Patriots rooting guide: Who New England fans should root for in Week 6

Related: Patriots vs Cowboys preview: New England faces a tough challenge in Week 6

Welcome to the sixth week of the NFL’s 2021 regular season! The New England Patriots will not enter the action until Sunday, when they welcome the Dallas Cowboys to Gillette Stadium, but the action actually starts tonight: Thursday Night Football is upon us. To find out who you should root for today and later in the week, please make sure to check out our Patriots Rooting Guide.

Thursday

8:20 pm ET

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-1) at Philadelphia Eagles (2-3): Go Buccaneers! There are two reasons why New England fans should root for Tampa Bay in this prime time matchup, one of which actually has to do with the 2021 Patriots. Besides the Tom Brady/Rob Gronkowski factor, a Buccaneers win would improve New England’s strength of schedule tiebreaker — something that might become important further down the line. | FOX/NFL Network

Sunday

9:30 am ET

Miami Dolphins (1-4) at Jacksonville Jaguars (0-5): Go Jaguars! Jacksonville has been abysmal this season, and now the Jaguars are going international. Patriots fans should hope that they will beat the Dolphins in London to drop their division rivals to 1-5. | CBS

1:00 pm ET

Los Angeles Chargers (4-1) at Baltimore Ravens (4-1): Go Chargers! It really does not matter who wins this game from the Patriots’ perspective, so rooting against Baltimore is the reasonable thing to do. | CBS

Minnesota Vikings (2-3) at Carolina Panthers (3-2): Go good game! The matchup between two NFC teams has only minimal impact on the Patriots and their potential standing in the AFC. | FOX

Green Bay Packers (4-1) at Chicago Bears (3-2): Go good game! Once again, two NFC teams going at each other. The impact on the Patriots is not enough to worry about anything. | FOX

Cincinnati Bengals (3-2) at Detroit Lions (0-5): Go Lions! While Detroit has yet to win a game, doing so against the Bengals would help the Patriots. Ideally, New England and Cincinnati will have the same record after this week. | FOX

Houston Texans (1-4) at Indianapolis Colts (1-4): Go Texans! The Patriots have both teams on their schedule, so rooting for the one that they already beat is the way to go. After all, this will improve their strength of victory tiebreaker regardless of what happens in the game against the Colts. | CBS

Los Angeles Rams (4-1) at New York Giants (1-4): Go Rams! On the one hand, an L.A. loss would improve the position of the 2022 draft pick earned in the Sony Michel trade. On the other hand, an L.A. win would hurt the Dolphins’ strength of schedule (and possibly victory). The second scenario seems to be the better outcome at the moment. | FOX

Kansas City Chiefs (2-3) at Washington Football Team (2-3): Go Football Team! This is pretty straight forward: the NFC team beating the AFC team is good for the Patriots and their standing in the playoff race. | CBS

4:05 pm ET

Arizona Cardinals (5-0) at Cleveland Browns (3-2): Go Cardinals! This is basically the same situation as Bengals versus Lions above. The only difference is that the Cardinals have a better chance of helping New England out. | FOX

4:25 pm ET

Las Vegas Raiders (3-2) at Denver Broncos (3-2): Go good game! Neither team is on the Patriots’ schedule, but both are fighting for playoff positioning against, among others, New England. A tie would be the best outcome, but that is pretty unlikely. | CBS

8:20 pm ET

Seattle Seahawks (2-3) at Pittsburgh Steelers (2-3): Go Seahawks! You know the story. NFC team. AFC team. Rooting for the NFC side is best for New England. | NBC

Monday

8:15 pm ET

Buffalo Bills (4-1) at Tennessee Titans (3-2): Go Titans! While the Titans are potentially competing for playoff position in the AFC against the Patriots, them beating the Bills on Monday night is still the best outcome. After all, a Buffalo loss would move them to 4-2. In an ideal world, they would then only be one game ahead of the 3-3 Patriots at that point in time. | ESPN