COMMENTARY
Five takeaways from the Patriots’ 24-3 loss to the Rams, as another chance to climb over .500 goes by, and Bill Belichick’s playoff hopes fade further away…
It’s all but official.
If there was one game in the final five that the Patriots could afford to lose, this was it. The Rams are an NFC team, while the final three tilts on the Pats’ slate are all against AFC East foes, with two of those against clubs they’re trailing in the conference.
Realistically, though, if New England wanted to keep pressure on teams like Miami and Buffalo, they couldn’t afford to leave a two-game trip to Los Angeles without a couple of wins.