Patriots rooting guide: Who New England fans should root for in Week 8

Related: Patriots vs Chargers preview: Get to meet New England’s Week 8 opponent

Welcome to the eighth week of the NFL’s 2021 regular season! The New England Patriots will not enter the action until Sunday, when they will play the Los Angeles Chargers on the road, but as always the weekend is kicked off earlier than that: Thursday Night Football is upon us. To find out who you should root for, please make sure to check out our Patriots Rooting Guide.

Thursday

8:20 pm ET

Green Bay Packers (6-1) at Arizona Cardinals (7-0): Go good game! One of the highest profile games of the season so far really carries no rooting interest from the Patriots’ perspective. As a result, you can enjoy a stress-free evening. | FOX/NFL Network

Sunday

1:00 pm ET

Miami Dolphins (1-6) at Buffalo Bills (4-2): Go Dolphins! Miami beating Buffalo would help the Patriots come within striking distance of their division-leading rivals. That is the preferred outcome. | CBS

Cincinnati Bengals (5-2) at New York Jets (1-5): Go Jets! While rooting for the Jets goes against Patriots’ fans natural instincts, it does make sense here. A Bengals loss, after all, would keep them closer to New England in the race for playoff seeds. | CBS

Carolina Panthers (3-4) at Atlanta Falcons (3-3): Go Falcons! The Patriots will play both teams still, as do the Bills. The Jets have already lost to both, so they are no longer relevant. That leaves the Dolphins, who have lost to Atlanta but could still beat the Panthers. In that case, a Falcons win is the best-case outcome: it would not open the possibility of Miami improving its strength of victory playoff tiebreaker in case of a win over Carolina in Week 12. | FOX

San Francisco 49ers (2-4) at Chicago Bears (3-4): Go good game! Two NFC teams going at each other. Time to sit back and relax. | FOX

Pittsburgh Steelers (3-3) at Cleveland Browns (4-3): Go Steelers! A Cleveland win would positively impact the Patriots’ strength of schedule and possibly victory, but it would also allow the team to pull further away from New England. It’s not ideal, but rooting for Pittsburgh is the way to go here. | CBS

Philadelphia Eagles (2-5) at Detroit Lions (0-7): Go Eagles! The Lions are in the race for the first overall draft pick next year. Any game they lose will keep said pick from an AFC East team. | FOX

Los Angeles Rams (6-1) at Houston Texans (1-6): Go Texans! It likely won’t happen, but a Houston victory would be the best outcome for the Patriots. Why? Strength of schedule and victory tiebreakers. | FOX

Tennessee Titans (5-2) at Indianapolis Colts (3-4): Go Colts! New England has both teams still on its schedule this year, so the game has no impact on tiebreakers. In that case, let’s root for the team with the worse record. | CBS

4:05 pm ET

Jacksonville Jaguars (1-5) at Seattle Seahawks (2-5): Go Jaguars! Jacksonville is on New England’s schedule, which means that this game has a potential impact on postseason tiebreakers. | CBS

4:25 pm ET

Washington Football Team (2-5) at Denver Broncos (3-4): Go Football Team! The classic NFC versus AFC showdown. In this case, it makes sense to root for the NFC side. | FOX

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-1) at New Orleans Saints (4-2): Go Buccaneers! The game has no impact on any Patriots-related tiebreakers, so let’s root for Tom Brady and company. | FOX

8:20 pm ET

Dallas Cowboys (5-1) at Minnesota Vikings (3-3): Go Cowboys! A Cowboys win would improve New England’s strength of schedule tiebreaker, despite the recent overtime loss to Dallas. | NBC

Monday

8:15 pm ET

New York Giants (2-5) at Kansas City Chiefs (3-4): Go Giants! It is unlikely the Giants beat the Chiefs, but Patriots fans should root for that outcome. A 3-5 Chiefs team, after all, would already be looking up quite a bit in the AFC. | ESPN