the Bills and Patriots both win, the Patriots win the division if they win the week following at home against the Dolphins or if the Bills lose their finale at home versus the Jets. If the Bills and Patriots both lose, the Patriots can wrap up the division on the final weekend with a win versus Miami or a Bills loss at home to the Jets. To win the AFC top seed, the Patriots need to win both games, and Denver has to lose one of their two remaining games.<\/p>\n Assuming the Patriots do win their final two layup games, Denver has to win out to clinch the top AFC playoff seed. They are at Kansas City and home against the Chargers. The Chiefs will not be their normal selves having to play a third string quarterback. But the Chargers will be gunning for the AFC West title. So, stay tuned, Patriot Nation. The one seed may be within reach.<\/p>\n 5) Wow. First, the Chiefs are put to sleep. Now the Ravens are on life support. They could still win the AFC North if they win out and Pittsburgh loses out.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, according to the Globe<\/em>, the Raiders would have the top pick in the 2026 Draft if the season ended today. Are you certain the Patriots actually lost to these guys on opening day?<\/p>\n 6) Back to school:<\/strong> Okay, quick synopsis of the Wild Card round of the FCS playoffs. Alabama nips Oklahoma in a barnburner. Miami edges Texas A&M in a rockfight. Both Alabama and Miami were road teams. Good theater in both games. The other two? Ole Miss slaughtered Tulane. Oregon massacred James Madison. Moral of the story: Take the 12 best teams and leave out these automatic entries. Notre Dame and Brigham Young have every right to be furious. Much as we would love to see these second tier conferences represented in the playoffs, that\u2019s what these zillion other bowl games are for. Our family roots for Fresno State because my wife and oldest daughter hold degrees from that university. The Bulldogs are in a bowl game this Saturday in Tucson, Arizona. If they had won the Mountain West, they would have played in the LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium. That’s about right, and that goes for all comparable teams.<\/p>\n 7) One more thing: Shoutout to Darren Carr, head coach of the Bakersfield Christian High School Eagles and brother of former NFL quarterbacks David and Derek Carr. Carr\u2019s Eagles were the state runner-up for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 2-AA championship. Darren is the Cooper Manning of this family, the only son who didn\u2019t play pro ball. So, while Manning\u2019s son Arch plays quarterback for Texas, Carr is perhaps the best coach of HS football in central California. It\u2019s great when sports becomes an \u201call in the family\u201d thing.<\/p>\n 8) Nice hug between Mike Vrabel and Derrick Henry after Sunday night\u2019s game. Henry played six seasons in Tennessee for Vrabel. I doubt that Henry was thinking \u201cGosh, coach, miss working with you!\u201d, but he had to be at least a little envious of Vrabel\u2019s situation right now.<\/p>\n 9) What a finish to Thursday night\u2019s Rams-Seahawks game. Never mind what the Vikings think about Sam Darnold. What do the Jets think? That two point conversion to a wide open tight end was both the most clutch pass and the biggest defensive choke of the entire season. But Darnold still pulled it off. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit both called it the best Thursday night game to date.<\/p>\n 10) I\u2019m not used to this new overtime stuff in the NFL. Now that both teams are guaranteed a possession in OT, the team that wins the coin toss now calls \u201ckick\u201d instead of \u201cwe want the ball\u201d (Matthew Slater knew that sentence well). It\u2019s like college; the team that wins the toss picks defense. Let the other team have the ball, and play your possession off what they do or don\u2019t do.<\/p>\n By the way, colleges still do overtime the best. Player fatigue should be part of the deal. It\u2019s the same reason you don\u2019t see golden goals in the World Cup. Players eventually get too tired. So then the team with the most inner drive and stamina will probably win the game. The talent has reached a stalemate at this point. Decide the game by which team has the most intestinal fortitude (there are other ways of stating this).<\/p>\n 11) Remember him: The Jets knew better than almost anyone else that they could beat the Colts in Super Bowl III if they could be the team with the most team rushing yards. The Jets actually came up a yard short, thanks largely to a 58-yard run by Tom Matte. But their 142 team rushing yards laid the foundation for their 16-7 win over Baltimore as it opened up the passing game and made a prophet out of NBC broadcaster Al DeRogatis. During the pregame, De Rogatis said \u201cIf the Jets can rush for at least 100 yards as a team, they will win this ballgame.\u201d Matt Snell led the Jets with 121 yards on 30 carries and almost singlehandedly drove the Colt defense crazy. Snell, a first round draft pick out of Ohio State, played his entire nine-year career with the Jets. He never rushed for 1000 yards in a season, but his performance in Super Bowl III was the greatest rushing performance by a Jet running back in team history. He is 84 years old, resides in greater New York City, and perhaps still loves Lite Beer from Miller.<\/p>\n 12) Late word came in regarding the Chiefs. They are leaving Kansas City. They are moving to Kansas City. To clarify, they will leave Arrowhead Stadium, their home since 1972, which sits right next to Kauffman Stadium (Royals) in the same parking lot. They will head just a few miles west into Kansas City, Kansas. Unlike the rest of the state of Kansas, greater Kansas City, including that which lies in Kansas, is quite nice and a vibrant area to live and enjoy sports. My daughter and I saw part of this area in June; we went into Kansas to visit a Starbucks and a Rally House. Overland Park, Kansas is a bowling mecca. One of our local TV stations opined that they will rename the Chiefs the Kansas Chiefs. Don\u2019t bet on that.<\/p>\n 13) This will be the second move this franchise has made. Real quick, tell me if you know of any sports franchise that won a championship and then moved to a new city for the next year and beyond. One of them, if not the only one, is the Kansas City Chiefs. The Dallas Texans won the 1962 AFL Championship in overtime against the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans), then packed up shop and moved to Kansas City rather than compete with the expansion Dallas Cowboys. Chiefs head coach Hank Stram reportedly cried like a baby when Lamar Hunt told him he was moving the team.<\/p>\n 14) Much as I hate to say this, you have to feel a little bit for the Colts. They lost two quarterbacks and their new cornerback (Sauce Gardner) to injury and are now playing a grandfather at quarterback. Rivers played well against San Francisco on Monday night, but the 49ers whupped them in the fourth quarter for a runaway win.<\/p>\n From one grandpa to another: Well done, Papa Philip.<\/p>\n 15) Trivia answer: Brett Favre<\/p>\n![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/USATSI_19392607_168390408_lowres-450x300.jpg\")
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