Patriots rooting guide Week 3: the New England Patriots head to Sunday’s slate with a clear in-team assignment — win at home — and a fans-first strategy for the other games. The Patriots meet the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at 1 p.m. ET; every other game this weekend is a chance to protect New England’s strength of schedule or the value of draft assets the team currently owns.
This piece maps the 15 non-Patriots Week 3 picks from Bernd Buchmasser’s Pats Pulpit column into a compact, fan-friendly reference: the quick table below, a short explanation of why each pick matters for New England, a TV/watch guide listing the networks called out, and a final set of takeaways that includes cautionary language around speculative draft-value claims.
Patriots rooting guide Week 3 — what to cheer for
Short version for busy fans: root for outcomes that worsen likely AFC opponents’ records or help the teams whose losses improve the Patriots’ strength of schedule. That is the logic behind the picks drawn from Bernd Buchmasser’s piece on Pats Pulpit (Sep 24, 2026). The list below excludes New England’s own game — the Patriots kickoff is Sunday at 1 p.m. ET vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Game-by-game picks (the quick table)
Why these picks help the Patriots
The selections above follow three consistent strategies presented by Bernd Buchmasser at Pats Pulpit: favor NFC teams over AFC teams when possible, push for losses by potential AFC divisional rivals (like the Buffalo Bills), and prioritize results that could affect the draft assets New England currently holds.
Key draft-related holdings called out in the source: the Patriots own the Texans’ 2027 sixth-round pick via the Marte Mapu trade, they hold Minnesota’s 2027 seventh-round pick, and they obtained a sixth-round pick in the Ja’Lynn Polk trade. Any claim that an opponent’s loss “increases the value” of those picks is speculative and depends on how the season finishes; treat such conclusions as projection, not fact.
How to watch Week 3 — TVs, windows, and the Patriots’ kickoff
The Pats Pulpit picks list television windows and networks for many matchups. The networks named in the source are Prime Video, FOX, CBS, NBC, and ESPN/ABC. Keep your stream queue ready for the national windows and the late regional games you care about.
Again, the Patriots play the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Use the table above to find the network for each non-Patriots game you want to follow.
Quick takeaways for Patriots fans
- Root NFC over AFC when the source recommends it — that’s the repeating theme to suppress AFC rival win totals.
- Be mindful that pick-value claims (e.g., a Texans loss boosting a sixth-rounder) are projections. They’re useful for fan strategy, not guaranteed outcomes.
- Enjoy the “good game” slots — some matchups have negligible Patriots impact and are worth watching for entertainment, not strategy.
Short summary: the most impactful items from the Pats Pulpit guide are the picks that directly interact with assets New England owns (the Houston sixth-rounder from the Marte Mapu trade, the Minnesota seventh-rounder and the Polk-related sixth-rounder). Otherwise, prioritize NFC teams in same-week AFC/NFC conflicts to limit AFC opponents’ wins and protect New England’s strength of schedule.
Source attribution and caveats
This article is grounded on the Pats Pulpit column “Patriots rooting guide for NFL Week 3” by Bernd Buchmasser, published Sep 24, 2026. Read the original piece here: https://www.patspulpit.com/new-england-patriots-opinion/138382/patriots-rooting-guide-nfl-week-3-2026. The table and recommended teams are presented directly from that source.
Final caveat: this is a fans-first, opinion-oriented rooting guide. Any suggestion that a particular non-Patriots result will definitively change draft pick value, playoff odds, or long-term roster outcomes should be treated as speculative. Use these picks as a viewing map and a heuristic for protecting New England’s schedule and draft assets, not as guaranteed front-office strategy.
