Four thoughts on Sunday’s games from a Patriots’ perspective

The Patriots weren't in action Sunday -- New England faces Buffalo Monday night in upstate New York -- but they were still impacted by what happened around the league. Here are four things that stood out from a Patriots' perspective.

1. The Packers are going to want to slow the game down when they meet the Patriots next week. Against the Rams on Sunday, Green Bay was able to put the reins on the Los Angeles’ passing attack for the first half on Sunday, but couldn’t hold on down the stretch. I’m admittedly broad-brushing it here, but the Patriots have a similarly deep offense as what the Packers faced Sunday, and so I’d imagine their defensive game plan — which will be formulated by former Jets coordinator Mike Pettine, who knows the Patriots as well than anyone — will have some similarities next week in Foxborough. Keep Tom Brady off the field, and you stand a better chance of winning the game. One other thing to keep in mind about the Packers: They were able to bring good, consistent pressure on Jared Goff with blitzes throughout the afternoon, but the Rams were able to move the ball using nice balance of pass and run. No one is comparable to Todd Gurley III right now (who just might end up winning the MVP), but maybe the Patriots can combine the talents of James White and Sony Michel to create a Gurley-esque hybrid against Green Bay to keep the Packers' defense on its heels.

2. I want to keep buying into the idea of the Ravens — especially on defense — as a team capable of challenging New England. But they keep making it difficult with some really inconsistent performances. Admittedly, the Panthers are a tough out at home. But good defenses (championship defenses) find a way to win these sorts of games. Or at least do a better job playing complementary football. On Sunday, the Panthers finished with 36 points and 386 yards against a Baltimore team that was allowing 14.4 points and 280.6 yards per game going into the contest. It all set up for a 36-21 win for Carolina. The Ravens’ offense simply isn’t good enough to overcome that sort of performance, at least right now.

3. In that same line of thinking, the Chiefs weren’t perfect, but they were good enough. Pat Mahomes threw a pick and the Broncos were able to hang around into the second half and keep it close. But it was Kansas City who ended up carrying the day, as Mahomes added four touchdowns and Kareem Hunt made a Denver defender look foolish with an impressive hurdle on the way to a 30-23 win. Let’s be honest — there’s no harm in looking ahead here. If the Patriots beat the Bills on Monday, New England will be 6-2, a game back of Kansas City (7-1). Five of the Chiefs’ eight games left are against teams .500 or below. (The Chargers, Rams and Seahawks are the teams at .500 or better left on their slate.) Meanwhile, New England also has six games against teams .500 or below (The Steelers and Vikings are their only opponents currently clear of .500.)

4. The Jaguars and Broncos are going to struggle to make the playoffs. When it comes to Jacksonville, we’ll continue to come back to the same stat — since the Jaguars’ won their September Super Bowl over the Patriots, they’ve lost five of six and have allowed an average of 23 points per game in that stretch. They’ll hang around the fringes of the postseason picture — they’re just two games out right now in the AFC South — but it’ll take an awful lot for them to be able to turn things around. As for Denver, the Broncos are also 3-5, but things look similarly bleak for them, as they’re looking up at the Chiefs (7-1) and Chargers (5-2) after Sunday. As we said, Denver played well against Kansas City, but the loss drops the Broncos to 3-5. Will it be enough to make them sellers at the trade deadline? We shall see.