Forget the esoteric tiebreakers for a second. For those to even come into play, the Patriots have to do something they haven't accomplished all season: string together more than two wins in a row.
After winning 18 straight games last season, the injury-ravaged Patriots have struggled to get on a winning streak this season. They opened the season by beating Kansas City and the Jets. They defeated the Broncos, 41-7, in Week 7 and followed that up with a 23-16 win over the St. Louis Rams. But since then, they've alternated losses and wins, going loss (Indianapolis), win (Buffalo), loss (Jets), win (Miami), loss (Pittsburgh).
That just isn't going to get it done.
"No, not really, not unless you get lucky and play in a weak division, and this year our division is tough," said left guard Logan Mankins. "We need to string four wins together.
"We've been very inconsistent that way. We win a couple, lose a couple. We win one, lose one, so that's not going to get you anywhere. We need to string a bunch of wins together."
The Patriots need to win starting on the road Sunday against the Seahawks, because the playoff tiebreakers could prove back-breaking for them.
In the AFC East, the Jets and Patriots split head-to-head, but New York is 3-1 in divisional play, which is the next tiebreaker. The Patriots are 3-2 with only Buffalo left.
If the Jets (8-4), whose final four games are at San Francisco, against Buffalo, at Seattle, and against Miami, go 3-1 and win both division games, they'll be AFC East champions no matter what the Patriots do, by virtue of a better division record.
The best the Patriots could hope for if they're tied with the Jets at 11-5 is that one of New York's losses is a divisional loss. Then both teams would be 4-2 in the division. The next tiebreaker is common opponents. The Patriots would be 7-1 against common opponents outside the AFC East with the Jets, who can finish no better than 5-3 against non-AFC East common opponents.
