Patriots
The Patriots are back at it after a 10-day layoff, taking on the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium. Kickoff is 1 p.m. on CBS.
New England enters the matchup with a seven-game winning streak, having dispatched the Falcons on Thursday Night Football more than a week ago.
The Titans, who lost to the lowly Texans last week to end a six-game win streak of their own, hope to play spoiler to the successful run the Patriots have been on.
We’ll be offering live updates throughout the game. Follow along below.
A rooting guide to the rest of the day for Pats’ fans — 11:59 a.m.
Here are the four other games that could have the greatest impact on New England when it comes to the AFC playoff chase, and who Patriots’ fans should be rooting for.
•Steelers (5-4-1) at Bengals (6-4), 1 p.m.: Cincinnati is only a half-game behind the Patriots in the AFC playoff race, and while Pittsburgh isn’t far off the pace, a Steelers win could theoretically provide some breathing room for New England. Pick: Pittsburgh, just barely.
•Buccaneers (7-3) at Colts (6-5), 1 p.m.: A suddenly surging Indy team — which has won five of its last six — could see its playoff dreams take a hit if Tom Brady and Tampa Bay can win today at Lucas Oil Stadium. And that’ll be good news for New England, which is a game ahead of Indianapolis heading into today’s action. Pick: Tampa Bay.
•Chargers (6-4) at Broncos (5-5), 4:05 p.m.: Both teams trail New England, so it’s fundamentally six of one and half-dozen of another here. But if we’re forced to choose between the two, Los Angeles feels like the more dangerous team at this point — the Chargers are a half-game in back of the Patriots. That means a Denver win would be best for New England. Pick: Denver.
•Browns (6-5) at Ravens (7-3), 8:20 p.m.: Easy call here — if the Patriots win and Cleveland can upend Baltimore, it’ll provide a boost for New England. At the same time, the Browns are one of three teams sitting a game behind the Patriots. Can you root for a tie? Pick: Cleveland, if only because New England holds the tiebreaker of the Browns if things get dicey later in the season.
Mike Vrabel is in the building — 11:53 a.m.
Some numbers to watch for today — 11:46 a.m.
•The Patriots have not allowed any points in 19 straight opponent possessions, dating back to the first drive of the Cleveland game Nov. 7. The longest streak in team history under Bill Belichick was 35 straight dives in ‘19.
•J.C. Jackson enters this week 10th on the Patriots all-time interception list with 23 career interceptions. With one more interception, he’ll tie with Nick Buoniconti and Ronnie Lippett for ninth place on the all-time list with 24 interceptions.
•Kyle Van Noy scored on his first pick six of his career last week at Atlanta. No Patriots player has ever returned an interception for a touchdown in back-to-back games.
•Quarterback wins are a dodgy stat — football is the ultimate team game — but Mac Jones’ seven wins are the most in a season by a Patriots rookie quarterback, surpassing the six wins by Jim Plunkett in 1971 and the five by Drew Bledsoe in 1993.
•With his next start, Devin McCourty will tie Hannah with 183 career starts, tied for the 3rd-most in team history behind the 283 by Brady and 212 by Armstrong. In addition, he has 36 career takeaways in the regular season–tied with Roland James for fourth all-time in team history.
•Matthew Judon leads the Patriots with 10½ sacks & is tied for 3rd-most in the NFL. With one more sack he’ll join Tony McGee, Andre Tippett, Chandler Jones, Mike Vrabel, Willie McGinest & Garin Veris as the only Patriots players to reach at least 11 sacks in a single season.
All healthy scratches for Pats — 11:38 a.m.
The following players are inactive for today’s game against the Titans — they’re all healthy scratches:
LB Ronnie Perkins: The 6-foot-3, 2487-pound rookie linebacker out of Oklahoma has yet to play a game this season.
RB J.J. Taylor: The undersized back will sit against the Titans this afternoon, which likely means New England feels good about the health of Rhamondre Stevenson and Damien Harris.
QB Jarrett Stidham: Stidham, who was seeing action on a semi-regular basis last year as Cam Newton’s backup, is now basically taking a developmental season. The feeling here is he’s being groomed to be Mac Jones’ No. 2.
TE Devin Asiasi: The youngster finds himself in the same situation as Taylor.
OL Yasir Durant: Another sign that the New England offensive line is a relatively healthy group.
Predict the game — 11:22 a.m.
Great day for football — 11:19 a.m.
Looking at season conditions for football this afternoon in Foxborough — expect temperatures in the 30s to low 40s with clouds and winds out of the southwest at 5 to 10 mph. There’s a roughly 10 percent chance of precipitation. Doesn’t look like it’ll be a weather game today at Gillette.
Pregame reading list — 11:05 a.m.
The only way to get ready for game day:
Mac Jones admits he’s aware of recent hype around him during Patriots’ win streak
What NFL experts are predicting for Sunday’s Patriots-Titans game
4 Titans players to watch in their Week 12 showdown against the Patriots
2 Patriots players viewed among most underrated players at their positions by NFL expert
Welcome back — 11 a.m.
Welcome back to football, everyone, and the start of the post-Thanksgiving dash to the postseason. This afternoon, we have a compelling matchup on tap as the Patriots (7-4) look to take down the Titans (8-3) and cement a place near the top of the AFC standings. Keep it here all afternoon, because we’ll have all the updates you’ll need. That includes the latest from Foxborough, pregame betting information, a look around the league, weather news, inactive analysis, and much more. CUE THE THEME SONG.
