The New England Patriots face the New York Jets on Sunday, with a chance to extend their winning streak to three games. A victory would give New England its third consecutive win.
For the other NFL Week 6 games, Pats Pulpit’s Bernd Buchmasser offers a fan-oriented rooting guide. His recommendations cover the AFC East race, potential playoff implications, draft-pick value and tiebreaker considerations; they are not an official Patriots position.
The guide separates games with a direct connection to New England’s division or conference competition from matchups with more indirect or limited implications. A preferred result is a fan’s rooting choice, not a guarantee of a change in the standings.
Patriots Week 6 rooting guide: Denver and Buffalo are key targets
Buchmasser recommends Seattle over Denver because the Broncos are an AFC playoff rival. The choice reflects the potential value of a loss for a conference competitor, even though the Patriots have also faced Seattle. The guide’s call is “Go Hawks!”
The other direct AFC East target is Buffalo. Buchmasser recommends the Las Vegas Raiders over the Bills, with New England one game behind Buffalo for the division lead. A Raiders win would be a favorable result for Patriots fans in the race, but it would not by itself guarantee a change in the standings. “Go Raiders!”
Those two picks have different but clear conference stakes: Seattle faces an AFC opponent, while Las Vegas meets the team ahead of New England in the AFC East. Buchmasser’s guide puts both results among the outcomes Patriots fans can favor while keeping the focus on potential implications rather than certainty.
Other AFC results Patriots fans can favor
Buchmasser recommends Houston over Jacksonville. The guide notes a possible cost to a Patriots sixth-round draft pick associated with the matchup, but still favors the Texans. That makes the recommendation a tradeoff rather than a pick based solely on draft position.
For Baltimore-Cleveland and Tennessee-Indianapolis, Buchmasser favors the team with the worse record in each matchup: Cleveland over Baltimore and Tennessee over Indianapolis. The reasoning is to root against the opponent with the better record, rather than treating either result as a guaranteed benefit to New England’s playoff position.
The guide also recommends the Chargers over Kansas City. Buchmasser’s call is “Go Chargers!” The matchup gives Patriots fans another AFC result to watch, though the recommendation does not promise an immediate standings change for New England.
A Giants win could help New England’s 2026 draft pick
The Patriots own New Orleans’ sixth-round pick in the 2026 draft, and Buchmasser recommends rooting for the New York Giants against the Saints. The connection is the potential effect of New Orleans’ record on the pick’s position in the round.
A Saints loss could help move the selection earlier in the sixth round, but one game would not determine its final place. The recommendation is about a possible draft-order benefit for New England, not a claim that the pick’s position is settled.
Tiebreaker considerations and games with limited impact
Buchmasser favors Chicago over Atlanta for strength-of-schedule reasons. The recommendation is a tiebreaker consideration, not a direct move in the AFC East standings. The guide also identifies Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh as its preferred result, applying the preference for an NFC team over an AFC team.
The Tampa Bay choice comes with a potential downside: Buchmasser notes that a Buccaneers win could hurt New England’s strength-of-victory and strength-of-schedule considerations. That makes it another result with competing effects, rather than an uncomplicated advantage for the Patriots.
For Dallas-Green Bay, Buchmasser’s recommendation is Green Bay, framed around strength of schedule. That is an indirect consideration; the game does not involve an AFC East opponent and is not presented as a direct change to New England’s standings position.
The guide gives Carolina-Philadelphia, Arizona-Los Angeles Rams and Washington-San Francisco little or no direct Patriots impact. Those matchups do not carry the same stated division, AFC-rival or draft-pick connection as the other games, so fans can watch them without a strong New England rooting obligation.
Overall, the guide prioritizes the Raiders’ matchup with Buffalo and Seattle’s game against Denver for their AFC implications, while the Saints game connects to a future Patriots draft pick. The remaining recommendations involve possible tiebreaker effects or limited direct impact, and none should be read as a guarantee of a better playoff position.
