Bills resting starters in season finale against Patriots more likely now, and other Week 14 takeaways

While the New England Patriots were able to kick their feet back and enjoy their first football-free weekend of the regular season, the rest of the NFL was quite busy.

A total of 11 games were played on Sunday, bookmarked by additional primetime contests on Thursday and Monday.

This, in turn, gave us an opportunity to expand our view on the league as a whole a bit: for once, the focus was not entirely on Foxboro but rather what was going on around the NFL.

So with that in mind, here are some Patriots-centric takeaways from Week 14 of the NFL regular season.

Due to their loss and the Kansas Chiefs win over the Los Angeles Chargers , the 10-3 Buffalo Bills now own a two-game deficit in the race for the top seed in the AFC.

Kansas Citys recent performances mean that a slip-up is still possible, but there is a chance that Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and company have wrapped the top spot up by the regular season finale.

As a consequence of that, and only one first-round bye being available, the Bills might just decide to rest their starters in Week 18 against the Patriots.

At the moment, after all, the top of the AFC playoff picture looks like this: The Bills know they will host a playoff game on wild card weekend regardless of how they finish the season.

And with the top seed potentially no longer in contention, they might just make a business decision when visiting Gillette Stadium at a yet-to-be-announced time on the weekend of January 5.

This, in turn, could have an impact on the Patriots as well.

With the team in contention for a top spot in the NFL Draft order, playing a weaker Bills team in the season finale should increase New Englands chances of earning a win to close out the year a win that might end up being a pyrrhic victory more than anything.

The Bills game against the Los Angeles Rams was an entertaining affair, and once again showed the value of quarterback Josh Allen.

The MVP frontrunner put on a show after his team fell behind 31-14 in the third quarter.

Over the final 19 minutes of game time, Allen had two touchdown passes and scored twice as a runner bringing his scoring total to six touchdowns on the day (3 passing, 3 running).

While Buffalo still ended up losing 44-42 against an inconsistent but definitely capable Rams team, there is no denying the Bills will be a force to be reckoned with come the playoffs.

That is largely due to the man wearing No.

17.

The reigning world champions quest for a three-peat is alive and well.

Earning a 19-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, they are now 12-1 and in the drivers seat for the top seed in the AFC and its associated first-round playoff bye.

When it comes to the Chiefs, though, much of the conversation is about them winning despite not playing overly convincing football.

Sunday was more of the same.

They needed a last-second field goal doink to beat the Chargers and wrap up the AFC West for a ninth straight season.

The results are all that matters, however.

And in that regard, the Chiefs remind of the 2013 Patriots.

New England also seemed to perform some dark magic that year, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on multiple occasions.

Whether it was their wins over the New Orleans Saints , Denver Broncos or Cleveland Browns , the team needed every break it could get while also actively doing its part to ultimately keep putting itself in winning situations.

At the end of the day, however, their luck ran out; the Patriots were beaten 26-16 in the AFC title game.

Whether the Chiefs will meet the same fate remains to be seen, but they too are seemingly living on the edge every week now.

One day in the playoffs, they might just fall over.

Before moving on, one last word on the Chiefs and their kicker, to be precise.

Patriots fans, after all, might be familiar with the name Matthew Wright.

A career journeyman after entering the league as a rookie free agent in 2019, Wright also spent some time in New England last season.

The Patriots originally signed him to their practice squad on November 30, releasing him again on December 8 exactly one year before his 31-yard game-winner against the Chargers.

On the day, Wright made all four of his field goals from between 50 and 31 yards out; he also split the uprights on his lone extra point.

AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors might be waiting for him.

Speaking of former Patriots, quarterback Mac Jones started another game for the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

For the first time in three such games led his team to victory: the Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans 10-6, a win that also had a positive effect on Jones former team.

As for the quarterback himself, he had an up-and-down day.

He did play a generally solid game, and finished with 23 completions on 31 attempts for 220 yards.

However, he also had two more interceptions.

This means that Sunday marked his seventh straight day as a starting quarterback throwing at least one pick the longest such streak in the NFL.

The Jets entered the 2024 season with high hopes, but it has become clear quickly that they were in a free fall.

Dropping their 10th game of the year on Sunday a 32-26 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins they have now been officially eliminated from the playoffs for a 14th straight year.

That streak is the longest in the NFL, and across all major sports leagues including the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL and MLS.

The Jets will hire a new head coach and general manager in the offseason in hopes of turning the ship around, but it is hard to be optimistic about their outlook: no matter which buttons they have pushed the last decade-plus, they came up empty in the end.

Out of the six quarterbacks selected in the first round of this years draft, Michael Penix Jr.

was arguably the most surprising pick; not that he would end up coming off the board in the first round, but going to the Atlanta Falcons at the eighth overall pick.

Atlanta, after all, had just signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract two months prior.

Cousins entered the 2024 season as the teams undisputed QB1, and looked solid early on in the season.

Recently, however, the wheels have started to fall off.

Atlanta has lost four games in a row, with Cousins numbers over that span truly atrocious.

He has gone 88-of-141 for 1,068 yards with no touchdowns and eight interceptions two of those in Sundays loss against his ex-team, the Minnesota Vikings .

At 6-7, the Falcons playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.

So might be Cousins grip on the starting position.

Speaking of teams who selected a quarterback in this years draft, the Chicago Bears played a rough first game under interim head coach Thomas Brown.

In fact, their first half was one of the worst in recent memory: they fell behind 24-0 while averaging just 0.2 yards per offensive play and showing signs of just calling it quits.

The Bears did look more competent in the second half to finalize the score at 38-13, but they have a long road ahead to get back to relevance.

Luckily, they do have some young talent to build around in the form of rookies Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze.

The Carolina Panthers came close to pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the NFL this season.

Taking on the 10-2 Philadelphia Eagles on the road, they marched down the field in the final seconds in an attempt to score a go-ahead touchdown and erase a 22-16 deficit.

They did come close, too, but rookie receiver Xavier Legette dropped what could have been the decisive score.

Even in defeat and with their record now at 3-10, however, the Panthers have something to feel good about: sophomore quarterback Bryce Young continues to look like he has turned his season, and possibly career, around.

The first overall draft pick did not have the best statistical day on Sunday 19-of-34, 191, 1 TD, 1 INT but he put up a fight against one of the best defenses in football.

That was quite the step up less than three months after he was benched for Andy Dalton, and a promising sign Carolina might be headed toward a more prosperous future after all.

Back in 2021, the Patriots saw something in Jonnu Smith.

An intriguing player in his first four years with the Tennessee Titans despite not producing at an elite level, Smith was signed to a four-year, $50 million contract.

He never lived up to the price tag, and was traded to Atlanta after catching only 55 passes for 539 yards and one touchdown in 30 games.

Earlier this year, Smith joined the Dolphins and his production under head coach Mike McDaniel blows his two-year stint in New England out of the water.

After adding three more receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown the game-winner in overtime versus the Jets Smith now stands at 61 catches for 692 yards and five scores in 13 games.

The Patriots never quite were able to get Smith going within their offense, regardless of who was calling the shots.

Now in Miami, he has become one of the most productive tight ends in the game and the player New England thought it was acquiring three years ago..

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