COMMENTARY
It’s back to work in Foxborough, where the Patriots come out of their bye week intent on turning an 8-1 start into the 15th first-round bye of the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era. With seven games to go they’ve got a two-game lead in that pursuit and are still up a game on the Ravens in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Here’s a look at what lies ahead for the Pats over the course of that sprint to the postseason:
1. Better competition … sort of
For all the talk of how easy the Patriots’ schedule was over the first half of the campaign, if the playoffs were starting this weekend New England would’ve faced three of the AFC’s other advancers.